While the whole nature of the Vatican Observatory is to be a bridge between
science and the Catholic Church, studies involving science, philosophy, and
theology have formed an explicit part of the Observatory's activity since
1987 when it organized two interdisciplinary conferences as a response to
Pope John Paul II's request for something both to commemorate Sir Isaac Newton's
epoch-making book, Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica, and
to contribute to the dialogue between the two cultures. The first meeting
to commemorate the Newton tercentenary was held in Cracow, May 1987, and
resulted in the book, Newton and the New Direction in Science. This
prepared for the second meeting, September 1987, at Castel Gandolfo, whose
proceedings and a
message from Pope John Paul II are given in Physics,
Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding.
These beginnings led the Observatory, together with the Center for Theology
and the Natural Sciences of Berkeley, California, to initiate a series of
five, interdisciplinary research workshops with the theme of 'Divine Action
in the World'. These were by invitation only for the workshop process to be
effective. The workshops in the series have each resulted in a book:
Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature,
Chaos and Complexity, Evolutionary and Molecular Biology,
Neuroscience and the Person, Quantum Physics.
Details on obtaining these and other books
of the Vatican Observatory are given on the
publications page.
(Further information may be obtained from
Fr. William Stoeger, S.J.)
Through the initiatives of individual staff members the Observatory also
maintains links with other science and religion groups, e.g., the Institute on Religion in an Age of
Science, the Zygon Center for
Religion and Science, the Center for
Theology and the Natural Sciences, the European Society for the Study of Science
and Theology, and Cosmos and Creation. The
John Templeton Foundation provides major support to and innovation in the science and religion dialog.
Talks on interdisciplinary topics are frequently given and articles written by the Observatory's
staff, besides their purely scientific output.
Related Pages
Related Papers
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