Philip Hefner to lead online lecture on Aug. 4 – Writing humanity’s next chapter: A renewed religion and science dialogue

Philip Hefner, professor emeritus of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) and senior fellow of the Zygon Center for Religion and Science, will deliver the inaugural online lecture for the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS) on Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. To attend this free online seminar, RSVP to Susan Barreto at relandsci@gmail.com.

Writing humanity’s next chapter – A renewed religion and science dialogue will ask key questions we are facing around the globe in the face of a multi-faceted societal crisis. Hefner believes it is urgent for us to move beyond analysis to imagination.

“The current crisis requires extraordinary imagination. Imagination is the human capability for grasping the future,” Hefner said. “We are able to imagine the future. We can imagine things that do not exist, and we can work to make them actual and thereby change our world.”

An example cited by Hefner pertains to the common good. We are being forced to reconsider what the common good demands of us, and this challenges our imagination to the utmost.

An ordained minister in the ELCA, Hefner directed the Zygon Center for Religion and Science from 1988 to 2003 and is the former editor-in-chief of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science. He has authored numerous books and articles, and is best known for his book, The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture and Religion.

CASIRAS is a supporting organization for the Zygon Center for Religion and Science in partnership with LSTC. It also supports Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science in partnership with the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science and the International Society for Science and Religion.