The Saint Benedict Institute will host physicist Dr. Stephen Barr, who is president of the Society of Catholic Scientists and retired from the University of Delaware faculty, for a talk titled “The Big Bang, the Beginning, and Creation” on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. at Hope College in the Maas Center auditorium.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
A video recording of the event will be made available online afterward on the Saint Benedict Institute website.
As noted in the presentation’s abstract, “Did the universe have a beginning? Was it created? Are these the same question? And will the universe come to an end or last forever?” This lecture will discuss what Christian revelation, philosophy, and contemporary science have to say about these questions.
This event is cosponsored by the college’s dean of natural and applied sciences, Department of Physics and Department of Religion, and the Magi Project at the Collegium Institute. It is the second lecture in the “Creation, Evolution, and Our Place in the Cosmos” series hosted by the Saint Benedict Institute this fall.
Barr is a professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware, and is a former director of the department’s Bartol Research Institute. His publications include the book “Modern Physics and Ancient Faith” (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003).
A Fellow of the American Physical Society (2011), he earned a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1978. He does research in theoretical particle physics, especially grand unified theories, theories of CP violation, neutrino oscillations and particle cosmology.
The Saint Benedict Institute is a ministry of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Holland. It seeks to promote and nurture intellectual work done from the heart of the Catholic Church, to foster an ecumenical community of Catholic Christians and friends committed to the renewal of culture, and to aid in the formation of intellectually and spiritually mature Christians by making available the riches of the Catholic tradition to Hope College and the wider community. More information can be found at saintbenedictinstitute.org.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu calendar in the individual listings.
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets.