Event Recording

The recording of our Winter Symposium is now available here.

At the request of Philip Yancey's publishers, this video is available to ASA members only. New (paying) members who join the ASA in February will receive a copy of Philip's book, A Companion in Crisis.

"God, Science, and the Pandemic with Lessons from John Donne" with Philip Yancey

DATE:  Saturday, January 29, 2022, 12:00 pm ET/9:00 am PT

COST:  Free
Please prayerfully consider a suggested donation of $25 to support the important work of the ASA

PROGRAM:

12:00 - 1:15 PM ET - Public Lecture with Philip Yancey

1:15 - 2:15 pm ET - Panel Discussion and Q&A

2:15 - 3:00 pm ET - Local Chapter (in-person) & Small Group Discussion (online)

ADDITIONAL:  Feel free to invite your friends, family members, pastors, colleagues, and students. Consider a watch party in your home or church.

ABSTRACT: "God, Science, and the Pandemic with Lessons from John Donne" in which Philip will be addressing the foundational principles he has learned about suffering, supported by some of John Donne's observations during a pandemic 400 years ago. Science has solved many of the problems that Donne faced in the seventeenth century, while Donne explored the existential questions that science still cannot answer.

John Donne: Why We Need Him in 2022

Magnetism. Cosmology & astronomy. The biology of blood. Public health. Pastor and poet John Donne explored all these themes, writing as modern science was beginning to take shape 400 years ago. Across those 400 years, Donne speaks to our experience of the pandemic as Christians who care about science. Donne was the kind of pastor many scientists seek. He studied new discoveries in the natural world and the human body, and wove them into his pastoral work and his writing. A contemporary of Galileo and Francis Bacon, Donne avidly incorporated developing scientific knowledge into his work. Donne’s deep reflection on sickness and spiritual life is the book we need in 2022.

A Companion in Crisis, Donne’s Wisdom for Now, with Philip Yancey

Donne is most famous for the line “No man is an island.” He wrote those words as he reflected on the experience of isolation in a time of sickness. In the book Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Donne developed a robust theology and practice of connection to God and others during illness and isolation. We can draw on his insights today as we grow together through this difficult time. Philip Yancey, award-winning author and editor at large of Christianity Today has made Donne’s wisdom more accessible to us with his modern paraphrase of the book, A Companion in Crisis. 

BIO:  Philip Yancey Bio (in his own words)

I started my career working as an Editor and then Publisher for Campus Life youth magazine.  During those ten years I learned journalistic skills (there's no tougher audience than teenagers), but every year it seemed I wrote fewer and fewer words.  Then, in 1980 my wife and I moved to downtown Chicago where I began a career as a freelance writer.  (She has worked as a social worker and hospice chaplain--which gives me plenty of material to write about!)  We lived there until 1992, when we moved to the foothills of Colorado.

I've written over 30 books, most of them still in print, thankfully. Three of them I coauthored with Dr. Paul Brand, who influenced me more than any single person. A recent book, Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God's Image is a revised compilation of that content. Other books among my favorites include Soul Survivor and Reaching for the Invisible God because both of them forced me to dig deep and get personal. I had two new books released in 2021.  A Companion in Crisis offers a paraphrase of John Donne’s ‘Devotions’ with a fresh look at universal truths on how to live and die well.  My long-awaited memoir, Where the Light Fell gives readers a backstory of sorts, revealing the secrets of my turbulent childhood and teen years, and its impact on my written work.

I'm a pilgrim, still "in recovery" from a bad church upbringing, searching for the possibility of a faith rooted in grace instead of fear.  I feel overwhelming gratitude that I can make a living writing about the questions that interest me.

Please follow my Facebook posts [www.facebook.com/PhilipYancey] and my blog [www.philipyancey.com] for current writing, publication, and event news.

Panelists for the ASA Winter Symposium with Philip Yancey

Hannah Eagleson (PhD, University of Delaware) is Associate Director of InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). She launched and currently leads the student/early career track at the American Scientific Affiliation Annual Meeting, a joint project of ASA and InterVarsity’s ESN. She also serves as Director of Graduate and Faculty Engagement for Chesterton House, a Christian study center at Cornell.

Hannah is the editor of Science and Faith: Student Questions Explored (Hendrickson, 2019), a collection of answers to questions from scientific and theological experts with a built-in discussion guide. She also recently published Scholar’s Compass, a semester of weekly devotional readings by Christian scholars to help connect faith and academic work (Emerging Scholars Network, 2021).

David G. Horn (ThD, Boston University School of Theology) has ministered in a variety of settings: camping, campus ministry, and as a pastor in the local church. For nine years he worked in two Christian colleges in student development, as an instructor in the English and General Studies departments, and as Dean of the Chapel.

For eight years he served as pastor of the First Congregational Church of Hamilton, Massachusetts. He has recently completed an additional three years as Interim Senior Pastor of the same parish.

For twenty years, David served on the faculty of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as the Director of the Ockenga Institute where he oversaw a wide range of educational programs and centers.

Debra A. Schwinn, MD, is president of Palm Beach Atlantic (PBA) University. Prior to PBA, Debra was Associate Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean of the Carver College of Medicine, and Professor of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Biochemistry at the University of Iowa.

After earning a degree in chemistry from the College of Wooster, Debra earned her medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine where she has also been honored as a distinguished alumnus. A physician scientist and member of the National Academy of Medicine, her molecular pharmacology laboratory was funded for almost three decades by the National Institutes of Health.

Reid Swetland (Masters in Counseling, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is the Associate Dean of Campus Engagement at Gordon College, and a mental health counselor in their Student Wellness Center. Prior to coming to Gordon in 1999, Reid worked in residential treatment programs in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Seattle, Washington, and at an out-patient clinic in Ipswich, MA.

Along with a clinical background in treating anxiety and mood disorders, life transition, ADHD, and trauma, Reid’s holistic and developmental orientation focuses on all facets of identity formation.

Upon registration you will receive a confirmation email that includes a Zoom link to join the Winter Symposium (Hours 1 & 2).