Is Religion Natural? ESSSAT Conference

IS RELIGION NATURAL?

The European Society for the Study of Science And Theology (ESSSAT)
& The Science Religion Forum (SRF)
present the
XIIIth European Conference on Science and Theology, Edinburgh, UK,
April 7-11, 2010


The conference is hosted by The School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh



Under the title Is Religion Natural?, this conference will explore the drives underlying the religious attitude of mind. In five invited lectures, theologians from different backgrounds, and scientific researchers at the forefront of 21st century studies of the religious mind, will jointly engage with that question. Justin Barrett (Cognitive Psychology, Oxford), author of Why would anyone believe in God?, and Ilkka Pyysiäinen (Comparative Religion, Helsinki), author of Magic, Miracles and Religion and How Religion Works, will present cutting-edge scientific viewpoints on the nature of religious thinking. Mona Siddiqui (Islamic Studies, Glasgow) (How to Read the Qur’an) and Christoph Schwöbel (Systematic Theology, Tübingen) (God: Action and Revelation and Persons, Divine and Human, together with several books in German) will consider the conference theme from their contrasting theological perspectives. And Lluis Oviedo (Theological Anthropology, Rome), whose writings in Spanish and Italian include La fe cristiana ante los nuevos desafios sociales ("Christian Faith confronting the New Social Challenges"), will ask whether - or in what way - it is appropriate to try to naturalise religion. There will also be ample opportunity during the meeting for the presentation of short papers by conference participants.