Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place Opening Event
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Join Museum of the Bible on January 19, 2023, for the opening of our new exhibition, Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place.
This exhibition will bust the myth that science and biblical faith have been diametrically opposed to each other throughout history and will invite people to discover the Bible’s impact on the scientific world. In fact, the Bible encouraged curiosity. Its big ideas provided a framework for the way some of the greatest philosophers, scholars, and scientists thought about their work and understood their discoveries. The Bible certainly provoked intense debate at times, but far from being an obstacle to scientific progress, biblical theology actually played an important role in the development of science and our understanding of the world around us.
To celebrate the opening of this new exhibition, astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Laura Shepard Churchley, chair of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees and daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard, will present on the intersection of scripture and science from firsthand experience. Guests may also join our curators for tours of the exhibition.
This is an opening you will not want to miss.
Event Schedule
5:30 p.m. — Doors Open
6:00 p.m. — Event Begins
6:30 p.m. — Welcome and Opening Remarks
6:45 p.m. — Exhibit Open for Exploration
7:30–7:50 p.m. — Presentation: Astronaut Jeffrey Williams
8:15–8:35 p.m. — Presentation: Laura Shepard Churchley
8:35 p.m. — Exhibit Open for Exploration
9:00 p.m. — Event Concludes
Speakers
Jeffrey Williams
Colonel Jeffrey N. Williams served 27 years in the US Army as an aviator, experimental test pilot, and astronaut, and continues to work in our nation’s space program. An astronaut since 1996, Williams flew a record-setting 534 days on four space flights to the International Space Station, launching on both the US Space Shuttle and Russian Soyuz.
He is the author of The Work of His Hands: A View of God’s Creation from Space. A West Point graduate, Williams has advanced degrees in aeronautical engineering and national security, as well as a doctor of ministry from the Master’s Seminary. He and his wife, Anna-Marie, reside in Washington state.
Laura Shepard Churchley
Laura Shepard Churchley was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the eldest daughter of Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepard Jr. Laura lives in Evergreen, Colorado, with her husband, Frederick William Churchley III. As the daughter of Alan B. Shepard, the first American in space and the first to hit a golf ball on the surface of the moon (on Apollo 14), Laura makes presentations to students, donning her father‘s flight suit and showing artifacts that have traveled to the moon and back. She thinks space travel is essential for expanding man’s horizons and for encouraging innovation.
She is currently the chair of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Board of Trustees at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The foundation raises funds for college students and provides mentoring to scholars who are pursuing careers and research in the science fields. Laura is an honorary consultant to the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium, a lifetime member of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy. She served six years as a board member of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center Foundation in Hutchinson, Kansas, and she served on the Astronaut Memorial Foundation Board at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. She and her husband, Fred, have six grown children and eight grandchildren.