The Winter Quarter is upon us!  The workshop is getting a bit of a late start this quarter but the coming events will offer opportunities for students to engage in a host of venues.

Pedagogy Panel Feb. 2nd, 4:30 PM Swift 106,

Join the Religion and Ethics Workshop as we hear from Profs William Schweiker and Richard Rosengarten about the questions, paradigms and pedagogical theories that guide their teaching.

Prof. Lisa Sideris (Indiana)  “The ‘re-enchantment’ of scientific narratives”   Feb. 10th, 12PM Swift Hall 106

In her current work, Lisa Sideris is focusing on the “re-enchantment” of scientific narratives.  She is looking at science-based spirituality, such as the Epic of Evolution/Universe story phenomenon, that proffers scientific (including evolutionary) accounts of the natural world as new “creation stories” with supposed universal ethical and aesthetic appeal. More broadly, her interest is in the way that science and scientists appropriate wonder and enchantment–often at the expense of wonder at the natural world or (more traditional) religious forms of wonder.  For example, she has a chapter on Richard Dawkins on wonder, and one on sociobiologist E.O. Wilson’s account of enchantment with science. Part of her objective is to critique what I see as unwholesome or inappropriate forms of scientific wonder, and the displacement of nature as a source and object of wonder in its own right.

Joshua Connor, Title Forthcoming, Feb. 24th 12pm Room TBD

Josh will presenting a rough draft of his dissertation proposal for discussion and constructive feedback.

Gerald McKenny (Notre Dame), On Barth’s Moral Theology, March 2nd 4:3opm Room TBD

Prof McKenny, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology, will be discussing contextual aspects of Karl Barth’s moral theology related to his newest book on Barth’s ethics, “The Analogy of Grace: Karl Barth’s Moral Theology.”