Past Events and Screenings

Online event at 5:00-6:15pm PST

Theme: “The 10th anniversary of the Journey of the Universe Project”

With Brian Thomas Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim,
Sam King, Elizabeth McAnally, and Thomas Spiritbringer

Please join Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker, the main creators and promoters of the Journey of the Universe Project, as we celebrate its 10th anniversary!   Through story, dialog, and music we will honor the anniversaries of: Thomas Berry’s birth in 1914; The Universe Story release in 1992; the Journey of the Universe Project in 2011; and the Universe Story Calendar’s promulgation in 2017 around this essential topic. Join us on Zoom for this evolutionary, annual event!

Click here to join the Zoom meeting.

Contact: Thomas Spiritbringer, ourearthguy@gmail.com
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12:00pm Eastern Time

Webinar with Dave LePoire from the Argonne National Laboratory

Admission is free and open to all.

Hosted by the International Big History Association

Join Zoom Meeting

Are there regular patterns within the sequence of events of Big History? The dynamics of interest covers evolutionary processes focusing on the leading edge of complexity. Big History covers evolution of the cosmos along with Earth-based evolution of life, humans, and civilization. While the large-scale trend seems to be an accelerated version of exponential growth, there seems to be structure within this development. My initial exposure to this was with Carl Sagan’s 1977 book “The Dragons of Eden” where information processes were divided into the three evolutionary phases of life (DNA), humans (brain), and civilization (writing). Starting from this, further possible substructure is identified along with the extension into the cosmos development. Many questions are raised such as what causes this geometric structure? What determines the geometric factors of complexity advances? How might this pattern continue? How can we use this information to navigate the present?

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5:00pm Central Daylight Time

This free Zoom webinar with Guy J. Consolmagno SJ is hosted by the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS) and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC).

Register here.

The contrast between “the World” and “the Cosmos” is becoming blurred, even as we are learning just how big the Cosmos is. We need to understand that all those other planets are real places, part of the same universe created by God and redeemed by the Incarnation. And God is Creator not only of other places but other times, before and beyond the time when we exist here on Earth. In the face of this immensity in time and space, from the Big Bang to the Heat Death of the Universe, what does it means to be a creature, and to be redeemed by the risen Christ? And in that light, can we appreciate all the more the words of the Psalmist: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

“It is rare to find someone so accomplished in science, theology, and philosophy, who can also communicate complex topics clearly to a general audience. Br. Guy is one of the best story-tellers I’ve ever known,” said Grace Wolf-Chase, senior scientist and senior education and communication specialist at the Planetary Science Institute.

Br. Guy J. Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory, is known for his ability to communicate complex topics clearly to a general audience. He received the 2014 Carl Sagan Medal for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public from the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences. He is the author or co-author of four books exploring faith and science issues, including, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (with Paul Mueller), God’s Mechanics, Brother Astronomer, and The Way to the Dwelling of Light.  

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Webinar at 5:00 pm EDT

Please join IRAS for another session of the monthly webinar series, Science, Religion, and Society, featuring

Dr. Jennifer J. Wiseman, Director of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program at AAAS, and an astrophysicist at NASA.                                  

Respondent: Dr. Steven Finette (Ph.D. in biophysics, Syracuse University), physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC.
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Modern telescopes are revealing an incredible, beautiful, and active universe. Telescopes are also "time machines," sampling ancient light from distant stars and galaxies, revealing a universe that over vast time has transformed everything in existence.  From a burst of initial energy and inflation, we now see a fruitful universe filled with galaxies, stars, planets, and — at least on one planet — life.  Should we feel insignificant or inspired when we consider this incredible, developing universe? Through images of beautiful nebulae, active planets, and even infant galaxies, this talk will show how current and future astronomical discoveries inspire contemplation of human purpose and connection to a magnificent cosmos.

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. She studies the process of star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She is also interested in national science policy and public science engagement. and directs the program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wiseman studied physics at MIT, co-discovering comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987, and continued in astronomy with her doctoral research at Harvard. She has worked with several international observatories and is currently a senior astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Wiseman is a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation, a network of Christians in Science. She frequently gives public talks on the excitement of scientific discovery and appears in many venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio.

The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science webinar is FREE but registration is required.

Register for September 29 Webinar.

For questions, contact CJ Love: carolynjlove3@gmail.com

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Beginning September 22nd, the Deeptime Network will offer a nine-month program on Deeptime Leadership & Personal Empowerment. Deeptime Network draws on the work of Thomas Berry and Journey of the Universe, among other sources.

Presenters include Stephan Martin, Brian Swimme, Ursula Goodenough, Coleen & Duane Elgin, Gail Worcelo, Herman Greene, Robert Athickal, Yona Frenchhawk, Matt Cobb, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and many others.

The program offers a certificate and professional development hours, and it includes three modules:

1. Introducing the New Cosmology
2. Applying the New Cosmology
3. Deeptime Leadership Practicum.

Join the full program or individual modules. Learn more here.

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Virtual event at 8:00 p.m. CDT

Celebrate the release of the 5-volume set, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations (Center for Humans and Nature) with editors and contributors Gavin Van Horn, John Hausdoerffer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and more.

Hosted by Point Reyes Books and the Center for Humans and Nature

Register here for this free event.

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9:30am – 2:00pm

Presented by  John Grim and Sam King

Wisdom House Retreat & Conference Center
229 East Litchfield Road
Litchfield, CT 06759

Learn more here.

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On July 19, 2021, Executive Producers Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim attended a screening of Journey of the Universe for the Capital Institute's Lighthouse Lecture Series held on Native Mashantucket Pequot land in Stonington, Connecticut. The film provided a cosmological context at the outset of the conference that helped inspire the wide-ranging discussions of regenerative economics over the following days.
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