Friday January 27th Late Afternoon Coffee

Today we had the first of the Science and Religion monthly faculty luncheons.
Eleven of us gathered at WTU. First we caught up with each other over lunch in the Board room; then we did business–such as a possible speaker for our March luncheon [this luncheon is open to the public].

Before one o’clock we got to the heart of the meeting:

1. Dr. Larry Fagg, physicist from Catholic University [our group of about 30 is evenly divided between theologians and scientists], gave a fine summary of several of the talks given at a recent symposium honoring Teilhard de Chardin, the well-known Jesuit paleontologist. I would liked to have heard more–later we decided to try to have a presentation next fall on Teilhard.

2. Then Dr. Fred Ware of the Divinity School at Howard explained his proposed paper on Black Pentecostalism, Contemporary Science, and Narrative Constuctions of Reality. This proposal was filled with great ideas. It precipitated a lengthy discussion–I told him afterward that he will have to write 3 books to deal with all the ideas that came out on the table. The discussion actually continued in pairs and triads for another 20 minutes after the meeting broke up at 2:00.

The group decided to meet again on Friday, Februay 24 at WTU for lunch and another paper.

There is always lots of food for thought–or at least several cappuccinos.

John