POSTPONED – Cosmology and Consciousness: In Search of the Whole

The new science today tells us that nature is an undivided whole, a deep interconnectedness of dynamic life. We humans are part of nature, yet we have become divided into isolated parts struggling for existence. What role does religion play in the quest for wholeness? Is Christianity a religion of wholeness or not? Why has technology assumed the role of religion in our age? We will explore these questions and others through the lens of Teilhard de Chardin, as we seek to understand the role of consciousness in relation to cosmology, evolution and the emergence of God.

Facilitator

Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neurosciences and the import of these for theology. She is also the founder of the Omega Center, an online forum striving to facilitate a deepening of consciousness, conversation, and connection as we seek God in our scientific age.

Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villa Nova University. She is the author of 20 books including Care for Creation, (coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods), the Emergent Christ, and The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love.

Ilia graduated with a B.S. in Biology from DeSales University and pursued a masters degree in Biology at Seton Hall University, followed by a Doctorate in Phamacology from Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School. Her area of specialization was neurotoxicology. She relinquished a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Alzheimer’s Research to enter a Carmelite Monastery. She later left the monastery to join a Franciscan community. After entering the Franciscans, she returned to research and did a postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University, Neurotoxicology Laboratories where she became a Research Fellow.

While in formation with her Franciscan community, she was asked to study theology and was sent to Fordham University where she obtained a masters degree in Theology and a Doctorate in Historical Theology.

Following graduation from Fordham she taught in Science and Religion at Trinity College, Hartford, Ct. For the next twelve years, she was Professor and Chair of Spirituality Studies at Washington Theological Union, where she taught courses in the History of Christianity, Franciscan theology and science and religion. She then became a Senior Research Fellow at Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University concentrating in Science and Religion. When Woodstock closed in June of 2013, she was hired by Georgetown University as Director of Catholic Studies and Visiting Professor.

Cost

$85, includes program and lunch

Lodging

Lodging at the monastery is not included in the program cost, but is available either the night before the program, Tuesday, May 19, 2020 or the night of the program, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 for an additional fee. Rooms are limited at the monastery and are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Single room, $62/night
• Shared (double) room, $72/night

Registration

Register by May 6, 2020.
There is a 50% refund until the May 6, 2020 deadline, no refund after the deadline.