2024 Symposium on St. Thomas Aquinas

Join us for the 2024 Symposium on Thomas Aquinas

"God & The Book of Nature:  The Emergence of Science-Engaged Theology"

In this lecture, Dr. Megan Ulishney, Ph.D. will discuss the development of various models for understanding how the sciences and theology should relate to one another, with a special focus on the recent emergence of "science-engaged theology." Using examples from new developments in evolutionary theory and the theology of Thomas Aquinas (and others), Dr. Ulishney will explore the possibilities for interdisciplinary theology in the contemporary age.

Meet our 2024 Joyce McMahon Hank Aquinas Scholar in Residence:

Dr. Megan Loumagne Ulishney is a Catholic feminist theologian who works at Gannon University (Erie, PA) as Assistant Professor of Theology and Theology Program Director. Megan's doctoral research at the University of Oxford (Christ Church) focused on the doctrine of original sin, particularly the challenges and opportunities for the doctrine in a post-Darwinian world. She constructed a new framework for understanding inherited sin and sexual difference by engaging with Augustine, the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, and feminist philosophy and theology. Her doctoral thesis formed the basis of her first book, published by Oxford University Press in the UK in December 2022 and the US in March 2023. Megan's current research is funded by the John Templeton Foundation as part of a grant entitled “Biocultural Evolution and Theological Anthropology.” She also participates in the "Illuminating Theological Inquiry and Christian Ethics Through Training in Psychological Science" project (funded by the John Templeton Foundation and organized by Baylor University). Both of these grant opportunities are assisting with developing her second monograph, tentatively entitled: "Beauty in the Wild: Ecological Aesthetics, Theology, and Feminism." Megan is very interested in questions related to theology and science, especially evolutionary biology and anthropology, and the intersection of these fields with Christian theology. Besides this project, her theological interests include feminist theology and philosophy, contemplative spirituality, Teresa of Avila, and the theology of Edward Schillebeeck.