Quick Info:
Number of weeks: 8
Price: $60
CEUs: 2.0
Required books?: No
Live video session?: No
Part of a certification or series of courses?: Yes (Wesley Lay Academy)
Must we reject belief in God to accept the findings of science?
Dr. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, hosts this ground-breaking series in which several leading scientists, theologians, and philosophers explore the contrasts and similarities between religion and science. This group of experts considers if and how religion and science might coexist and even complement one another in the 21st century.
Lessons include:
- Introduction — Francis S. Collins, Director, The Human Genome Project
- Friends or Foes? The Story of a Complex Relationship — David Wilkinson, St. John’s College, Durham
- Truth in Science and Theology — Philip Clayton, Claremont School of Theology
- God and Nature — Keith Ward, Oxford University
- Creation and Evolution — Darrel Falk, Point Loma Nazarene University
- What Does It Mean to Be Human? — Warren Brown, Fuller Theological Seminary
- The God of Hope and the End of the World — John Polkinghorne, Cambridge University
- Genetic Science and the Frontiers of Ethics — Ted Peters, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminar
2.0 CEUs are available.
Past Students Said…
“This was a super-good course. The lecturers do a wonderful job of explaining difficult concepts. The Biblical material was usually on point and useful. I enjoyed the written materials outlining each week’s issues. Many thanks to Dr. Collins, the lecturers, and the facilitators.”
“I enjoyed the videos. The questions are thought provoking and forced me to think outside my comfort zone.”
“I really appreciated all of the components of this course. My favorite lessons though were the last one on creation and the one on ‘what does it mean to be human’. I got the most of of the one on being human because of my personal experience with brain injury, and I felt most convicted after the lesson on creation. But I also feel that the lesson on Creation Care was the perfect ending to this course.”
“I think the facilitator did a good job of answering the questions but also letting us flesh out some of the more difficult concepts on our own.”
About the Instructor
Susan Webb is a Certified Lay Servant in the Methodist church, and currently attends First United Methodist Church in Gainesville, FL. Before retiring in 2016, she held a faculty position in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida where her work involved insect vectors of plant viruses affecting vegetable crops. Susan led Disciple Bible study at her former church, where she also taught adult and children’s Sunday School classes. In 2018, she facilitated the 28-week study, Companions in Christ, a ministry of the Upper Room, and, in 2020-2021, a 34-week Disciple Bible Study (Disciple Online) through BeADisciple. Altogether, Susan has taken at least 20 classes with BeADisciple over the past 10 years, including completion of the Spiritual Formation Certificate.
In 2017, Susan moved from the country to Gainesville. Yet, she still enjoys the nearby natural wetlands, where she (and her cat) can watch the birds, squirrels, deer, raccoons, and occasional turkey from her screened-in patio. She loves audiobooks, early morning walks, and keeping in touch with her many siblings across the country. Currently, her passions include spiritual formation and supporting transformational approaches to Bible study at her church. Susan holds a BS (Biology) from Rutgers University and a PhD in Entomology and Plant Pathology from Cornell, where she encountered the fantastic diversity of insects in God’s creation.
About the Course Organizer
Michael Beardslee began working for the Institute for Discipleship and BeADisciple in early 2016, developing and facilitating courses for a new project called the Wesley Lay Academy. He was born and raised in South Central Kansas, where he currently resides after a period of moving across the United States for his graduate studies.
He holds a Bachelors in Religion and Philosophy (Friends University), an M.A. (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), Th.M (Systematic Theology, Trinity International University), and is currently a Ph.D candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary (Intercultural Studies), working under the Pentecostal theologian, Amos Yong. His doctoral research concerns the way Christians from different cultural locations relate to one another in a globalized Christianity. His writing is featured most recently in Breaking the Marriage Idol: Reconstructing Our Cultural and Spiritual Norms (IVP, 2018), and in the Religion and Theology journal (Brill, 2017).
Michael splits his time up between his academic interests, his many hobbies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah, and his two young girls. In 2017, he was awarded the Visiting Scholar fellowship at Southwestern College, after which he returned to continue the work he began with BeADisciple.
