Cost and Registration Information
Early Registration Price (by May 19): $180
Regular Price (after May 19): $198
Seminar Description
Western writing about extraterrestrial intelligent life (EIL) dates to the fifth century BCE, and throughout this voluminous body of work—contributed by philosophers, literary figures, theologians, astronomers, and others—religion is a persistent theme. This condensed seminar will specifically examine Christianity’s response to EIL and the plurality of worlds from St. Augustine’s The City of God (ca. 412-427), through the Enlightenment—when belief in EIL first became widespread—and the rise of modern astronomy. Three sessions.
Lee Minnerly, MA in anthropology, teaches classes at the Newberry on both Old and New World cultural astronomy, early science fiction, and the extraterrestrial life debate. He also volunteers at the Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy at Adler Planetarium.
Materials List
Required:
- Thomas F. O'Meara, Vast Universe: Extraterrestrials and Christian Revelation. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012). ISBN 97-0-8146-8047-6
Recommended:
- David Wilkinson, Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, 1st ed. (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013). ISBN978-0-19-968020-7
First Reading:
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Please read “A History of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate" for the first class session available online at: http://m1_sterling.tripod.com/lifeandeverything/Crowe.pdf
This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.