Can acceptance of evolutionary theory coexist with belief in God? Does evolution rule out a divinely ordained place in creation for humanity?

These questions reflect the widespread view that evolutionary theory is fundamentally incompatible with religious belief. The hosts of an upcoming academic conference at the University of Notre Dame, titled “Darwin in the 21st Century: Nature, Humanity, and God,” think it is time to lay that view to rest.

The Nov. 1 to 3 (Sunday to Tuesday) event is being organized by Notre Dame’s John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values, and the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Science, Theology, and the Ontological Quest (STOQ) Project in Rome. The goal of the conference is to foster a new dialogue between scholars of natural sciences, philosophy and Christian theology around the topic of evolutionary theory—and to refute the long held public perception that religion and science are incompatible.

On the schedule are a number of events open to the campus and local communities.

The lecture “Darwin, God, and Design-Evolution, and the Battle for America’s Soul,” by Kenneth Miller of Brown University, author of the acclaimed book “Finding Darwin’s God,” will take place Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium.

On Nov. 2, Archbishop Joséf Życiński, the Archbishop of Lublin, Poland, a member of the STOQ governing board, and chancellor of the Catholic University of Lublin, will speak on “Evolutionary Theism and the Emergent Universe,” at 8 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium.

A panel discussion titled “Darwinian Evolution: Are We Beyond the Conflict Between Science and Faith?” will be held Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium.

A final lecture, “Darwin’s Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation,” will be delivered Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. in Room 105 of the Jordan Hall of Science by Simon Conway Morris of the University of Cambridge, an expert on the paleobiology and evolution in the Cambrian Period. This talk is co-sponsored by the Reilly Center and Notre Dame’s Global Linkages of Biology, the Environment and Society (GLOBES) program.

The conference’s keynote speaker is Francisco Ayala, who is a member of the science and philosophy faculties at the University of California, Irvine, a member of the National Academy of Science, and the recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science.

Developing greater public understanding of evolutionary theory and its implications is critical to shifting the collective perception of the conflict between religion and science often associated with evolutionary theory, say conference organizers, explaining why the panel discussion and evening lectures are all free and open to the public.

“A major obstacle the Reilly Center and the University of Notre Dame face in bringing the natural sciences and other disciplines together in a Catholic setting is the assumption that science and faith are locked in a perpetual conflict,” said Gerald McKenny, director of the Reilly Center and professor of Christian ethics. “Public conflicts over evolution in this country—and elsewhere—fuel this assumption, often based on outmoded ideas about both evolutionary biology and faith. We wanted to end the conference by subjecting this assumption to debate in a public context.”

The conference is part of “Project Evolution,” a groundbreaking series of conferences and workshops initiated by the STOQ project to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species.”

“Darwin in the 21st Century” will build on the foundation that was laid at the STOQ-sponsored “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories” conference in Rome in March.

“Like the Rome conference, representatives of contemporary science, philosophy and theology will give presentations and engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue,” said Philip Sloan, professor in Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal 91��Ƶ and the Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science and another organizer of the event. “Again like the Rome conference, it is not concerned with replaying traditional debates over evolutionary theory—and it is not attempting to advocate such positions as ‘Intelligent Design’ theory.”

In addition to the Reilly Center and STOQ project, sponsors of the conference include Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters: Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (Henkels Family Lecture Fund), Office of Research, College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences, Department of Philosophy, Department of Theology, Program of Liberal 91��Ƶ, and GLOBES.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit on the Web.

More information on the John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, is available .

Contact: Reilly Center, 574-631-5015, reilly@nd.edu

The Hebrew Bible contains many passages that describe God as loving, merciful, and good. It also contains passages that seem to portray God as commanding genocide, the slaughter of innocent children, and other atrocities. Critics of Abrahamic religious traditions contend that these darker passages undermine the traditional Jewish and Christian understanding of God as perfectly loving and good.

Scholars will address these contentions—and the ensuing charge that Abrahamic religions should be rejected—at a conference titled “My Ways Are Not Your Ways: The Character of the God of the Hebrew Bible,” to be held Thursday to Saturday (Sept. 10 to 12) at the University of Notre Dame.

“T��� objection to Christianity that constitutes the topic of the conference is among the most challenging objections to traditional Christian belief under discussion in the contemporary literature,” said Michael Rea, professor of philosophy and director of Notre Dame’s Center for Philosophy of Religion. “T��� objection is particularly challenging because its force can be immediately appreciated by anyone, regardless of his or her philosophical or theological background.”

