Drawbridge Lecture to be given by Marcelo Gleiser

We’re pleased to announce that we’re producing a Drawbridge Lecture in May 2018, to be delivered by Marcelo Gleiser, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College, and Director for the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement. The lecture, ‘Unknowns in Heaven and Earth’, will be followed by a conversation between Marcelo Gleiser and the Revd Andrew Pinsent, Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University.

‘Unknowns in Heaven and Earth’ takes place in the Crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday 22 May 2018, starting at 6.30pm. Entry to the lecture is by free ticket. Please register here

Marcelo Gleiser is also giving a lecture on Monday 21 May 2018, at 6.30pm, in the Harvard Lecture Theatre, Bush House, King’s College London. This is a free event, and it will be followed by a drinks reception. Please register here.

In books such as The Island of Knowledge (2014) and A Tear at the Edge of Creation (2010), Marcelo Gleiser has argued for a positive view of the relationship between science and the humanities, incuding religion, philosophy and the arts.

Science is more about ignorance and mystery than certainty and truth. It is incredibly powerful, yet it is fallible and incomplete as a narrative of reality. Even if many scientists are not aware of this, scientific creativity is driven by the same existential fears and sense of awe that inspires the religious and the artist alike. The sciences, the humanities and the arts – each with its own set of methods and rules – are expressions of our struggle to make sense of the world and how we fit in it.

Scientific developments in the 21st century, from genetic engineering to cosmology, to artificial intelligence and the search for alien life, call for a re-engagement between the sciences and the humanities. We must confront the unknowns in heaven and earth, many of them crucial to our shared future in this planet.

The Drawbridge Lecture is an occasional lecture series of the Christian Evidence Society. Previous speakers have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Russian dissident poet Irina Ratushinskaya, and Professor Alister McGrath.

Photo of particle collision: CERN