Here are some comments about two recent podcasts well worth listening to if you are working in the field of science and religion
Nick Spencer and Bethany Sollereder
The first, the shorter of the two, is Diving Deep Into Science and Religion | Live from the UK trailed as ‘Nick Spencer and Bethany Sollereder help us to move into the deep end of the science and religion conversation.’ They talk about the large-scale research project by Faraday Institute and Theos to find out how people in the UK understand and think about science and religion.
According to Nick, one of the co-authors of the report, they found that the conversation is much deeper and much more interesting than is often portrayed.
Bethany Sollereder recently edited with Alister McGrath Emerging Voices in Science and Theology: Contributions by Young Women published by Routledge in 2022 which says of the book “This volume engages with the relative absence and underrepresentation of female voices in the field of science and religion, which tends to be dominated by male academics who are in the later stages of their careers.”
Click here for the podcast, download the transcript and the report here: https://biologos.org/podcast-episodes/diving-deep-into-science-and-religion-live-from-the-uk
Jonathan Pageau, Douglas Murray, and Dr Jordan B Peterson
For a longer listen / watch (depending on whether you prefer Youtube or the podcast version, there is a recorded conversation between Jonathan Pageau, Douglas Murray, and Dr Jordan B Peterson. Here the discussion is around hierarchies of perception, existence, faith, and whether meaning is a self evident truth or something intangible. It is an account of how deep meaning and a truthful spiritual reality can exist. It goes beyond a superficial understanding of symbolic meaning to one that permeates that which is truly real.
Jonathan Pageau is a French-Canadian liturgical artist and icon carver. His work has featured in museums across the world. He carves Eastern Orthodox and other traditional images, and runs a YouTube channel dedicated to the exploration of symbolism and is a Christian, heavily influenced by Orthodox traditions.
Douglas Murray is a British political commentator and author associate editor for the magazine the Spectator. His most recent book is “The War on the West.” He has hosted numerous debates between Peterson and Sam Harris positioning himself somewhat between the two. It might not be entirely inaccurate to say that he sees religion, and Christianity specifically, as offering great cultural and political gifts to civilisation that might be necessary for human flourishing albeit he finds himself unable to take the last step of faith.
Peterson is well known for his outspoken political views against forced speech, his views on Marxism, totalitarianism of left and right forms, and his two recent popular books and extensive YouTube channel with the very popular series of videos on Biblical passages. Peterson is notoriously difficult to position interim of his religious views but he finds considerable psychological meaning in the Bible and remains open to the possibility of a spiritually real dimension.