Workshop exploring science, religion and entertainment, Manchester, 31 May-1 June
Playing God: Exploring the Intersections between Science,
Religion and Entertainment Media, 31 May – 1 June 2014 Centre for the History
of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester
This workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group
of scholars to explore the important but under-researched area of entertainment
media and its relationship to both science and religion. Research on public
attitudes toward science has revealed that an individual’s personal values and
belief system are crucial factors in determining how they respond to new
developments in science, technology and medicine. Few cultural institutions
have more influence on personal values and belief systems than religion, and
few cultural products have as much impact on public perceptions of science as
entertainment media texts. We aim to provide insights into these major cultural
spheres by examining how science and the science/religion interface have been
utilized, negotiated, and transformed in entertainment texts and how religious
groups have influenced, responded to, or appropriated these texts.
The workshop is organized by the University of
Manchester's Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine with
funding provided by the Wellcome Trust. There is no cost for the workshop, but
spaces are limited. Please contact the organizers if you are interested in
attending or if you would like further details: Dr David Kirby (david.kirby@manchester.ac.uk),
Dr Amy Chambers (amy.chambers@manchester.ac.uk)
and Dr Ray Macauley (ray.macauley@manchester.ac.uk).
Workshop Programme
Panel I: Cosmology
Willem Drees (Leiden University) “Using Science to Evoke
a Religious Response: The Journey of the Universe as an Ecological Example”
Roger Launius (National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian
Institution) “The Battle over Cosmology in Recent America: Intelligent
Designers, Science Communicators, and the Home Schooling Movement”
Jon Turney (Independent Scholar) “Religion and Science,
or Religion in Science”
Panel II: Media Cultures
Joachim Allgaier (Independent Scholar) “Popular Culture
as a Battleground? Science and Religion in Online Music Videos”
Marion Esch (Technische Universität Berlin) “Religion
and Science in TV Drama and Serials in Germany”
Allan Jones (Open University) “Truth to the Public”
Panel III: Dystopian Futures
Amy Chambers (University of Manchester) “The Evolution of
the Planet of the Apes: Science, Religion, and Society”
Joan Haran (Cardiff University) “Supplanting the Crossed
Out God with the Immanent Goddess in Science and Entertainment”
Alexander Ornella (University of Hull) “‘I Saw a New
Heaven and a New Earth’: On the Entanglement of Transhumanism, Religion, and
SciFi Culture”
Panel IV: Praising Science on the Screen Tim Boon
(Science Museum London) “The Go-Betweens: Mediators in Science TV Documentary:
A Priestly Mode?”
Ray Macauley (University of Manchester) “Lights, Camera,
Miracle: the Aesthetics of Wonder and Religious Science in the Film Series
Sermons from Science”
Felicity Mellor (Imperial College London) “Appropriating
Religion for Science in Brian Cox’s Wonders”
Panel V: Body and Soul
Susan Lederer (University of Wisconsin-Madison) “Their
Eyes Were Watching
God: Cornea Transplants in Popular America Media”
Katy Price (Queen Mary University London) “Precognitive
Dreams and Entertainment Media in Twentieth-century Britain”
Andrew Crome (University of Manchester) “‘You believing.
I never expected that to happen’: Divergent Reactions to ‘Superstition’ in
Doctor Who, Left Behind, and My Little Pony Fandom”
David Kirby (University of Manchester) “Science, Movie
Censorship and the Sanctity of the Soul on the Silver Screen”
Roundtable Discussion led by Susan Gaines (University of
Bremen)
Plenary Session
Paul Sapin, Television documentary producer/director
Michael Waterhouse, Television documentary producer/director