This exciting new project will investigate questions concerning the relationship between religion and science. The aim of the project is not only to explore age-old questions concerning the compatibility of religious faith with scientific belief and practice, but to explore the complex history of the interaction between religion and science; sociological questions concerning the scientific background of religious practitioners and the faith background of many scientists; and philosophical and theological questions concerning the nature of the relationship between religious belief, practice and faith with scientific belief and practice. Below are some of the events that have taken place associated with this project:

 

UCD Lecture Series: Buddhism and Science

 

The first strand in this project concerns Buddhism and Physics. In a new series of lectures, we will be exploring the parallels and differences between Buddhism and physics in their quest for ultimate truth about our reality. 

Buddhism is a path to seeing the true nature of things, a way of seeing how life really is and how to live well in this. This path to the truth was originally laid out by the Buddha, over 2,500 years ago, and to this day people who practice his teachings have engaged with their own quest to understand the true nature of things.

Science is the systematic study of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. This is done through thinking and through practical activity, and, like Buddhism, has as its goal the exploration of the nature of the world, and the discovery of the true nature of things.

The first lecture of the series on Wednesday, 11 October 2023 in the UCD Quinn School of Business explored the parallels and differences between Buddhism and Quantum Mechanics. The discussion was led by Vajrashura, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. He completed his undergraduate degree in Theoretical Physics and a Master's in High-Performance Computing at Trinity College Dublin. The talk was moderated by Katherine O'Donnell, UCD Professor of Philosophy.

A video recording of the lecture is available here. 

Further lectures in the series will be announced shortly. 

 

Newman Centre Annual Lecture 2023/24

 
Dean W. Zimmerman received his bachelor's degree from Mankato State University in 1987 in French, philosophy, and English. He went on to receive a Master of Arts degree from Brown University in 1990, and then a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the same institution in 1992, where he worked with Jaegwon Kim and Roderick Chisholm. He taught at the University of Notre Dame and Syracuse University prior to joining Rutgers University, where he is also now Director of the Rutgers Center for the Philosophy of Religion. Zimmerman is an influential figure in contemporary metaphysics, and has worked on issues in the philosophy of time, personhood and material constitution, and the metaphysics of mind. In philosophy of religion, Zimmerman has worked on divine foreknowledge and human free will, and God and time. He is also a keyboardist for the band Jigs and the Pigs. For a full list of his publications, see here. 
Newman Centre Annual Lecture 2024/25
Sarah Coakley is the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity, emerita, University of Cambridge (2007-18), and earlier in her career held positions at the Universities of Lancaster, Oriel College, Oxford, and Harvard Divinity School (Mallinckrodt Professor of Divinity, 1995-2007). In 2012 she gave the Gifford Lectures at Aberdeen University, and since then has continued to work in the contested areas of evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, and theology. Amongst her various  other publications are: The Broken Body:  Israel, Christ and Fragmentation (2024); The New Asceticism (2015); God, Sexuality and the Self (2013); (co-ed.) Evolution, Games and God (2013), and Powers and Submissions (2002, new edition forthcoming).