About The Center

What is the Theology of Science?

The “theology of science” refers to the study of what God has revealed about Himself and about us in Creation (Catechism of the Catholic Church  68). It is about understanding science in its proper context as the study of the handiwork of God, for all branches especially physics, chemistry, and biology.

The Center for Theology of Science began with a seed grant awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program to Holy Apostles College & Seminary located in Cromwell, Connecticut. It is significant that a national science organization who wished to further the religion and science dialogue funded a series of workshops at a Catholic seminary that turned into a center at a Catholic institute. Here is a statement by the seminary’s President.

The DoSER program will provide science resources to assist Holy Apostles as we educate seminarians on the relationship between faith and science. — Very Rev. Peter S. Kucer, MSA, President-Rector

Holy Apostles College & Seminary has a history of engaging science in light of our Catholic faith tradition. Dr. Stacy Trasancos is a graduate of their Master of Theology program with a specialization in dogmatic theology. Her thesis was on the work of the late Fr. Stanley L. Jaki, a priest, physicist, and theologian who wrote over 50 books on science and religion. Dr. Trasancos brought Fr. Jaki’s teaching to a new generation with her book, Science Was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki. Based on her master’s research, it is a summary of Fr. Jaki’s thesis that the Christian worldview was responsible for the emergence of modern science. Dr. Trasancos personally searched online, found, and verified claims Fr. Jaki made in his research. Many of those resources are available for students and academics today to further study.

In 2015, Dr. Trasancos was awarded a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to develop a course for Holy Apostles College & Seminary, “Reading Science in the Light of Faith.” She also teaches Chemistry and a course on Evolution and Catholic Thought at Holy Apostles, and has been an adjunct online professor ever since she graduated. She has given her talk, “Science Was Born of Christianity,” all over the nation and in several other countries, and she continues to encourage young and old alike to see science as the study of the handiwork of God.

Seeing science as the study of God’s handiwork changes the way you see the world. Thanks to the DoSER program, Holy Apostles can share this great synthesis of awe and wonder with seminarians. — Dr. Stacy Trasancos, Program Director

The grant provided by the AAAS DoSER program allowed Holy Apostles to host a Zoom-based community workshop entitled “Assessing Contemporary Science in the Light of Faith” presented by Dr. Trasancos. Then the series of workshops were professionally filmed and edited as videos for the startup of the new Center for Theology of Science. The hope for this center is that it becomes a place for scientists, philosopers, and theologians to engage in dialogue and articulate what a mature integration of these disciplines will look like.

This workshops are meant to teach non-scientists how to articulate developments in contemporary science in biological or biochemical fields (with particular emphasis on evolutionary biology, genetics, or neuroscience) by reading scientific papers and reviewing how to classify the conclusions in scientific papers as neutral, contradictory, or consistent with the tenets of our Catholic faith. Workshop topics include:

Christianity and the

Birth of Modern Science

How Scientific

Research is Conducted

The Structure of

Scientific Papers

Sort Out the

System of Wills

Analyze Science

in the Light of Faith

Complete the Scientific

Revolution

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 academies of science, serving millions of individuals. The nonprofit 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 Seed Grant initiative, visit AAAS.org/DoSER and ScienceforSeminaries.org.

Thanks to the DoSER program, Holy Apostles will be able to share with its community some concrete methods to strengthen our understanding of the relationship between science and our Catholic faith. — Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Program Director