Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) project, “A Public Church Engaging Science for Public Good,” was designed to prepare seminary students to engage science as a key dimension in addressing pressing issues of public good. LSTC seeks to form church leaders who are called to serve multiple overlapping publics – congregations, denominations, political and civic communities, marginalized communities, virtual publics, and other emerging forms of community and discourse. The project developed science as a crucial part students’ toolkit for this kind of ministry and fostered appreciation for the role of science in the critical issues that most concern them. In collaboration with LSTC’s Zygon Center for Religion and Science and Pero Center for Intersectionality Studies, the seminary was able to integrate science and scientists into seminary-wide conversations on pressing matters of public concern, including:
- a major lecture on the role of race in scientific guilds and epistemologies;
- an expert panel discussing lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the interaction of religion and science; and
- a conference on the intersecting roles of religion and science in producing, understanding, and dismantling racism
Additionally, two courses were developed under grant project. Dr. Benjamin Stewart’s, “Spiritualities of Knowing: Science, Religion, and Cosmos,” as well as “Future of Creation: Foundations for a Just and Sustainable World,” co-taught by Dr. Stewart and Dr. Gayle Woloschak.