Prior to this conference, few philosophers or theologians have formally responded to these objections to Christianity, Rea said, noting that the topic is interdisciplinary by nature and that dealing with it competently requires philosophical acumen, literary sensitivity, and an awareness of recent developments in Biblical studies.

The Center for Philosophy of Religion will host the conference which, according to Rea, intersects with the center’s mission to stimulate and conduct cutting-edge research on important issues in Christian philosophy and with its goal to promote more fruitful dialogue between theologians and philosophers of religion. Conference commentators and presenters will include prominent Biblical scholars and philosophers—both theistic and nontheistic.

This scholarly event also can capture the interest of a broader audience, regardless of academic background or focus, Rea noted.

“T��� papers for the conference, as well as the replies by commentators, are much more widely accessible and engaging than typical academic papers, and the topic is of direct relevance to the life of faith of individual believers,” he said. “T��� command (in Deuteronomy 21) to ‘annihilate the Hittites and Amorites,’ not ‘letting anything that breathes remain alive’ is something we struggle with, and it is exciting to see some of the very best minds in philosophy and theology coming together to discuss what we should think of the idea that divine revelation includes such commands.”

The papers, remarks, and reactions from the conference will be collected in a volume tentatively titled “Divine Evil? The Moral Character of the God of Abraham,” and scheduled to be published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

For more information or to register for this conference, .

The research of University of Notre Dame economist James X. Sullivan sheds light on how best to measure the well-being of the nation’s poorest families so policies can be crafted to help them.

An associate professor of economics, Sullivan has been interested in domestic poverty issues since he was an undergraduate economics major at Notre Dame. His research on the consumption, income and well-being of families headed by single mothers has been published in the American Economic Review (AER), one of the nation’s oldest scholarly journals in economics.

The paper, which Sullivan co-authored with Bruce D. Meyer, is titled “Changes in the Consumption, Income, and Well-Being of Single Mother Headed Families.”

According to Sullivan, the most surprising result of his research is that the pattern for income-based measures of well-being differs so sharply from the pattern for consumption-based measures of well-being. For the poorest single parent families, income fell sharply while consumption rose slightly during the 1990s. This difference is significant, he notes, because most research on the effectiveness of anti-poverty initiatives focuses on income, which may not tell the full story.

“T��� most important contribution of the paper is that it provides a better measure of the well-being of poor families,” Sullivan said, noting that the improved measure can lead to a better understanding of the effects of policy.

Published in the December 2008 issue of the AER, the paper already has been cited in congressional testimony on how to improve poverty measurement in the United States. Sullivan hopes policy makers will continue to use the research as they craft policies to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged.

“T��� AER is without question the most prestigious economics journal in the world—in fact, its dominance of the economics discipline is difficult to overstate,” said Richard Jensen, professor of economics and chairperson of Notre Dame’s Department of Economics and Econometrics. “It is more widely subscribed, read and cited than any other economics journal,” he said, adding that it is very unusual for a faculty member to have work published in the journal so early in his or her career.

Sullivan is a research affiliate of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan. He was a recipient of the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research Dissertation Award in 2003. His scholarly work examines the consumption, saving and borrowing behavior of poor households in the United States, and how welfare and tax policy impact the poor.

Contact: James Sullivan, jsulliv4@nd.edu

Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe, winner of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize, will deliver the third biennial Blessed Pope John XXIII Lecture Series in Theology and Culture at the University of Notre Dame on March 23, 25 and 26 (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday).

Widely regarded as the father of modern African literature, Achebe is best known for his 1958 novel “Things Fall Apart,” which has been listed as one of the most important books of the 20th century.

“T��� Igbo and their Perception of God, Human Beings and Creation” is the central theme of the lecture series. The March 23 lecture will focus on “God,” the talk on March 25 will focus on “Human Beings,” and the March 26 presentation will focus on “Creation.” Each lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Jordan Auditorium in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Achebe’s works, which include four additional novels and numerous collections of short stories and poetry, have sparked international dialogue around the effects of colonization on African culture and the way in which Western writers have depicted Africa and Africans over time. Achebe currently is the Charles P. Stevenson Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College in New York.

“Achebe allows you to see the beauty in people and their dignity as they try to navigate the complexities of life,” said John Cavadini, associate professor and chair of Notre Dame’s .

Cavadini added that he hopes the Notre Dame community will be inspired by the clarity of Achebe’s vision, and the sheer patience and persistence that he brings to the issues he explores.

Achebe will be available for book signing after each lecture. Unsigned books will be available on special display at the Hammes Bookstore. In addition, Achebe’s lectures will be published by .

This event is sponsored by the Department of Theology and made possible by a grant from the Dilenschneider family. More information is available on the Web at .