, the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Endowed Chair in聽at the University of 91吃瓜, has been selected to deliver the 2018 Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Founded by the jurist Lord Adam Gifford, the renowned lecture series invites pre-eminent scholars to address topics related to theology, philosophy聽and science.
Fuentes is the second consecutive College of Arts and Letters faculty member to be chosen.聽, a professor in the聽, delivered the 2017 lectures at the University of St. Andrews.
The Gifford Lectures rotate between four Scottish universities 鈥� Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow聽and St. Andrews 鈥� and, aside from three years during World War II, have been delivered annually since 1888.
鈥淥f my entire academic experience, it is both the most honorific and the most humbling,鈥� Fuentes said. 鈥淚 am unbelievably honored to be delivering a lecture of such prominence in the shadow of so many amazing scholars. And it gives me an opportunity and a platform to do exactly the kind of difficult, meaningful work that every academic dreams of.鈥�
Fuentes will present the six-lecture series, 鈥淲hy We Believe: Evolution, Making Meaning, and the Development of Human Natures,鈥� in February and March. The lectures, designed to be both scholarly and relatable to a broad, general audience, will be made available online and later adapted into a book.
鈥淚 am fascinated by the human capacity for belief 鈥� the ability to imagine, to make meaning in the world, and to hope and believe in things that are more than 鈥媕ust physical 鈥媏xperience,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e can imagine new realities that are not based on experience or the materials around us and try to make them happen. That鈥檚 amazing. And one of the most telling aspects of that capacity is the capacity to be religious and have religious faith.鈥�
The lectures draw on Fuentes鈥� recent research, including his latest book, "" and the transdisciplinary聽 he is leading with聽, a professor of theology.
鈥淚鈥檝e been blessed to have the opportunity to collaborate with great colleagues at 91吃瓜 and around the world, including anthropologists, theologians, philosophers, biologists聽and evolutionary theorists,鈥� Fuentes said. 鈥淚f I had been at any other institution, I probably wouldn鈥檛 have this opportunity. I would not have had access to and support in doing the kind of integrative work that I鈥檓 doing.鈥�
Fuentes said that type of transdisciplinary research over the last decade has caused him to start seeing larger-picture questions.
鈥淚 think combining studies of human evolution, genetics聽and brain development聽alongside philosophical and theological inquiry gives us much more complicated, but much more interesting, answers than any one of those by itself,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten so good at being specialized in a particular area that we鈥檝e started to lose sight of the whole point of the academy 鈥� these big, integrative, synthetic questions that matter to humanity.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what the Gifford Lectures are all about 鈥� the opportunity for scholars to talk about religion and nature and humans, without any constraints. That鈥檚 how we learn.鈥�
Originally published by at on Feb. 15.