GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Grove City College Society for Science, Faith and Technology and The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College will host a one-day conference Feb. 7 on “Creatively Seeking a Creation Story: Evolution and Intelligent Design in America.” All lectures will be given in the Sticht Lecture Hall in the Hall of Arts and Letters on campus and are free and open to the public.

The conference follows a series of book talks this fall on “Species of Origins: America’s Search for a Creation Story” by Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa. The authors examine America’s conversation about creation and evolution and argue that the real issue is the confrontation between two worldviews: modern naturalistic science and traditional Judeo-Christian religions.

Scholars from various institutions will continue the theme with presentations on the historical, philosophical and scientific issues surrounding the two creation theories of evolution and intelligent design.

The conference schedule follows. Question-and-answer periods will take place between presentations.

9 a.m.         “Intelligent Design, Natural Science, and their
                  Relationship” by Dr. Howard J. Van Till, Professor
                  of Physics and Astronomy, Emeritus, Calvin College

11 a.m.       “Evolution and Design: Beyond the ‘or’ Wars” by Dr. Jeff
                  Schloss, Professor of Biology, Westmont College

12:30 p.m. Break for lunch

3 p.m.        “Intelligent Design: Revolutionary Science or Reactionary
                  Religion?” by Dr. Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale and William
                  Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine,
                  University of Wisconsin-Madison

4:30 p.m.   Break for dinner

7 p.m.        “Blind Evolution or Intelligent Design?” by Dr. William A.
                  Dembski, Research Professor in Philosophy, Southwestern
                  Baptist Theological Seminary

8 p.m.        Panel discussion with Van Till, Schloss, Numbers and 
                  Dembski

The Society for Science, Faith and Technology is part of the Local Societies Initiative of the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science. For more information about the conference, please contact Dr. Kevin Seybold at (724) 458-2002 or ksseybold@gcc.edu.

Bios on the conference speakers follow:

Dr. Howard Van Till received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and taught in the physics and astronomy department at Calvin College until the fall of 1997. He has researched condensed-matter physics and in astronomy and has begun studying the relationship between the natural sciences and Christianity. He has published several books in this area, the most well-known of which is “The Fourth Day: What the Bible and the Heavens are Telling Us about the Creation.” Although he is now Professor Emeritus at Calvin, Van Till remains very active working in the area of the science/faith interface.

Dr. Jeff Schloss has an undergraduate degree in biology from Wheaton College and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Washington University in St. Louis. He serves on the editorial and advisory boards of numerous journals and organizations relating science and religion including “Zygon,” the “Journal of Theology and Science,” and “Science and Christian Belief.” Recent books include “Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective,” and “Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue.” Schloss’ teaching duties at Westmont are in the areas of ecology (general, physiological and tropical) and biology and faith.

Dr. Ronald L. Numbers is the Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He has written extensively on the history of science and religion and is an expert on the history of creationism in America. After receiving a B.A. (mathematics and physics) from Southern Adventist University, Numbers went to Florida State University where he received a M.A. in history followed by a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. His many books include “God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, When Science and Christianity Meet,” “Darwinism Comes to America,” and the highly acclaimed “The Creationists,” recently republished in an expanded edition by Harvard University Press.

Dr. William Dembski is research professor in philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He is also a senior fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle, Wash. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in psychology, he went on to earn an M.S. in statistics, and a Ph.D. in philosophy. He also received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1988 and a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996. He is the author of several books including “The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities, No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence, and Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA.”