Join us in-person and virtually for the 4th Annual Rev. Hugh Crean Distinguished Lecture in Catholic Thought presented by the Elms College St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture. The lecture will take place on May 1, 2023, 4:30 p.m. in the College’s Alumnae Library Theater.
This year’s Distinguished Lecturer is Dr. Karin Oberg, Professor of Astronomy & Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. The title of her remarks are “Christian Creation and the Big Bang Cosmology”
Dr. Oberg is a budding Catholic celebrity and public intellectual in the truest sense. She also happens to be the most cited living astronomer in the world. Her videos on the Catholic Origins of the Big Bang Theory, the Role of Faith in the Scientific Method, the Origins of Life on Earth, and the Possibility of Miracles According to Science will give you a small sense of what she will bring to our campus.
Abstract: Two hallmarks of contemporary cosmology are immense change or evolution over time, and a confidence that most if not all aspects of the structure and evolution of the cosmos can be explained by science. This is true whether we focus on the largest scales, i.e. the whole Universe and its origin in the Big Bang, or zoom in on the origins and evolution of life on our own planet. Such a cosmology may at first glance appear to be at odds with the Christian concepts of divine creation and God’s providential care of his creation. This talk will first address some of the commonly proposed conflicts between the Big Bang cosmology put forth by the scientific community, and the Biblical cosmology of the Christian faith. Resolving these often illusory conflicts is key to take the next and more exciting step to explore how contemporary science and Catholic theology can constructively support one another in their joint pursuit of truth.