UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN - GIFFORD LECTURES 1998
UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN - GIFFORD LECTURES 1998
Why is there suffering and death? What is the ultimate nature of God? Can the power of prayer heal the sick?
King’s College Conference Centre at 7pm on 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19 March 1998
One of the world’s leading authorities on the relationship between science and theology is returning to the University of Aberdeen to deliver the prestigious Gifford lecture series 1998 following the overwhelming popular success of his lectures last year.
Author, broadcaster, and academic Russell Stannard OBE, former Professor of Physics at the Open University, applies his analytical mind to the big questions: why is there suffering and death? can the power of prayer heal the sick? what is the ultimate nature of God? do miracles happen? and, what conclusions can we draw from the gathered evidence?
The subject matter may be deep but the lectures will not be dense. No prior knowledge of science, theology, Biblical criticism, philosophy or psychology is necessary. Professor Stannard - who was awarded the OBE earlier this year for popularising science - is a great communicator. His famous Uncle Albert children’s books introduce 11-year-olds to the complexities of Einstein’s theories of relativity and quantum physics and have become best selling classics in 15 translations. His adult lectures are no less accessible.
Professor Russell Stannard says:
“Last time I was in Aberdeen to deliver the Gifford series I felt the University was taking a risk breaking with many years of tradition and directing these lectures more towards the public instead of aiming predominantly at the academic community. I looked at Gifford’s Will and I believe he wanted lectures directed towards the public. However, I did wonder, last year, whether academics would travel back to the University for an evening lecture but numbers attending exceeded our wildest dreams.
“The lecture hall was full every night and by the end of the series we even had people arriving half an hour before the start to make sure they got a seat. It was standing room only! Now that we’ve got over that hurdle I feel much happier and I think we’ll have a lot of fun with the Gifford lectures this year I’ve got a lot of interesting subject matter to cover.”
The theme for this year’s Gifford Lectures is: ‘The God Experiment’ and Professor Stannard will begin by describing a controlled, scientific experiment into the effectiveness of prayers for the sick which started in three different American hospitals earlier this year. Special teams from various denominations are taking part in healing services, directing their prayers to try to heal patients undergoing coronary treatment. Although there will be no results for another 2-3 years, Stannard will discuss and try to justify the scientific validity of the experiment.
Professor Stannard is well-known for his contributions to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and a major five-part Radio 4 series Science and Wonders. Born in London in 1931, Professor Stannard was educated at University College London and was one of the first academics to join the fledgling Open University in 1969 where he was Head of the Physics Department for 20 years.
He has travelled widely in Europe and USA, researching high energy nuclear physics. For the past decade he has concentrated his attention on the relationships between science and religion. He has been a Reader in the Church of England since 1966, and received the Templeton UK project award in 1968. He recently spent a year at the Centre for Theological Inquiry at Princeton, USA
The Gifford lectures are free and open to the public. They take place at 7.00pm in the King’s College Conference Centre, Old Aberdeen on 3, 5, 10, 12, 17 and 19 March,. The first and final lectures will be followed by wine receptions which are also open to the public.
Professor Stannard will also be leading a service in the King’s College Chapel at 11am on Sunday 1 March 1998.