Scripture and Science

Greg Cootsona is a speaker and writer in science and faith, emerging adults, C. S. Lewis, and Christian life and thought. He teaches in religion, humanities, philosophy, and sociology at California State University, Chico, and co-directs Science for the Church.

His most recent books are Negotiating Science and Religion in America: Past, Present, and Future and Mere Science and Christian Faith: Bridging the Divide with Emerging Adults. He has also written C. S. Lewis and the Crisis of a Christian, Say Yes to No: Using the Power of No to Create the Best in Life, Work, and Love, and The Time for Yes: Enjoying What’s Best in Life, Work, and Love, both of which address human flourishing in a technological world. In addition, he has written Creation and Last Things: At the Intersection of Science and Theology, as well as God and the World: A Study in the Thought of Karl Barth and Alfred North Whitehead.

Greg earned his BA in comparative literature at UC Berkeley, an MDiv in theology and biblical studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, and studied the philosophy of religion, Christian doctrine, and science and religion at the Universities of Tübingen and Heidelberg, with a PhD from Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union.

Greg serves on advisory councils for the American Association for Sinai and Synapses, BioLogos, and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences.

Tremper Longman III earned his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary, and an MPhil and PhD from Yale University. He is a distinguished scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. 

He has written more than 35 books, including commentaries on Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel, Nahum, and Revelation. On the topic of scripture and science, he has published Confronting Old Testament Controversies: Pressings Questions about Evolution, Sexuality, History, and Violence and has co-edited and contributed to The Dictionary of Christianity and Science. His books have been translated into 18 different languages.

He has served as an advisor to the Biologos Foundation and to the Science for Seminaries program sponsored by the AAAS (DoSER).

Se Kim is trained in genetics and neuroscience, and her research work focused on the role of epigenetics in mammalian memory and plant stress response. Currently, Se serves as the director of Membership and Governance at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), where she oversees all the activities of the NAM membership and elections and works closely with the governing council on academy initiatives and member engagement. Se also co-directs the NAM Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Program.

Prior to the National Academies, she was the deputy chief program officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Office of Science, Policy, and Society Programs, where she helped oversee multiple programs ranging from STEM education and fellowships, to public engagement. While at AAAS, she also helped lead the program on Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER).

She received her BS in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin, a PhD in molecular and human genetics from Baylor College of Medicine, and an executive MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park. Se lives in the DC suburb of northern Virginia, where her husband serves as the English pastor of a Chinese-American church. She is passionate about building impactful strategies for mission-based organizations and encouraging thoughtful dialogue between the sciences and faith communities.

Jay W. Richards, PhD, is director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center and the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. He also is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and an assistant research professor at the Catholic University of America.

Richards is author or editor of more than a dozen books, including two New York Times best sellers. His book The Privileged Planet, with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, was the basis for the documentary The Privileged, which broadcast widely on PBS and has been translated into several languages and widely distributed internationally. Richards’s articles and essays have been published in The Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Post, Newsweek, Forbes, Fox News, and many other publications.

He has appeared on over a thousand radio and television programs and lectured widely in many national and international venues. His 2008 debate at Stanford University with Christopher Hitchens, moderated by Ben Stein, was broadcast live to several hundred churches in North America.

Brent and Rebecca Roam, along with their four children, Jameson, Lincoln, Augustine, and Eden, live just blocks from the Delmar Loop in University City. In September 2011, with the help of an enthusiastic launch team and the backing of several churches around the country, the Roams planted One Family Church, a vibrant and diverse non-denominational church. In just a few short years, the church has grown to over 1,200 people, in multiple locations, and is having a powerful and positive impact in the lives of the congregation and in the surrounding community.

Brent, a St. Louis native, comes from a long line of pastors and church planters. Brent holds a BA in religious studies with a minor in anthropology from Arizona State University and a JD from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU. Brent studied divinity and philosophy at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and public policy at Princeton as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. In November 2013, Brent resigned from his law practice at the international law firm of Bryan Cave LLP to devote his full attention to the pastorate at One Family Church.

In July of 2021, Brent, along with a gifted team of local leaders, launched The FAM, a non-profit organization aimed at eliminating race as a factor in home-ownership throughout St. Louis in one generation. In the first 18 months, The FAM assisted over 50 African American families in purchasing their first home. Currently, the clients of The FAM collectively own over $9M worth of real estate throughout St. Louis as a direct result of assistance from The FAM (thefamstl.com).

Rev. Dr. Kip Bernard Banks Sr. is the senior pastor of the East Washington Heights Baptist Church of Washington, DC, and an adjunct faculty member of the Wesley Theological Seminary. He also recently served as the general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc. (PNBC), the church convention of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his role as PNBC general secretary, Rev. Banks oversaw the operation of the nation’s second-largest Black Baptist denomination.

A native of Los Angeles, California, and a graduate of that city’s public school system, Banks received a BA in economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Selected as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Rev. Banks also completed master's degrees in public policy and in urban planning from the University of Michigan. In addition, he holds an MDiv from the Howard University School of Divinity and a DMin from the Wesley Theological Seminary.

Before being called to East Washington’s pulpit, Rev. Banks served as director of Theological Education with the Congress of National Black Churches, where he oversaw efforts to empower Black ministerial alliances on a nationwide basis. In their June 1, 1998, issue, Newsweek magazine recognized Banks as one of the “Lord’s Foot Soldiers” in the battle to reach at-risk-youth.

Among his many public and civic involvements, Rev. Banks has served as a senior aide to the US Senate Budget Committee under Sen. Jim Sasser (D-TN) and director of Government Relations with the American Public Transit Association. He also serves on the board of the DC Baptist Convention, the DC Baptist Foundation, Wesley Theological Seminary, the African Cultural Heritage Institute, and the Center for Nature in Spirituality.

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astronomer, author, and speaker. She studies the process of star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes, and has worked with major national observatories. Wiseman is interested in national science policy and public science engagement and directs the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion program for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Wiseman received her BS in physics from MIT, discovered the comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987, and continued her studies at Harvard, earning a PhD in astronomy. Her research continued as a Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and as a Hubble Fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She served as a Congressional Science Fellow of the American Physical Society, working with the Science Committee of the US House of Representatives staff. 

Wiseman is now emeritus director of DoSER, a senior astrophysicist with NASA, and a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation, a network of Christians in Science. She enjoys giving talks to schools, churches, civic organizations, and campus groups on the excitement of astronomy and scientific discovery, and has appeared in many science and news venues, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio.