ASA News

The Ian Ramsey Centre and the International Society for Science and Religion
are pleased to announce a conference

80th birthday celebration of the work of

John Polkinghorne

July 7th – 11th 2010
Oxford, UK

SPEAKERS
Nancy Cartwright, Philip Clayton, Chris Isham, Robert Russell, Nick Saunders, Keith Ward, Fraser Watts, Michael Welker andJohn Polkinghorne

SHORT PAPER CONTRIBUTIONS
are invited (details: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~theo0038/Conferenceinfo/Callforpapers10.htm ).

FURTHER DETAILS and a poster are on the main Conference page, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~theo0038/Conferenceinfo/General.html

Booking details: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~theo0038/Conferenceinfo/booking.htm
Online booking:https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/catalogue/products.asp?compid=1&deptid=90&catID=513&hasClicked=1.
If you have any queries about matters to do with booking, please contact us (ian-ramsey-centre@theology.ox.ac.uk). NB: Early booking discounts apply before June 4th2010.

Competition: The ISSR is hosting a competition for younger scholars: see http://www.issr.org.uk/essay-competition.asp.

Please tell us (ian-ramsey-centre@theology.ox.ac.uk) if you do not want to receive further mailings from the Ian Ramsey Centre, and we will immediately remove your name from our mailing list.

With good wishes

Cynthia Hall

Administrator

Ian Ramsey Centre,
34 St Giles
Oxford OX1 3LH, U.K

Tel: +44 (0) 1865 274548
Fax: +44 (0) 1865 274717
Email: ian-ramsey-centre@theology.ox.ac.uk

CALL FOR PAPERS
The continuous and constantly accelerated introduction of advanced new
technologies allowing an unprecedented variety of radically novel
applications is inundating our social and private life. One important
species of these technological breakthroughs is biotechnology and
concerns a vital aspect of our scientific knowledge of the biological
world and its inner laws. As such, it inevitably poses itself as a
challenge to religion which may be seen as either a more pronounced
version of the old antagonism between science and religious belief or
rather as a radically new conflict. The most controversial area of
applied biotechnology concerns human germline modification and
enhancement beyond mere therapy, sometimes referred to as the "new
eugenics", as well as human cloning.

Biotechnology is quite different from purely scientific speculation for
the sake of knowledge only as well as from mere invention of tools. It
embodies a new type of merging science and technology that we may
call "techno-science", being a search for new theories that,
simultaneously, carry within them the demand for their own application
via advanced instruments. At the same time, we are witnessing certain
accommodating moves or outright rejections of certain aspects of
biotechnology on the side of religion.

Papers are welcome for a special theme issue of the /European Legacy/
that will seek to delineate, analyze and discuss the current stage of
the relationship between religion and biotechnology and the impact of
all sorts of human genetic engineering on traditional theological
attitudes to life and the notion of the human person. The special issue
is expected to present as many religious positions as possible and offer
a representative array of themes and methodological approaches,
encompassing discussions in epistemological, ethical, historical or
socio-political terms.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 31, 2010

To submit an article for this Special issue please contact:

Dr. Byron Kaldis
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion
The Hellenic Open University
bkald@eap.gr <mailto:bkald@eap.gr>