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SUMMARY:Creation and Contemporary Science: The Legacy of Thomas Aquinas - 
 Dr William Carroll\, Oxford University
DTSTART:20120207T130000Z
DTEND:20120207T140000Z
UID:TALK35798@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:25203
DESCRIPTION:Developments in contemporary science\, especially evolutionary
  biology and cosmology\, have been used to support a kind of "totalizing n
 aturalism" according to which the universe and the processes within it nee
 d no explanation beyond the categories of the natural sciences themselves.
   Whether one speaks of self-organizing principles in living things or of 
 processes of emergence\, the conclusion often reached is that nature is se
 lf-sufficient and that appeals to a creator are at best irrelevant. Theori
 es in contemporary cosmology have been used both to affirm and to deny the
  existence of a creator.  Thomas Aquinas' analysis of what it means to cre
 ate and of the relationship between creation and science offers a way to a
 void much of the confusion in current claims about a universe which has no
  need of a creator.  In particular\, Thomas helps us to distinguish betwee
 n creation understood philosophically (in metaphysics)\, with no reference
  to a temporal beginning\, and creation understood theologically\, which d
 oes affirm such a beginning.  Thomas provides important insights for how o
 ne can affirm a robust notion of creation ex nihilo and the relative auton
 omy of natural processes such that\, for example\, one may embrace both th
 e conclusions of evolutionary biology and the traditional understanding of
  God as the cause of all that is.
LOCATION:Garden Room\, Library Building\, St. Edmund’s College
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