We just finished up this year’s theological symposium on science and theology on the Concordia Seminary campus. Presentations on quantum physics, ecology, and neuroscience (free videos of which will be up on the Seminary’s iTunes U site shortly) and other issues have left my brain oozing, but also with a couple of observations….

When we brush away the misconceptions about both science and religion, we are left with two kinds of human knowledge that can be mutually enriching. There were more than a few times when talk of scientific discovery led my mind into new and exciting theological territory. It is truly tragic when misunderstandings on both sides cut off the dialogue between the two. So much of the terrain between the two is still uncharted.

Second, one of the faculty presenters, Dr. Rick Marrs, in referencing an article by Barbara Bradley Hagerty in USA Today, picked up on a distinction between secrets and mysteries.…

Concordia Seminary’s 20th annual Theological Symposium is September 22-23, and this is the issue at hand. “Science and theology” isn’t necessarily anything new, although the dialogue between the two has often been tenuous at best. But the “new questions and new conversations” certainly is. The symposium will walk the cutting edge of where science and theology intersect today, as well as the ethical implications that these intersections leave us with.

Behind all this is the attempt to get beyond the stereotypically American preoccupation between evolution and creationism. There are simply too many interesting questions out there on which both science and theology can provide answers that are mutually beneficial and enriching. And it is on those questions that we will be focused September 22-23.

To do that, the primary plenary speakers will be leading scientists from diverse backgrounds:

Benjamin Schumacher on “Elusive Reality: Quantum Physics and Theology.” Dr. Schumacher is a physics professor at…