Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, will present “Religious Naturalism and Ecomorality” for the 2009-10 Witherspoon Memorial Lecture in Religion and Science at 4 p.m. Oct. 22 in Room 300 of the Arts & Sciences Laboratory Sciences Building.
Goodenough is internationally known for her work in the field of cell biology. She is author of the textbook “Genetics,” recognized as a classic in the field, which went through three editions and has been translated into five languages.
In 1998, she introduced religious naturalism with the publication of “The Sacred Depths of Nature,” which interweaves traditional religious thought, myth and mysticism with science-based understandings of nature.
The book explores the science behind evolution, emotions, neuroscience, the origins of life, sexuality and death while relating them to familiar religious and cultural concepts.
Goodenough has served as president of the Society of Cell Biologists. She also has served as president of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science and is on the editorial board of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science.
Her talk will focus on religious naturalism, which neither requires a belief in God nor excludes such faith. “Naturalism” is taken to mean our current understanding of nature, and the history of nature, as brought to us through scientific inquiry. “Religious” is interpreted to entail three sets of personal responses — interpretive, spiritual and moral — to a core narrative.
The religious naturalist explores the religious potential of man’s understanding of nature along an interpretive, spiritual and moral axis. Ecomorality encompasses our relationship with the rest of the planet, a parameter that is particularly well informed by an understanding of the natural world.
The Witherspoon Lecture Series was made possible by a grant in 2000 from William Witherspoon, a retired investment banker and a past student and teacher at University College in Arts & Sciences. His gift was motivated by a deep interest in both science and religion.
Goodenough’s lecture, sponsored by the Religious Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, is free and open to the public.
For more information, call 935-8677 or e-mail relst@artsci.wustl.edu.