Dear WesleyNexus Colleague:
Often during our discussion sessions around the table at the WesleyNexus Board meetings, we lament the observation that many times those who identify with the progressive wing of the United Methodist Church exhibit a characteristic best described as “biblical illiteracy.” That is to say, we don’t have a full grasp of many of the biblical texts that come up in conversations, in Bible lessons, or even the texts found in the common lectionary. On the other hand, those in the more “traditional” congregations often exhibit a stance that is best described as “biblical literalism,” meaning that they adhere to the conviction that the literal reading of Bible texts is the only faithful stance to take. Needless to say, these two characteristics make for conflict. What is overlooked is our failure to see that the traditionalists are likely not going to change their minds, while we are the ones who can actually improve the dialogue by becoming more biblically literate. Most of the time, we just don’t know what a particular text says because we have given up spending any significant time with the scriptures.
Of course, we are on solid ground in claiming that any biblical text, to be properly and fully understood, must be read within its larger cultural context. But that is no excuse for our continued biblical ignorance. We remember one of the former bishops of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, standing on the stage at Annual Conference one year, saying, “The Bible is too important for me to read the texts literally. No, I read the Bible seriously.” That is foundational wisdom for this discussion. But, of course, to adopt this stance, to take the Bible seriously, requires hard work. Understanding the context of scriptural passages is a complex and sometimes confusing task. It might be hard for us to expect the average person in the pew to commit the time and effort to that end, but at least we (if we consider ourselves “leaders”) have no such excuse. The challenge stretches all the way from the story of creation in Genesis 1 to the last verses of Revelation – Chapter 21:1 – with the vision of a “new heaven and new earth.” What, in the 21st century, can either of these passages possibly mean?
One thing it means is that we must take contemporary biblical scholarship seriously. All of us must do that, understanding that within the last 100 years significant documents have been discovered in monasteries and elsewhere in the middle East that provide a much-broadened perspective on the days when these ancient texts were written. And it means we have to pay attention to the discoveries of middle eastern archaeologists since the second World War when so-called historical biblical sites have been unearthed. And it means that we must change our language, reflecting that the previously universal view in a three-tiered universe is archaic. Why do we continue to use the mythological language in the Bible when we know better? Why can’t we affirm the insights of science that provide a more accurate story of our origins than the picture of Adam and Eve in a garden responding to the tempting words of a talking snake? Why can’t we affirm the implications of a boundless and expanding universe, with our earth spinning around a second-generation star in a galaxy of a billion other stars?
Our efforts at WesleyNexus are built on these basic, modern assumptions. That is why we are sponsoring the work of our colleague Jennifer Secki Shields who is writing a curriculum of Bible stories for children that reflect the realities of the modern world. That is why we promote sessions being sponsored by other organizations that highlight the latest archaeological discoveries. That is why we review and promote books such as AstroTheology by Dr. Ted Peters. That is why we support the work of Dr. Jennifer Wiseman who is a member of our Advisory Board and heads the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion at the AAAS. That is why we sponsor talks by Dr. John Haught, professor emeritus at Georgetown, who provides us with a significant vision in his book The New Cosmic Story. You will have read more about these works in the recent WesleyNexus newsletters, and we invite you to continue with us on our quest. There is more about this ongoing issue in the reports below
(This essay has stiimulated quite a bit of conversation between the members our the WesleyNexus board. See a different perspective from Bob Dennis here.)
We appreciate the contributions we have received throughout the year. We are now rebuilding our small treasury to produce the sixth annual Evolution Weekend in Maryland, hoping that we will again have the funds to livestream the event for our colleagues around the country. Our theme for the 2019 event on February 10 will be “Human Origins,” so please make your plans accordingly. Looking forward, we will continue to develop programs throughout 2018 and 2019. We will need your support and hope you will consider helping us out. WesleyNexus is a 501(c)(3) charitable, educational organization, and we will acknowledge all gifts from individuals for tax reporting purposes. Thanks in advance for your support.
