The College of Charleston will join together science and religion on October 23, 2013, when evolutionary theologian, bestselling author, and Big History evangelist Reverend Michael Dowd speaks. The event, which is open to the public, will start at 7 p.m. in the F. Mitchell Johnson Physical Education Center (28 George Street) room 206.

 [Related: View Dowd’s 2012 TEDx Talk, “Why We Struggle Now.”]

This interdisciplinary lecture represents several College departments coming together to encourage critical thinking and open mindedness among students. Sponsors include the Departments of Biology, graduate and undergraduate Environmental Studies, and First Year Experience.

“Religion and science each gives us a way to make sense of being alive on earth,” religious studies instructor and event organizer Todd LeVasseur said. “There are so many scientific and religious beliefs about life, and Michael Dowd’s presentation will combine insights from both in really interesting ways. This event represents a true liberal arts approach by the college.”

[Related: Visit the College of Charleston’s Mace Brown Natural History Museum]

During this lecture Dowd will discuss science and religion, not as opposites but as a unified lens through which to view the world. Dowd contends that belief in evolution, ecology and the earth’s history as told through science is an opportunity for individuals to incorporate their religious beliefs into a realistic, conscientious worldview.

Dowd’s speech, entitled “The Sacred Side of Science: Religious Naturalism,” will focus on investigating human-earth interactions, and how believers of science, religion or both conceive of human-earth relations.

[Related: Learn more about Michael Dowd]

His bridge-building book, Thank God for Evolution, was endorsed by 6 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum. Since 2002, Michael and his science writer wife, Connie Barlow, have traveled North America and have addressed more than 1,800 religious and secular groups across the continent. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Wired, Discover, and on CNN, CBC, ABC News, and Fox News.

For more information about the lecture, contact Todd LeVasseur at levasseurtj@cofc.edu.