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The mission of Yale's Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology (IRST) is to explore the encounter of religion and spirituality with science and technology. Through its ongoing public lecture series, symposia, conferences, and working groups, IRST provides a variety of ways for all interested members of the greater Yale community to examine the spiritual, theological, philosophical, ethical and environmental implications of this encounter. IRST reaches beyond the Divinity School, inviting participation from students, faculty and staff across the university and surrounding community. Areas of special interest include cognitive sciences, anthropology, the natural sciences, medicine and related health sciences, forestry and environmental studies, the history of science, astronomy and physics, anthropology, applied technology, religious studies, philosophy, the arts and more. IRST identifies and facilitates access to existing university resources relevant to the dialogue, and also sponsors and original programming in the form of working and dialogue groups, public lectures, course offerings, web-based resources, and connections with external resources. IRST was founded by Yale Divinity School Dean Harold Attridge and his predecessor, Rebecca Chopp (currently President of Colgate University), and Clement-Muehl Professor of Communication Wes Avram, with the help of a generous grant from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Programming began in 2003, and a Divinity School course and speaker series was offered in the Spring of 2005. Since its founding, IRST has brought to Yale many of the leading voices in the field of religion and science studies. IRST is now funded by Dean Attridge and by the Metanexus Institute, with support from Yale's Institute of Sacred Music. IRST's current co-directors are Willis Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Social Ethics, and Denys Turner, Horace Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology, who are advised by Nihal de Lanerolle, Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurobiology and Chaplain of the Episcopal Center at Yale, and Peter van Ness, Associate Director of Yale Medical School's Program on Aging. Since its founding, IRST's program coordinator has been James Clement van Pelt, M.A.R. '03, who has also been the Yale presence at the major religion and science conferences. IRST's student administrators have been Sarah Scherschlight, M.Div '04; Tamara Shantz, M.A.R. '06, Christopher Reinish, M.Div '06, and currently, Gabriel J. Michael, M.A.R. '09. The Religion & Science in Dialogue working group meets at the Yale Divinity School most Thursday evenings during the academic year, and also conducts an active philosophical debate via an e-mail group. Members of the group include faculty, alumni, graduate and undergraduate students, and other members of the greater Yale community, who explore past and present thinking on relevant topics and produce original academic projects. |