God Bless,
Rick, Maynard, and the rest of the
WesleyNexus Board of Directors
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Reminder to SAVE THE DATE!
Evolution Weekend
February 10, 2019
Baltimore-Washington Conference Center
Our 6th annual Evolution Weekend event will feature Dr. Connie Bertka and Dr. Briana Pobiner in a discussion on human origins. Stay tuned for details.
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Brain Science at the Carnegie Institution
On October 3, a stimulating presentation and discussion took place at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC, featuring world renown neurobiologist Dr. Carla Shatz of Stanford University. Dr. Shatz, the Sapp Family Provostial Professor & Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at Stanford, and the David Starr Jordan Director of the 
Stanford Bio-X James H. Clark Center, also was the recipient of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, from the Norwegian Academy of Sciences. Co-hosted by the Carnegie Institution for Science with The Kavli Foundation, the Royal Embassy of Norway, and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Kavli Prize is a partnership between The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation (United States), and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The Prize is awarded once every three years. Professor Shatz was introduced by Carnegie Institution President, Dr. Eric D. Isaacs, and the post-lecture discussion was moderated by George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs Director and Emmy winning journalist Frank Sesno. The topic for the evening was “What Can the Developing Brain Teach Us About Alzheimer’s Disease?” Dr. Shatz explained how the developing brain functions quite differently than the adult brain, and knowing how developing molecules in a younger brain are functioning can give us some clues as to what might be going wrong in a mature brain in the process of an emerging Alzheimer’s condition. Also important is knowing how the brain repairs malfunctions, and what the critical periods might be during the process of early brain expansion, practicing and learning. Dr. Shatz used vision as an example of how the brain learns: taking an image from each of the human eyes, and melding these two images into one comprehensible picture at the point where synapses convey information to the visual cortex. Adult brain connections are precise, but such precision emerges only during critical developmental periods when synapses—the delicate contacts between neurons that relay and store information—normally grow memories as part of a learning-driven process. She pointed out that pruning stored memories is a continuous process through life, but memory loss starts to accelerate beginning at about the age of 42, much too early for us to discover (at the moment) whether Alzheimer’s might later emerge. Understanding the molecules and mechanisms of this synapse pruning may lead eventually to treatments for developmental disorders and Alzheimer’s disease. Although Dr. Shatz does not study Alzheimer’s brains directly, we need to keep abreast of the work Dr. Shatz is supervising in her Stanford lab as we struggle as a society to keep up with the mounting incidence of Alzheimer’s in the years ahead.
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Making a Commitment to Justice by J. Cody Nielsen
Perhaps one of the most significant challenges to faith in America is providing a platform for college students to engage the cultural and religious questions that too often become a stumbling block and a negative experience. It is to address these challenges that Convergence on Campus was formed. Cody Nielsen, Convergence founder and graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary, has distributed an email describing his move to Boston where he is currently the Executive Director of Convergence on Campus. As expressed in their mission statement, their aim is “enhancing college and university campus climates for religious, spiritual and secular identities through policy and practice.” Their vision is to “seek to create a world where religious, secular, and spiritual identities are commonplace within colleges and universities framework for diversity and sense of purpose.” This is foundational work for the type of dialogue that WesleyNexus seeks to promote. WesleyNexus affirms this effort and encourages our participants to find more about the organization and sign up for their updates.
From J. Cody Nielsen,
A year ago, I left my previous position in Minnesota, moved across the country to take a new role at Harvard and MIT, and witnessed the launch of a dream I saw for almost five years coming. Convergence was born out of the research, the tireless conversations, and the need to persevere with an idea that we felt was missing in religious, secular, and spiritual identities in higher education.
A year later, we’ve learned much. And one of those things we’ve learned is a buzz word of intersectionality. If we believe that religion is a monolith, if we only call for the support of religious and non-religious identities in higher education, without taking into account the concerns of race, of homophobia, of our country’s inability to fully support women as equals and believe the seemingly endless realities of the #MeToo movement, then this organization should not exist.
