ATLANTA — Mercer’s James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology will hold the third annual D. Perry and Betty Ginn Lecture Series next week on the University’s Atlanta campus. The lecturer is Dr. Ted Peters, a noted theologian on issues of science and religion and a professor of systematic theology at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Graduate Theological Union and director of the Institute for Theology and Ethics. His topics will be “Evolution, Atheism and Faith” on Tuesday, Sept. 21, in Cecil B. Day Hall, and “Extraterrestrial Life and the Christian Earthview,” on Thursday, Sept. 23, in the Academic and Conference Center Chapel. Both lectures begin at 10:45 a.m.
On Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m., Dr. Peters will speak in chapel on Mercer’s Macon campus. That afternoon he will lecture on “The Stem Cell Controversy: Who’s Fighting with Whom about What?” at 4 p.m. in the Medical School Auditorium.
“Ted Peters is working at the frontiers of the ethics of current scientific advances, so these lectures will speak to both sides of the science-faith dialogue,” said Dr. R. Alan Culpepper, dean of the McAfee School of Theology. “I hope that it encourages further conversations between the scientists and the ethicists around some of the most interesting questions of our times.”
Dr. Peters serves as editor-in-chief of Dialog, A Journal of Theology, and co-editor of Theology and Science journal. In addition, he is an awarding-winning author, having written a number of books, including The Evolution of Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Life: Where in the World is God?; The Stem Cell Debate; GOD—The World’s Future: Systematic Theology for a Postmodern Era; For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family; Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom; Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society; God as Trinity: Relationality and Temporality in Divine Life, and Science, Theology and Ethics. He has co-authored a number of books, including: Sacred Cells? Why Christians Should Support Stem Cell Research, Anticipating Omega, Can You Believe in God and Evolution? and Evolution: From Creation to New Creation.
Dr. Peters also holds an appointment as research professor at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and was the 2009 Martin E. Marty Professor of Religion and the Academy at St. Olaf College. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s task force on genetics for the 2011 Churchwide Assembly, a speaker at the 2007 ELCA Convocation of Teaching Theologians and a recipient of the Fredrik Schiotz Distinguished Presidential Fellowship, 1984. Dr. Peters is also a member of the scientific and medical accountability standards working group of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and a consultant and research presenter for the Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences.
Dr. Peters holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Chicago, an M.Div. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and a B.A. from Michigan State University.
The D. Perry and Betty H. Ginn Lectures in Christian Faith and Modern Science were endowed by the Rev. Dr. D. Perry Ginn to encourage a deeper understanding by clergy and students of science and how it relates to the Biblical revelation. The former pastor of several Georgia congregations, including First Baptist Church, Gainesville, and Peachtree Baptist Church in Atlanta, he is semi-retired and serves as pastor of the North Clarendon Baptist Church in Avondale Estates.
About the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology
The McAfee School of Theology was established in 1996. Located in Atlanta on Mercer’s Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus, the School of Theology offers programs leading to the degrees Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, Master of Divinity, and Doctor of Ministry. The School of Theology also offers several joint programs: an M.Div.-Master of Business Administration, an M.Div.-Master of Science in Counseling and an M.Div.-Master of Arts in Church Music through the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Church Music Studies, a collaborative program between the School of Theology and the Townsend School of Music in Macon. For more information, visit theology.mercer.edu.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,200 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah and at three regional academic centers across the state. Mercer is affiliated with two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. The University operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
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