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Science & Religion

    Dr. Jon Bryan has published and presented in the field of Science and Religion, with focus on the integration of scholarship and faith and relating science to faith. As a Templeton Foundation awardee of a grant to develop an interdisciplinary course in science and religion, his course "Issues in Science and Religion" has been taught at Northwest Florida State College since 2000 and offers credit as a "diversity elective" in the college's Bachelor's degree programs in Elementary Education and Middle Grades Science/Math.   Dr. Bryan has also organized and presented science and religion theme sessions for the 2015 and 1999 Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America (SEGSA) meetings, co-organized a Paleontological Society short course and edited volume on "Perspectives on Science, Religion and Geological Education" for the Geological Society of America (GSA) 1999 Annual Convention, and presented at the BioLogos 2017 and American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) 2019 conferences.  Dr. Bryan is ordained as a vocational deacon in the Anglican Mission in America (AMIA) and serves in this volunteer clerical role at Immanuel Anglican church in Destin, Florida.

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Grant Awards

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2019-2021   Invited participant and award of annual travel stipend. The Creation Project, Regional Discussion Forum, Samford University, Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, AL. Interdisciplinary reading and discussion forum of scholars in philosophy, theology, and the natural sciences on issues at the intersection of the Christian doctrine of Creation and modern science. Three-year program with three meetings annually. Sponsored by the Carl F. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; and the John Templeton Foundation.

 

2000    Science and Religion Course Program, Center for Theology and Natural Sciences and the  John Templeton Foundation. Award of $20,000 to develop new course, Science, Religion, and Nature, with Dr. Dirk Dunbar, Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Humanities at Northwest Florida State College. Originally team-taught as a religion course (REL), the class is now solely taught by Dr. Bryan as an interdisciplinary studies course (IDS), Issues in Science & Religion, which offers Humanities course credit.

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Publications 

Bryan, JR, 2022, The Scared Cosmos: The World of Matter & Spirit. Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, Volume 35, No.4, July/August 2022, pg.30-35.

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Bryan, JR, 1999, Science and Religion at the Turn of the Millennium.  In: Kelley, PH, Bryan, JR, and Hansen, TA (eds.), The Evolution-Creation Controversy II: Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Geological Education. The Paleontological Society Papers, Volume 5.

 

Presentations

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Bryan, JR, 2019, Divine Action and the Sacramental Principle in the Science-Faith Dialogue. Presented at American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) conference, Wheaton College, Illinois.

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Bryan, JR, 2017, The Whole World an Icon of God—Sacramental Theology in the Science-Faith dialogue. Presented at the "Christ & Creation" BioLogos Conference, Houston, Texas. 

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Bryan, JR, 2015, Reflections on Teaching 'Issues in Science and Religion'. Presented and co-organized in theme session “Teaching Evolution in the Southeast” for Geological Society of America,  Southeastern Section Meeting, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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Bryan, JR 1999, Ways of Relating Science and Faith in the Classroom. Presented for Southeastern Geological Society of America Theme Session: “Approaching Questions of Origins in Earth Science Education: Creative Solutions to Evolving Controversies” 

 

Select Presentations & Workshops

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2010    What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?—The Relation of Science to Religion. Presentation/seminar Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of the Emerald Coast, Florida.

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2009    Evolution and Extinction in the Fossil Record as part of a special 5-part Public Lecture Series on Evolution, Northwest Florida State College. 

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2000    Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Science & Religion Course Program Advanced Workshop, Chicago, Illinois. Invited workshop participant as grant award-winner

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1995  Workshop on the Design of Academic Courses in Science and Religion. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida (participant)

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Ancient of Days,
 William Blake, 1794

Issues In Science & Religion

Course Description

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Issues in Science & Religion explores historic & modern interactions between science and religion. Emphasis is placed on integrating and harmonizing religion and science to develop a meaningful, contemporary worldview. The course surveys: major scientific discoveries, theories and technological advances that both challenge and inform religious belief (Big Bang cosmology, geologic time, evolutionary biology, global change, genetics); the nature of scientific investigation; the historic role of religion in the rise of science; types of religious experience; concepts of God and divine action; natural theology; the theology of nature and sacramental views of nature. Metascientific and pantheistic proposals such as Creationism, biblical intrepretation, Anthropic Principle, Gaia Hypothesis, Animism, Biophylia and Deep Ecology are also discussed. More...

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