PRESS RELEASE: July 15, 2020
Pentecostal Theological Seminary
Dr. David Han, Vice-President of Academics
www.ptseminary.edu
Pentecostal Theological Seminary has been selected as one of eight Christian seminaries across North America to participate in the 2020-2021 Science for Seminaries project. This initiative is organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program in partnership with the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), the primary accrediting association for seminaries in North America. PTS will be the first institution from the Pentecostal tradition to participate in the initiative. Dr. David Han, Vice-President of Academics, will serve as coordinator of the project along with two faculty partners, Dr. Lee Roy Martin and Dr. Tom Biller.
Science for Seminaries supports seminaries in their efforts to incorporate forefront science into their core curricula by providing schools with funding and resources designed to facilitate classroom discussion. The goal is to prepare future faith leaders to address questions related to science, ethics, and theology with their congregants. Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, Director of DoSER, said, “Most people in our society identify with a religious perspective or community and see the world, including science and technology, through that lens. This project meets people where they are most comfortable and fosters good relationships with the empirical knowledge that affects every aspect of our lives.”
Over eighteen months beginning this fall, each of the participating seminaries will incorporate science into several courses, including two core courses (i.e., Pentecostal Explorations of the Old Testament and Introduction to the Christian Doctrine), and convene a campus-wide event, i.e., a conference on the theme of “Flourishing Humanity: Reimagining the Image of God” that would invite scientists in the area of microbiology and neuroscience as well as theologians who have long demonstrated their interests in exploring the intersections between science and theology.
Dr. Han stated, “We believe that this integration into the educational process can accentuate a greater understanding of the exploration of science and theological perspective.”
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes 261 affiliated societies and academics of science, serving millions of individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more. Building upon its mission, AAAS established the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program in 1995 to facilitate communication between scientific and religious communities. For the latest information and news about AAAS DoSER and the Science for Seminaries Project, visit AAAS.org/DoSER and ScienceforSeminaries.org.
