date last updated: 22 March 2003
Spirituality and the Physical Sciences
Type of Course:
Online with beginning and ending residencies at Vermont College
Credits: 3 Graduate, Undergraduate,
or CEU
Course Number: INTS-567-O
Track:
Spirituality and the Sciences
Faculty: Kevin Sharpe, Ph.D., and
Leslie Van Gelder, Ph.D. (click each for a bio)
Time:
Spring 2003
Residencies: Opening Residency 5-6
April 2003, Closing Residency 28-29 June 2003,
at
Vermont College,
Union Institute and University, Montpelier (click for further information on
this site)
Registration Dates: Registration deadline 17 March 2003
Course
Dates: 5 April-29 June 2003
Costs: Graduate or Undergraduate Credit
tuition $1010.00, CEU tuition $910.00.
Learners are also responsible for their travel, room, and board for
Residencies, reading materials, internet and computer expenses
Prerequisites: Undergraduate degree for pursuing Graduate
Credits
Course Description:
If Darwin’s theory of Evolution shaped the late 19th century, then discoveries and explanations found in relativity and quantum physics shaped the 20th century. How does the way in which physics describes the creation of the universe interface with the ways in which religion has traditionally explained the creation of the world? Does religion find its explanations in science? Are the physicists doing this research informed by their spiritual beliefs? This course examines the cutting edge questions in contemporary physics and looks to see ways in which the growing dialogue between science and spirit centers on questions of ways of knowing the universe.
Course Objectives and Outcomes:
Before the course begins, participants will do the required readings and submit a three to five page paper described below to the instructor by email attachment. Throughout the course, participants will work on an individual project for presentation during the last three weeks. The course begins and ends with residency weekends in Vermont where learners will shape their individual research questions and form a trusting community with whom they will share their work.
The online portion of the course will follow a weekly calendar with the following structure:
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Weekly readings will be posted each Friday for the following week. Total weekly reading will be between 20 and 60 pages and will be available electronically. Participants are expected to read and be prepared to comment.
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Discussions on the readings will take place from 8 am (East Coast USA time) Tuesday to 5 pm Monday the following week. The discussions will not be simultaneous but all participants are expected to participate weekly and to have posted their first thoughts by 5 pm Wednesday.
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Cyber-office hours will be held on Thursday. This is a good opportunity to ask questions about individual research projects. While learners don’t have to ‘stop by’ on Thursdays (questions can be emailed during the week), all of the week’s one-on-one emails will be answered by Thursday night.
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On Sunday, participants will post a reflection piece on how the reading and weekly discussion has related to their own personal question. Other participants will comment on the reflections.
During the first 7 weeks of the course, readings will prompt the discussions. During the last three weeks, learners’ projects will become the weekly focus. All projects will be due at the end of the sixth week, and will be posted during the span of the last three weeks of the course. The object of these presentations is to share with the learning community the ideas that learners are shaping through their individual interests in the subject. Projects can take the form of formal papers, creative works, web sites, power points, video clips, or any form of media which can be shown via the internet, but must be of an appropriate level work.
Assessment:
To receive Graduate or Undergraduate Credit for the course, a learner must complete the pre-course readings, attend the beginning and ending residencies, read the weekly readings, participate in the weekly discussions, weekly write a reflection, submit preliminary and post-course reflection papers, and present a final project. There are no letter grades for this course, only satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Graduate Credit requires a higher standard of work than does Undergraduate Credit. The relative weights that the elements of the course contribute to the final assessment are as follows: Preliminary paper 10%, Residencies 20%, Weekly readings, discussions, and reflections 30%, Final project 30%, and Post-course paper 10%.
To receive Continuing Education Units for the course, learners must complete the pre-course and weekly readings, and participate in the weekly discussions. They may also attend the beginning and ending residencies and present a final project, but should not submit papers or reflection pieces to the instructor. There are no CEU letter grades for this course, only satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The relative weights that the elements of the course contribute to the final assessment are as follows: Weekly readings and discussions 100%.
Credit learners may request narrative evaluations for transcripts or learning plans/agreements.
Syllabus (subject to change):
Week 1: Quantum Physics
Week 2: Nonlocality and the theories of David Bohm
Week 3: Relativity and the Big Bang
Week 4: The Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Big Crunch
Week 5: Extra Terrestrials and S.E.T.I.
Week 6: Chaos and Complexification
Week 7: Holism, Determinism, and Agency
Week 8: Learner presentations
Week 9: Learner presentations
Week 10: Learner presentations
Requirements:
Prior to Opening Residency:
Learners will complete the required readings i(see below) n advance of the residency weekend. Each Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learner should submit a three to five page paper by email to the instructor focusing on their sense of the nature of creativity both personally and within the context of the readings.
During the Online Course:
Learners are expected to complete the weekly readings and participate in the discussions. Each week, Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners must complete a reflection piece by Sunday. All Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners must submit a project by the end of the sixth week of the course which will be used in the final three weeks of presentations.
Following Closing Residency:
Graduate and Undergraduate Credit learners are to complete a three to five page reflection essay, within ten days of the closing residency, discussing changes and thoughts regarding the process of the course as it relates to their own thinking about their research and lives.
Credit will only be given for learners who successfully complete all aspects of the course.
Required Texts:
Jammer, M. Einstein and Religion. Princeton: Princeton, 1999.
Southgate, C., et al., eds. God, Humanity, and the Cosmos: A Textbook in Science and Religion. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity, 1999.
Weekly readings posted on XanEdu.
Supplemental Texts:
Barbour, I. G. Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1997.
Barbour, I. G. When Science Meets Religion. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
Brockelman, P. Cosmology and Creation: The Spiritual Significance of Contemporary Cosmology. New York: Oxford, 1999.
Cobb, J. J. Cybergrace. New York: Crown, 1998.
Ebert, J. D. Twighlight of the Clockwork God: Conversations on Science and Spirituality at the End of an Age. San Francisco: Council Oak, 1999.
Fagg, L. W. Electromagnetism and the Sacred: At the Frontier of Spirit and Matter. New York: Continuum, 1999.
Greene, B. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. New York: Norton, 1999.
Heilbron, J. L. The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1999.
Leonard, A. BOTS: The Origin of a New Species. New York: Penguin, 1998.
Polkinghorne, J. C. Belief in God in an Age of Science. New Haven CT: Yale, 1998.
Raymo, C. Skeptics and True Believers: The Exhilarating Connection Between Science and Religion. New York: Walker, 1998.
Sharpe, K. J. David Bohm’s World: New Physics and New Religion. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell, 1993.
Sharpe, K. Sleuthing the Divine: The Nexus of Science and Spirit. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000.
Shermer, M. How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science. New York: Freeman, 1999.
Stahl, W. A. God and the Chip: Religion and the Culture of Technology. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier, 1999.
Wertheim, M. The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet. New York: Norton, 1999.
Equipment and Facilities:
This course will be led on the eCollege system through Union Institute and University. Learners are expected to have access to the internet and, installed on their computers, the latest (free) versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and an unzip program.