Frederic Bradford Burnham was
one of the founders of the movement that has become the Episcopal
Church Network for Science, Technology, and Faith. In 1987 he
convened in California a gathering of Episcopal clergy who held PhD
degrees in science, medicine, and related fields. Not much
resulted from that gathering other than to generate interest in
exploring further how the interaction of science and faith could be
brought forward in the Episcopal Church. Some of the participants
became members of the Society of Ordained Scientists and some began
attending the Ecumenical Roundtable for Science, Technology and the
Church.
Fred was educated at
Harvard, majoring in physics and later earned his PhD at the Johns
Hopkins University in the History of Science. In 1984 he became
the Director of Trinity Institute, a program for the continuing
theological education of clergy and laity, sponsored by Trinity Church,
New York City. Many of these programs, which have
been extremely popular and well-attended, contributed to the
science-and-religion dialogues.
Fred was at Trinity
Institute on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was
attacked. Trinity Church was a short distance away and ash and
smoke penetrated their buildings. Fred was with Rowan Williams,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and recalls that both of them felt, several
times, that they might die. Fred
volunteered as a night superintendent at St. Paul's Chapel, where the
relief ministry for emergency workers was established. All over ground
zero, in the pit and at St. Paul's Chapel, Fred witnessed the
spontaneous self-organization of human beings into remarkable
teams to address the crisis. It has led him to devote himself to the
application of the scientific understanding of complex natural
systems to the transformation of human communities. The Emergent Church
Movement is a fascinating example of such an open community that
is transforming American Christianity. He retired as Director of
Trinity Institute in 2003 and is currently affiliated with four
institutions: The Cathedral College at the Washington National
Cathedral, the Institute for Servant Leadership, Explorefaith.org,and
the Institute for Applied Theology and Science.
The Episcopal Church
Network for
Science, Technology and Faith is honored to present the fifth Genesis
Award to Dr. Frederic Burnham.
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Report to the 76th General Convention by the
ECUSA Committee for Science, Technology, and Faith
|
The 76th General
Convention of the
Episcopal Church was held July 8-17 in Anaheim, California.
As part of
the proceedings, each committee, including the ECUSA Executive
Council Committee for Science, Technology, and Faith, submit a report
to Convention that outlines the purpose, activity, and goals of the
committee. For many who might confuse the Executive Council
Committee on Science,
Technology, and Faith (a formal committee of the Episcopal
Church) with the Episcopal Church
Network for Science, Technology, and Faith (an outreach and
educational organization open to all interested individuals), the
attached report will help provide clarity as to the structure, purpose,
and activity of the Committee.
Two resolutions were presented to Convention that focused on
environmental stewardship and education. Resolution A156, Sacred Acts for Sacred Water,
called upon the Convention to -
a) reaffirm a commitment to prior resolutions related to
water and environmental stewardship; specifically 1979-D029,
1988-D126, 1991-D041, 2003-D046, and 2003-D070.
b) encourage all national Episcopal Church organizations,
dioceses, congregations, and individuals to study the theology of
Creation and the role of water in Creation, including the entire
cycle of water sourcing, storage and transport, use and wastewater
treatment and disposal, and to study the ethical issues associated with
individual, local, regional, national and international water-related
decisions.
c) request that the Episcopal Church fund a half-time position
supported by the Executive Council Committee on Science, Technology and
Faith, and by the Episcopal Ecological Network, to encourage the
sharing of tools that dioceses, congregations and individual
Episcopalians have already developed, and the development of new tools
for use when making or helping make water-related decisions.
Resolution A157, Climate Change and
the Millennium Development Goals, called upon the Convention to
reaffirm a commitment to prior resolutions 2006-B002 and 2006-D022, and
to acknowledge the effects that climate change can have on the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), encouraging all
Episcopal Church organizations to consider the hardships induced by
climate change for all projects that they undertake in meeting the
MDGs, including plans that would ameliorate the hardships.
