Plenary Speakers

We invite you to join our two Plenary Lecturers in a unique forum on the best practices for integrating faith into the teaching of the natural sciences, math, and computer science.

We are honored to have Dr. Karl Giberson, Professor of Physics at Eastern Nazarene College and Executive VP of Biologos Foundation, and Dr. J. P. Moreland, Professor of Philosophy at Biola University and well-known author on faith integration.

Plenary Abstracts

Integration, Christian Worldview and the Christian College

J. P. Moreland, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Biola University
jp.moreland@biola.edu 

• A Call to Integration and the Christian Worldview Integration Series 
• Outline 

Introduction

1. The Contemporary Intellectual Context for Integration
   1. Three Worldviews Dominate the Academy and Culture
   2. The Key Question Facing Christians
      1. Is Christianity a Knowledge Tradition or a Mere Belief Tradition?
      2. Is There Non-Empirical Knowledge?
      3. Is There an Immaterial Reality?
2. Different Types of Integration
   1. Definition of Integration: To form or blend into a whole; to unite
   2. Personal Integration: One’s theological beliefs are united with one’s entire personality (e.g., feelings, attitudes, behaviors)
   3. Conceptual Integration: One’s theological beliefs are blended with propositions (methodologies, alleged facts, intellectual virtues) judged as rational from other sources into a coherent, intellectually satisfying world view.
      1. Defense
         1. Remove Defeaters
         2. Build a positive case
         ;
      2. Polemics
      3. Theistic Explanation and the Hypothetico-Deductive Method
3. Five Different Models of Integration
   1. The Two-Realms View
   2. The Complementarity View
   3. The Presuppositional View
   4. The Direct Interaction View
   5. The Applicational View
4. Integrative Priorities for the Christian Scholar in the Contemporary Setting
   1. Three Key Criteria
      1. Focus on Issues Central to or Deeply Ingressed in Mere Christianity as an Intellectual System
      2. Focus on Issues currently under Heavy Attack
      3. Focus on Areas in light of Believers in other Countries
   2. Issues in Light of Postmodernism and Naturalism
      1. Christians should seek to leave the student with the impression that Christianity, and the central teachings of the Bible, are a source of knowledge of reality.
      2. Christians should avoid methodological naturalism and inordinate reliance on the complementarity approach.
      3. Christians should avoid limiting integration to the addition of ethics or personal/religious meaning and significance to a secular topic otherwise undisturbed by Christian ideas. They should allow their theological knowledge to do important metaphysical and epistemological work within their disciplines. The fundamental issues of integration in your field are not ethical. THEY ARE ONTOLOGICAL, EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL 

The Importance of Dismantling the Science versus Religion Warfare Metaphor

Karl Giberson, Ph.D, Professor – Physics
Eastern Nazarene College
Executive Vice President of The BioLogos Foundation
www.karlgiberson.com 

• Presentation 

Popular Culture in America contains a “metanarrative” that places science and faith in a hostile juxtaposition to each other. This story can be found in pulpits, on National Public Radio, or on less heady fare like The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy.

The metanarrative goes like this: Science and religion are mortal enemies and always have been. Every scientific advance has been opposed by the church; scientists have been relentlessly persecuted, tortured and even executed for their discoveries. The church has been relentlessly superstitious and only reluctantly conceded to science when the evidence became overwhelming.

Christian students in our science classes thus fear that the science they are studying has a dark cloud hanging over it. Addressing this negative and false baggage the students bring into the classroom is an important part of helping them integrate the science they are studying into their Christian worldview.