Foundations of Faith to be strengthened at Cambridge

I’m obviously interested in seeing the foundations of faith strengthened in Cambridge in the straightforward sense of the words. But as a manuscript man I was also delighted to hear today that Cambridge University Library has announced visionary plans to become a digital library for the world – following a £1.5m lead gift pledged by Dr Leonard Polonsky.

The CUL is home to more than seven million books and some of the greatest collections in existence, including a superb science collection with papers from Newton and Darwin, Flamsteed, Halley, Clerk Maxwell and Hawking.

But its faith collections are just as breathtaking. They include

• some of the oldest and most significant Qur’ans ever to be uncovered, as well an Eighth Century copy of Surat al-Anfal.
• the world’s largest and most important collection of Jewish Genizah materials, including the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection – 193,000 fragments of manuscripts as significant as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• an incomparable collection of Christian manuscripts including the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (one of the most important Greek New Testament manuscripts), the Book of Deer and the Book of Cerne.

The first collections to be digitised will be therefore be entitled The Foundations of Faith and The Foundations of Science. The goal for both is that they become ‘living libraries’ with the capacity to grow and evolve.

University Librarian Anne Jarvis said: "Faith and science will be the two cornerstones of the project, both of fundamental importance in our quest to understand the world and our place in it.”

http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2010/06/university-of-cambridge-to-create.html

Filed under: books, Cambridgeshire, faith, science

McGrath to lecture in Cambridge

Filed under: Christianity, Events, science

Science meets faith

I wonder whether there can be anywhere so rich in opportunities to engage with the interface between science and faith as Cambridge? Here is a poster from the Wesley Church advertising their events:

Filed under: Events, science

The day of Creation

Damaris’ Culturewatch email service reports that the film Creation launches in UK cinemas today, and offers a raft of resources to help local churches take the opportunity it presents to engage with the Darwin/science/creationism debate at www.damaris.org/creationmovie. They are all completely free thanks to the support of the film’s distributors, Icon.

Here are some samples:

Download pdf (2.8 MB)

Download pdf (0.4 MB)

Download pdf (2.2 MB)

Filed under: Christianity, Media Matters, Resources, science, Darwin, evolution

Darwin podcast

The Revd Dr Malcolm Brown, the Director of the Archbishops’ Council’s Mission and Public Affairs Division, is a genuine admirer of what Charles Darwin achieved with his writings. Hear what he had to say in a podcast celebrating 150 years of On the Origin of Species.

Filed under: Church of England, Resources, science

New step in stem cell research

The BBC carried news yesterday of how scientists in Newcastle claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory in what they say is a world first.

The new technique aims to grow sperm from embryonic stem cells and has been developed by Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI). But it is at least five years from being perfected, and other experts are not sure that viable sperm has in fact been made.

Current UK law prohibits the use of such sperm for fertility treatment. The scientists in Newcastle say it could help infertile men.

What do you think?

• Should embryonic cells be used for this research, or only stems cells sourced in less controversial ways?
• Should the law be changed and the knowledge gained be used to help directly with fertility treatment, or only help by informing our understanding?
• Is this a ‘thin end of the wedge’? Where should boundaries be drawn, if any?

These are important questions, and genetic research is only going to raise more of them. They are also not easy questions to answer. Do add your comments.

Filed under: Current affairs, science, Stem cells

Cambridge Festival of Ideas

This year’s Festival of Ideas in Cambridge will run from 21 October – 1 November.

Over 150 free events, including workshops, debates and taster sessions, celebrate the arts, humanities and social science. It’s a great carnival of the mind on our doorstep. The organisers would like to include more events to do with faith and the faiths, but there are two good ones this year anyway:

Questions of Truth

Saturday 24 October  1.30pm – 3pm
Mill Lane Lecture Room 3, Mill Lane

Described as "the book Richard Dawkins doesn’t want you to read" and by a Nobel Prizewinner as "a refreshing contrast", Questions of Truth sees John Polkinghorne FRS and Nicholas Beale offer responses to questions about God, science and belief. Come with your own questions and comments to a stimulating interactive session chaired by Professor Simon Conway-Morris
Sponsored by the Faraday Institute

Do we need a new morality for the 21st century?

Thursday 29 October  5.30pm – 6.30pm
Mill Lane Lecture Room 3, Mill Lane

Is our moral compass changing as we face new challenges? As the world becomes more globalised do different cultures have to embrace different moral codes or are there fundamental moral values that we share? Dame Julia Neuberger, Sheikh Michael Mumisa, Professor David Ford and Professor Simon Blackburn will lead the discussion

Filed under: Events, science, Cambridge

Missing Links

Meet Ida, the Missing Link, a 47-million-year-old ‘lemur’. The Beeb in its news report was very careful to give a proper scientific perspective – a model of concise explanation – though it couldn’t quite resist the “Missing Link” label as its punchline comment.

Exciting new evidence for a corner of common past, yes indeed. Missing link – no. It just reinforces the idea that there is a mysterious evolutionary gap between other primates and ourselves. Remember, it really is alright to believe in evolution as sensible science and be a Christian believing in a Creator God too.

But what a fascinating find; and I wonder what else is lying hidden in Messel Shales.

From the BBC website:

Independent experts are keen to see the new fossil but somewhat sceptical of any claim that it could be "a missing link".

Dr Henry Gee, a senior editor at the journal Nature, said the term itself was misleading and that the scientific community would need to evaluate its significance.

"It’s extremely nice to have a new find and it will be well-studied," he said. But he added that it was not likely to be in the same league as major discoveries such as "Flores man" or feathered dinosaurs.

The BBC’s Fergus Walsh takes a look inside the Messel Pit

Dr Chris Beard, curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and author of The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey, said he was "awestruck" by the publicity machine surrounding the new fossil.

He argued that it could damage the popularisation of science if the creature was not all that it was hyped up to be.

Filed under: science, evolution