Jim Jordan, Committee Chair (2009), reports that the two
resolutions were referred back to the
Committee. The resolution containing the request for funding the
part-time position was likely referred back due to the serious budget
cuts being undertaken. Resolution A157 would have dovetailed onto
existing MDG project planning, but it appears that the legislative
committee was constrained for time, given the focus on budgetary
issues, and expressed uncertainty as to how to implement the resolution
and thus work on the appropriate language modifications.
In other business, Jim also reports that the Committee was reaffirmed
as an Executive Council Committee. There was a recommendation put
forth by the Standing Committee on Structure that the ST&F
Committee become a Standing Commission. This recommendation was
not accepted after discussion of what precisely the group could
accomplish as a Standing Commission versus an Executive Committee.
Finally, applications for members for the coming Triennium were due 20
July, and new appointments and members are scheduled to be announced on
4 September. Providing that funding remained in the budget, all
CCABs would meet in Chicago in November of this year.
Download the
STF report to Convention (Adobe PDF).
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Society of Ordained Scientists Approves Formation
of North American Province
|
Submitted by Dcn.
Gail Bucher and the Rev. Dr. Barbara Smith-Moran
At the Annual
Meeting of the Society of Ordained Scientists at Launde, the formation
of a North
American Province was approved, with the Rev. Dr. Barbara Smith-Moran
in the role of
Provincial Warden and Dcn. Gail Phillips Bucher as Secretary-Treasurer.
The
changes to the Society by-laws will be worked out over the next few
months, with discussion, amendments and approval at next year's Annual
Meeting in the UK.
This is an exciting development for the Society, one that should help
it to grow and gain visibility.
The Society has two categories of membership: Associate members are
those with an interest in science-and-religion interactions, whether or
not they are ordained, and Regular members are clergy who have training
and experience in a scientific discipline. Applicants in U.S. are
invited to contact Dcn. Gail or Rev. Barbara, expressing their interest
and attaching a short version of their c.v. (See related article below,
"Society of Ordained Scientists Lauches Redesigned Website.")
The new Province offers its first retreat on May 4-6, 2010, at the
Walker Center, Newton, Massachusetts (near Boston). The retreat is open
to all Regular and Associate members, including those intending to be
received as members during the retreat. The meditation leader will be
the Rev. Dr. James W. Skehan, S.J., Professor Emeritus of Geology and
Geophysics, Boston College. A scholar of the thought of Teilhard de
Chardin. Fr. Jim has led numerous religious retreats for scientists and
engineers.
Download the North
American Province Meeting and Retreat announcement (Adobe PDF).
Dcn Gail can be reached at gpbucher@verizon.net
Rev. Barbara can be reached at smithmoran@earthlink.net
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Spirituality
and the Brain - Reflections of a 21st Century Neurologist
|
Submitted by Michael
P. Earnest, M.D.
“What
a piece of work is man! How noble in faculties! In form and moving, how
express and admirable! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension,
how like a god! ...”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Michael Earnest
(Mike) is a physician,
Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado School
of Medicine and the medical director for the Colorado Haiti Project,
an Episcopal Church-related nonprofit that does medical, educational,
agricultural and community development in Haiti. In his retirement
he began a new exploration of the roots of human spiritual
experience, religion and the human concept of God. Coming from a
Baptist, then Presbyterian background, he became excited by the
Episcopal tradition of the role of reason to inform our faith and
joined the St Thomas Episcopal Church in Denver.
This essay was
written during a
period of rapid growth and change in his understanding of spiritual
experience prompted by his taking a course at the Iliff School of
Theology on “Anglican Spirituality”. It represents his
effort to
clarify, for himself, the nature of human spiritual/religious
experience from the vantage point of a neuroscientific and clinical
neurology perspective. He shares his thoughts as one traveler, on
his own unique spiritual and intellectual journey, who wants to
converse with and learn from others who are on a similar path.
