Monday Class: Social Science, Religion, and Human Flourishing

In the Fall 2009 Monday Class, “Perspectives on Science and Worldview,” we considered what role the natural sciences should play in helping us answer our most fundamental questions about what it means to be human. In this class we want to extend that discussion into the social sciences by asking how the social sciences can help us. How do the social sciences serve human flourishing?

In looking into how the social sciences can help us, we also want to look into the relationship between the social sciences and religion. Social science and religion have a long history together that cannot be easily summarized, and that history continues to be dynamic today, taking different forms across various social sciences.

Each of our speakers in this series of talks, therefore, will explore the ways that social science can serve human flourishing and will also explore the interplay between social science and religion in his or her field of study. All classes begin at 8pm in the Christian Study Center classroom. See below for the complete course schedule.

Schedule
January 25: “Introduction: Why the Social Sciences Matter” (Norman Lewis, Assistant Professor of Journalism)

February 1: “Faith and Science, Faith in Science: The Place of Religion in the Social Sciences” (Mitchell B. Hart, Alexander Grass Chair in Jewish History)

February 8: “Why Do Economists & People of Faith Need Each Other?” (Sarah Hamersma, Assistant Professor of Economics)

February 15: “Can social science help solve social problems?: The case of criminology” (Ronald Akers, Professor of Criminology and Law and Joseph Spillane, Associate Professor of Criminology and History)

February 22: “Religion and the Social Sciences: the Search for a Common Ground” (David Hackett, Associate Professor of Religion)

March 1: “Secular Healing: Shades of the Divine in Counseling Psychology” (Kimberly Jones, Counseling Psychology)