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Theology Professor to Speak to the College about Issues of Cognition and Faith

Theology Professor to Speak to the College about Issues of Cognition and Faith

Philip Clayton, Ph.D.

Chestnut Hill College’s Institute for Religion and Science welcomes Philip Clayton, Ph.D., Ingaham Professor, Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, Calif., as he presents his lecture, “What Brains & Cognition Tell Us About Faith,” on Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. at the College’s Commonwealth Chateau, SugarLoaf Hill.

“Nothing matters more to us as humans than our own immediate experience: pleasure and pain, joy and sadness, love and hate. No part of the ‘religion and science discussion’ hits as close to home,” said Dr. Clayton. 

Dr. Clayton said that discussions of the brain today are torn between two battling schools: “reductionists” and “dualists.” 

“The ‘reductionists’ work under the motto, as one put it: ‘wires and chemicals, that’s all we are, wires and chemicals.’ The ‘dualist’ school defends an understanding of the human person that does not make our self or mind dependent on brain states at all,” said Dr. Clayton. 

Dr. Clayton said the most interesting work done today involves both of those “warring factions” and his lecture will explore those “breakthrough developments” that include “embedded embodied” cognition, studies of the minds of mediators and the role the brain plays in religious experiences. 

“I want people to think about the relations between their own religious faith (or lack of it) and contemporary studies in neuroscience and cognition. The science does not need to be at war with spirituality. Instead, productive relations between the two can actually open the door to progress in spiritual practice and self-understanding,” said Dr. Clayton. 

Dr. Clayton previously taught or held research professorships at Williams College, California State University, Harvard University, Cambridge University and the University of Munich. Research he conducts focuses on biological emergence, religion and science, process studies and contemporary issues in ecology, religion and ethics.

Dr. Clayton has received several research grants and international lectureships and authored numerous books that include “The Predicament of Belief: Science, Philosophy, Faith,” “Religion and Science: The Basics” and “Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society.”

Dr. Clayton’s lecture is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Chestnut Hill College’s Institute for Religion and Science. Contact Kathy Duffy, SSJ, Ph.D., at kduffy@chc.edu or 215-248-7197 for more information. 

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