If you
want to explore these ideas
further, he recommends two recently published wonderful and
challenging books – The
Evolution of God by Robert
Wright
and Human – The
Science Behind What Makes us Unique by
Michael Gazzaniga.
-------------------------
Who are we? We are homo sapiens, wise man. To someone
steeped in the biology, the function, the dysfunction and the
understanding of the brain, Homo sapiens exists because of our
human brain, and our human brain exists because of evolution. Those are
the foundational premises of these reflections.
Our human brain:
It makes us who we are as individuals and who we are as a species. Our
brain provides us not only our movement, our senses, our natural
functions, our language, but it also provides us our instincts, our
emotions, our intellect and our deepest notions about ourselves and the
world. None of those characteristics exist without the brain. Indeed
our mind exists because of the brain.
Without our
modern human brain we would not be modern humans, nor would we have the
powerful faculties of reason, intuition, curiosity, of adventure
(always seeing and then venturing beyond
the here and now, venturing both intellectually and
physically)….. We would not have the powerful emotions and
behaviors of man and woman, parent and child, us and
them, me and you, I and Thou, gain and loss, good and evil, hope and
despair, joy and sorrow, compassion and callousness… the
emotions and behaviors that make us fully
human. Nor would we have a sense of the “other”, something
beyond us, beyond life itself, beyond physical reality – nor the
resulting experience of awe, wonder, fear and joy.
Without the brain we would not have our personal spiritual life. Nor
would we have corporate or cultural spiritual experience.
Article continues in online PDF...
Mike Earnest can be reached at mpearnest@comcast.net
[Top]
Society
of Ordained Scientists Launches Redesigned Website
|
The Society of Ordained Scientists has launched a redesigned
website presence at http:/www.ordainedscientists.org/. The new
site provides many resources for both members and inquirers:
- Overview of the Society and its history, including
commentary by
Arthur Peacocke, Founding Warden; John Kerr, Warden 1994; and
Eric
Jenkins.
- Constitution of the Society, providing an overview of the
aims,
the rule of the society, and information about structure and membership.
- News items of interest.
- Prayers and the Prayer Rota of the Society.
- Articles and Sermons for download.
- Contact information.
Planned
enhancements include a secure area for member login, and an online
discussion forum. The site was constructed by Matt Rayfield and
is hosted in the U.S. under the ordainedscientists.org
domain donated by Ray Spreier.
|
 |
For general
information, contact The Rev'd
Canon Michael Soulsby, Secretary.
For website content and technical issues, contact Matt Rayfield or Ray Spreier.
[Top]
ECUSA
Network for Science, Technology, and Faith Now on Facebook
|
Social networking tools, such as
Facebook,
LinkedIn, and
MySpace,
have quickly emerged as one of the fastest growing applications on the
internet. While youth and young adults drive a lot of this
activity, a recent study by the Pew Research Center indicated that
adults over the age of 45
are actually one of the fastest growing segments of social networking
users. One of the advantages to these tools is the ability to
create online groups that mirror existing organizations, linking
members together and providing an alternative point of entry (versus a
traditional website) for inquirers. These sites also provide
quick access to tools for email, discussion, posting of documents and
other materials - which must be manually built into a traditional
website.
Several formal Episcopal organizations have already taken advantage of
these social networks - such as
Episcopal
Relief and Development, and the
Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
Much of the growth, however has been unofficial and organic in
nature, originating from the common interests of members - such as
Episcopal Priests,
Episcopal Deacons, Episcopal Seminarians,
Episcopal Cafe, and
Episcopal
Communicators, among the many others.
Thanks to the efforts of David Bailey, we can now add
The Episcopal Church Network for Science,
Technology, and Faith to the growing community of
Facebook groups. Within two
weeks of the group's creation, it has already attracted 45 online
members and there are four discussion topics underway. David has
also incorporated links to the Network website, past newsletters, and
and to the Episcopal Church Committee on Science, Technology, and Faith
(and the Catechism of Creation).
A
Facebook
account (free of charge) is required. Membership in the group is
open to all interested individuals.
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