Higher Purpose Forum: Henry Christopher on Unity of Science, Spirituality and Religion

Presentation & Discussion Series TOMORROW, Thursday March 14 @ 7:00 PM EST via ZOOM (Registration Required) Co-Hosted with HJ International Graduate School (formerly UTS)

The Unity of Science, Spirituality & Religion : The Quest for More Universal Understanding Presenter: Henry Christopher Financial Aid Director, HJI International (MRE, UTS - HJI 1980)

Respondent : Jim Fleming Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Emeritus Colby College, Maine (DIV, UTS-HJI 1982)

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Last year, the Higher Purpose Forum (HPF) held two sessions on the “Unity of Science, Spirituality & Religion” (Dr. Jonathan Wells on July 1, and Thomas Cromwell on September 16). Tomorrow, Thursday (March 14), HPF will commence a series of meetings in this topic area.

We invite you to join our first meeting of the series. Our presenter is Henry Christopher, a graduate and staff member of the HJ International Graduate School. Henry has been researching and writing on this topic for the past 10 years, with a focus on understanding human origins. Our respondent will be Jim Fleming, Professor Emeritus at Colby College in Maine. Jim’s specialization has been the history of science.

The history of science goes back to Mesopotamia and Egypt over 6,000 years ago. The history of “religion” might be said to have begun with Neanderthals who were perhaps were the first to perform ritual burials. As these two paths towards truth advanced over the centuries, scientific thinkers began to be confronted with increasing pressure to not contradict Church doctrines.

Doctrinal confrontations occurred in such topics as the sun revolving around the earth; the earth being 6,000 years old; or humans being created via divine fiat, disassociated from an evolutionary process. The clash between religion and science grew bigger and bigger, until the 1859 when Charles Darwin’s book on the theory of evolution blew it wide open.

This presentation will outline the history of science and religion and the eventual conflict between the two. We will consider possibilities for resolving this conflict, with the hope of the two joining forces to enable a more universal pathway for understanding essential truth.

Presenter Henry Christopher Henry Christopher (UTS/HJI Class of 1980 and 2006) worked at the Washington Times as a graphic artist from 1982-2002. He spent two years in Seoul, Korea, as director of the middle/high school program for English speakers.

Upon returning to the U.S., Henry became UTS Admissions Director in 2004, and opened the UTS Community Relations office to create a working relationship with the residents in the hamlet of Barrytown and Town of Red Hook in New York. Presently, he is UTS Financial Aid Director and oversees the affairs of international students studying at UTS in the U.S.

Henry is a lay writer on the interface between science and religion.

Respondent Jim Fleming Jim Fleming has been the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Colby College (Waterville, ME) as well as Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution. He has earned degrees in astronomy (B.S. Penn State University), atmospheric science (M.S. Colorado State University) and history (Ph.D. Princeton University).

His teaching bridges the sciences and the humanities, and his research interests involve the history of the geophysical sciences, especially meteorology and climate change. His books include Meteorology in America, 1800-1870 (Johns Hopkins, 1990), Historical Perspectives on Climate Change (Oxford, 1998), The Callendar Effect (AMS, 2007), Fixing the Sky (Columbia, 2010), Inventing Atmospheric Science (MIT, 2016), and First Woman: Joanne Simpson and the Tropical Atmosphere (Oxford, 2020).

NEW Registration Link zoom,us/meeting/register/tJApfuCorDMvGdyOyivJDPDcNEANAQYGDru0

Upcoming HPF Meetings Tues. April 2 God’s Dream: Building a Racially Integrated Culture, Part I Jeffrey Kingsley & Christine Edwards

Thurs. April 11 – Sat. April 13 1st HJI Conference on Peace and Public Leadership “Addressing Challenges of Our Times” Session IV: Friday, April12 8:00 – 9:30 PM EST

HPF Session on Economic Democracy Alan Jessen, IADP; Professor Robert Ashford, Syracuse University; Dawn Brohawn, Center of Economic and Social Justice

Tues. April 23 Science and Religion from the Viewpoint of the Principle Dr. Andrew Wilson, HJI Professor of Scriptural Studies Respondent: Alison Wakelin, Assistant Teaching Professor, Widener University

Tues. May 7 The Principle’s Perspective on Science according to Wolli Wonbon Dr. Andrew Wilson, HJI Professor of Scriptural Studies

Tues. May 22 Unity of Science, Spirituality & Religion Alison Wakelin, Assitant Teaching Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Widener University

Sincerely, James Edgerly Director, Higher Purpose Forum