Caring For Creation: Physics, Religion and the Environment
General Information, Winter 2001
Instructors:
Class: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 - 10:50, Carnegie 339.
Laboratory/Discussion:
Section L1: Wednesday, 1:10-2:30 p.m., Carnegie 328
Section L2: Wednesday, 2:40-4:00 p.m., Carnegie 328
Course Description: This course considers scientific and religious
accounts of the origin of the universe, examines the relations between
these accounts, and explores the way they shape our deepest attitudes toward
the natural world. Topics of discussion include the biblical creation stories,
contemporary scientific cosmology, the interplay between these scientific
and religious ideas, and the roles they can play in forming a response
to environmental problems, e.g. global warming.
General Education: Due to the nature of its content and the spirit of the
general educaiton requirements, this course will serve as a third
course for the natural science requirement, but will not
fulfill the quantitative requirement and may not be used
as one course in a physics set.
Required Texts:
Caring for Creation Course Reading Packet (coursepack), Bates College.
Science & Religion: From Conflict to Conversation, by John F.
Haught
The Origin of the Universe , by John D. Barrow
The Mind of God, by Paul Davies.
The Body of God, by Sallie McFague
.
Supplemental Reading
Clearing the Ground for a Meeting of Science and the Christian
Faith , by Paul Wason
Course
syllabus
Grading:
Exam #1 - 20%
Exam #2 - 20%
Final Exam - 20%
Final Paper - 30%
Laboratory - 10%