The work we do to build support for religious, secular, and spiritual identities has been since the beginning a work of social justice. But it does not stand alone in that call for justice. Instead, as an organization, we will stand up and work to end sexual assault on our campuses, to support the mental health of our students, will call out for support of Black individuals in the academy, and will not rest until higher education is a space in which all identities are truly welcome.
I’m very proud of the many people we have worked with in this past year, but our work has only begun. Now, we seek to deepen relationships with those interested in partnering with us, seek to grow wise from those of you who are out there doing the deep and important work of intersectionality, and wish to engage with all of you and the important work you are doing.
If you are interested in partnering and building collaborative experiences in diversity and equity, in student affairs, through chaplaincy in higher education, and in the public sector, I would like to personally ask you to write me and reach out to our team. The time has come for us an organization to keep building creativity and especially to build an organization dedicated to serving all forms of justice, even while our principal support is that of the environments which better support religious, secular, and spiritual identities.
I look forward to hearing from you, working with you, and joining in the resistance that is necessary to see to it that our world not be overcome with tyranny and oppression but rather is one of inclusion, diversity, and possibilities.
Peace and Power,
Cody
https://convergenceoncampus.org/
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Photographing the Microscopic: Winners of Nikon Small World 2018 by Alan Taylor
In Psalm 104, the author presents the grandeur of God’s creation by proclaiming:
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your[a] chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your[b] chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your[c] messengers,
fire and flame your[d] ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
What could not be known at the time was that grandeur is also found in the sublime. With developments in technology that allow the magnification of microscopic worlds, we have not long ago unlocked our understanding of the world of the small but also discovered its incredible beauty. This month, Atlantic Monthly has published the winners of the Nikon Small World 2018. We hope you enjoy these pictures. They are awesome. The pictures can be found here.
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I, holobiont. Are you and your microbes a community or a single entity? by Derek J. Skillings
Holobiont is not a term that you regularly run across in the reading of the daily newspaper or even a general biology book. This odd term refers to the symbiotic relationship between two or more organisms that allow for the mutual flourishing of the participants. As generally taught, natural selection applies to individual organisms in the struggle to adapt to changing environments. In this article, Derek Skilling describes the hologenome theory of evolution whereby symbiotic organisms are now understood to be subject to the same forces as an individual organism. Derek J. Skillings is a biologist and philosopher of science. He is currently a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has been published in Philosophy of Science and Trends in Ecology and Evolution, among others.
The article can be found here: https://aeon.co/ideas/i-holobiont-are-you-and-your-microbes-a-community-or-a-single-entity
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Science and the Authority of the Bible
by Maynard Moore
On Saturday, October 20, BioLogos sponsored a conference focused on scripture and science, an event very well attended and hosted by National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Presentations came from astronomer Dr. Deb Haarsma, who is serving as President of the BioLogos Foundation; biologist Dr. Craig Story, professor of Biology at Gordon College in Massachusetts; and two biblical scholars. We were hopeful that this event would break new ground because the traditional claims about biblical authority, and the manner in which biblical texts are used as weapons in many discussions, threaten the future of the Christian faith.
Dr. Haarsma initiated the conference through several graphic slides serving as an overview of the science/religion debate, placing two columns side by side, with biblical concepts on one side and concepts basic to science in the other that more or less provided contrast to biblical themes. Unfortunately, by presenting these contrasting terms in this fashion, the immediate impression was that the two realms are in conflict, but the entire conference was supposed to be showing how the two realms – properly understood – demonstrate harmony. For instance, included in column A were the words “purpose,” “creation,” and “design” while in Column B were contrasting terms such as “randomness,” “evolution” and “complexity.” Dr. Haarsma made the claim that one finds harmony between such concepts when the terms are properly interpreted – this is, after all, the mission of BioLogos – and she utilized images from the Hubble telescope showing the awesome night sky full of galaxies corresponding to the words of Psalm 19:1 affirming the “heavens declare the glory of God.” Many additional cross-references like this were part of the presentation before she turned to the other panelists for additional perspectives.
