Thu, May 04
|GSS Loft (Room 4202), the Nest, UBC
Meaningful Work: your Research & Scholarship and the Biblical Narrative
Dinner + small group discussion led by Dr. Arnold Sikkema on how our academic work fits within Sacred Scripture’s Creation-Fall-Redemption Narrative.
Time & Location
May 04, 2023, 6:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.
GSS Loft (Room 4202), the Nest, UBC, 6133 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
About the event
Please RSVP as we need to esimate how much to prepare for dinner.
This event is a collaboration with the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation (https://csca.ca/vancouver/) and the Graduate Christian Fellowship at UBC - Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Special thanks to Alan Lensink's for organizing! https://ivcf.ca/people/alan-lensink/
Partial funding of this event is provided by the John Templeton Foundation.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
It is generally understood that faith should inform everything Christians do. Christians in the sciences, and quite generally in all callings, have for centuries been motivated to do their work to the glory of God and for the benefit of humankind. This workshop explores how your graduate studies and research fit into the grand Biblical story of creation, fall, and redemption. The perspective of a world created good, and which, though now broken, is being and will be redeemed can situate and motivate the life and work of a graduate student. Dr. Sikkema will introduce this narrative and its application to scientific work, and through discussion questions, each participant will be encouraged to apply this approach to their own discipline.
WORKSHOP LEADER
Dr. Arnold E. Sikkema has been a physics professor at TWU since 2005, and has been Executive Director of the Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation since 2018. Arnold is a theoretical physicist with a background in general relativity and condensed matter theory. He completed a BSc in physics and mathematics from the University of Waterloo and a PhD in theoretical physics at UBC, specializing in quantum phase transitions in superconductivity and magnetism. His current research interests are in theoretical biophysics and in the Christian philosophy of science, particularly in the relationship between physics and biology. Originally from Ontario, he and his wife Valerie (a professional horticulturist) have been happy to call BC home since 1991, except for a sojourn in the USA from 1997 to 2005 for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida and a faculty position at Dordt University. They have three adult children, all of whom have studied at TWU, and two grandchildren.
https://www.twu.ca/profile/arnold-e-sikkema