Science & Faith Public Lecture

This lecture is free and open to the public.

• Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022
• Time: 2 PM
• Location: Providence campus (Otterburne), Hanna Centre in the Lecture Theatre
• Speaker: Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass

Bio: Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass (MD, PhD) is a physician, scientist, and Associate Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. He leads a computational biology group that studies information at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and medicine (https://swami.wustl.edu/). He is a speaker for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Veritas Forums and the founder of Peaceful Science (https://peacefulscience.org/). Recently, he also served as a Science Adviser for AAAS Science for Seminaries. Dr. Swamidass is the author of a new book titled The Genealogical Adam and Eve. Here he tests a scientific hypothesis: What if the traditional account is somehow true with the origins of Adam and Eve taking place alongside evolution?

Title of Lecture: Understanding the Surprising Science of Ancestry 

Abstract: Origins is a place of conflict. Some think Adam and Eve are a myth. Some think evolution is a myth. Either way, the best available science opens up a new way forward. Even if evolution is true, Adam and Eve, ancestors of us all, could have been de novo created as recently as 6,000 years ago. In thinking through this possibility, we are returning to old questions about what it means to be human. In place of conflict, we are finding a better way.

This work is supported by a Science for Seminaries grant from the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER), a program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).