Dr. Tremper Longman, Distinguished Scholar and professor emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, as well as annual visiting professor of Old Testament at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, initiated his presentation by affirming the Westminster Confession as foundational for Christians, and claimed its compatibility with some of the statements from Pope John Paul II concerning evolution. He affirmed the validity of the biblical story of creation when properly understood as figurative (not literal) language, claiming the bible tells us that God is creator but does not say “how” creation took place – for that we turn to science. Dr. Craig Story spoke next and provided a primer on genetics and cell biology, showing how tree rings and radiometry and carbon decay all reveal the fact of “deep time.” He made an interesting point in utilizing the billions of stars in the Milky Way in tandem with the rings in our ancient trees as complementary ways to measure deep time. But things were left somewhat murky when Dr. Story introduced the idea of “theocentric chemistry.” That and some other definitions were left dangling without further discussion. Final comments came from Dr. David Renwick, Senior Pastor of National Presbyterian Church. Summarizing the discussion, he pointed out that the overriding issue is the dualistic understanding of human identity (soul distinct from body, which escapes at death, with its origins in Greek metaphysics) in contrast to the conclusions drawn from evolution (the emergence of humanity within the framework of a comprehensive biology). A full understanding of the unity of the human being complements well an emerging understanding of the significance of intelligent life here on earth within the framework of an expansive universe.
For many of the 150+ people in attendance, the presentations were probably very informative and welcomed, but the ideas presented did not engage some of the deeper issues in the emerging science & religion dialogue. None of the speakers seem to recognize the significance of “the new cosmic story” as we recently heard outlined by Professor John Haught. It is anachronistic to continue to promote a theology based on a three-tiered universe – our currently understood cosmology begs to become the framework for the task of theologizing in the 21st century. Quoting selective scriptural passages to buttress other scriptural pre-Copernican notions does not hold much cachet in the world of science. This type of self-serving circular argument is what contributes to the steady stream of younger educated people leaving our churches in droves, along with the general silliness that goes on as “worship” and the rather tepid stuff taught in Sunday Schools. The speakers all attested to the error of literal readings of biblical texts, but each of them in their own fashion quoted these ancient texts as authoritative in the 21st century. Their remarks reflected an abiding assumption that God – as depicted in the bible on almost every page – is a supernatural, interventionist miracle-worker who lives just beyond the sky in a three-tiered universe. As a whole, the conference left me wanting more. The future of institutional Christianity will require more rigorous biblical research into the contexts of scriptural passages, and more serious recognition of the emerging discoveries from archaeology that “correct” many of the story-telling details that have heretofore been accepted as history.
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The Inside Story: Consciousness, Nature, Transcendence
A transdisciplinary conference on Mind, Matter, Meaning and Mysticism
November 9-10, 2018
Descartes’ famous dictum—I think, therefore I am—gave rise to the modern distinction between mind and matter. But “the inside story” is more complex and thrilling – it strongly conveys the possibility of uniting mind and matter, meaning and mysticism.
Join the in-depth exploration of consciousness, nature, and transcendence as scientists, philosophers, and theologians ask, “What’s on the inside?” Keynote speakers include: Philip Clayton (WesleyNexus Advisory Board Member and author of numerous books related to science and religion, including The Predicament of Belief and Mind and Emergence), Ilia Delio (a longtime friend of WesleyNexus, past member of the Washington Theological Consortium Science and Religion study group and author of Christ in Evolution), Timothy O’Connor (Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University in Waco, Texas and author of Theism and Ultimate Explanation: The Necessary Shape of Contingency and Persons and Causes: The Metaphysics of Free Will ), and Terrence Deacon (neuroanthropologist, Professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter).
This program is sponsored by Villanova University, Department of Theology & Religious Studies Connelly Chair in Christian Theology, the Augustinian Institute, Department of Philosophy, and Halloran Philanthropies.
More information on this program can be found here: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/theology/news_events/inside-story-conference/about.html
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The Science of Human Origins and Religious Traditions: Challenges and Opportunities
The program webpage can be found here.
The program flyer can be found here.