Foundations in Science and Religion

Building on the success of the main anniversary conference "Revisiting and Reimagining the Relationships between Science and Religion". This online conference examines foundational issues within the science-and-religion sphere. 

At Foundations in Science and Religion, we’ll dive into some of the most compelling and complex questions at the crossroads of scientific inquiry and religious thought. Whether you're interested in theology, philosophy, physics, cosmology, or interreligious dialogue, this conference offers a unique space to engage with foundational issues that matter—across disciplines, traditions, and generations. The conference is open to all attend, and we warmly invite you to join us for two days of lively conversation as we examine topics across science-and-religion(s).  

20th November: Focus on Science, Religion and Metaphysics.

Keynote Speaker: Dr Emma Jaura, Bath Spa University: Buddhist Interdependence, Metaphysical Coherentism, and Relational Quantum Mechanics

• 09:50-10:00 Opening Remarks
• 10:00 – 10:40  PAPER 1: Convergent Evolution, the constraints of nature, and how it informs science and religion
• 10:50 – 11:30 PAPER 2: Charles Lyell’s Theological Preformationism: The Role of the Intelligent Designer in the Uniformitarian Balance of Nature and the Evolution of Natural Species
• Break
• 11:50 – 12:30 PAPER 3: Resurrection, Personhood and Continuity of Consciousness
• 12:40 – 13:20 PAPER 4: On the Process Turn in Science and its Implications for a Natural Theology
• LUNCH
• 14:20 – 15:20 LIGHTNING PAPERS IN DIALOGUE (20min each followed by Q&A): PAPER 5: Being in particular: the nature of reality according to Maximus the Confessor; PAPER 6: Powers, Dispositions, and Energies
• 15:30 – 16:45 KEYNOTE 1: Buddhist Interdependence, Metaphysical Coherentism, and Relational Quantum Mechanics

21st November: Focus on Science and Religion in inter/multi faith contexts.

Keynote Speaker:  Professor Yiftach Fehige, University of Toronto: Pluralizing Foundations: Scientific Pluralism, Religious Education, and Democratic Flourishing

• 09:50 – 10:00 Opening Remarks
• 10:00 – 10:40 PAPER 7: Embodied and Evolved Cognition: Towards an account of Personhood through a Science-engaged Theology
• 10:50 – 11:30 PAPER 8: Minimal Self Vs. Narrative Self: Investigating the Sāṁkhya School’s Notion of Consciousness
• Break
• 11:50 – 12:30 PAPER 9: Does neuroscience rule out an immaterial soul?
• 12:40 – 13:20 PAPER 10: Integral Ecology and Ecosophy: Interfaith Responses to Environmental Crisis
• LUNCH
• 14:00 – 15:15  KEYNOTE 2: Pluralizing Foundations: Scientific Pluralism, Religious Education, and Democratic Flourishing
• 15:25 – 16:05 PAPER 11: The Analogy of Being in Islamic Science
• 16:05 – 16:15 Closing Remarks

Colleagues are welcome to join for one or both days.

In addition to keynote papers the conference will prioritise presentations from students and early career scholars (defined as having completed study (including ordination training) or research in the last 10 years). We have chosen to broaden the definition of early career in recognition of the precarity of many academic contracts and environments.