Center for the Study of Science and Religion

The Center for the Study of Science and Religion (CSSR) was a center inside The Earth Institute at Columbia University. It was founded in the summer of 1999 as a forum for the examination of issues that lie at the boundary of these two complementary ways of comprehending the world and our place in it. By examining the intersections that cross over the boundaries between one or another science and one or another religion, the CSSR hoped to stimulate dialogue and encourage understanding.[1] The founder and director of CSSR is Robert Pollack, Professor of Biological Sciences and Adjunct Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and also Adjunct Professor of Religion at Columbia University.

Questions currently being addressed by CSSR include:

* Development and equitable sharing of water resources between nations in the Jordan River Valley, with Upmanu Lall

* Long term women's health effects of human egg harvesting, with Wendy Chavkin[2]

* American slavery and memory, with Patricia J. Williams

CSSR offered courses, varying in length and content, for undergraduates, graduate students, clergy, and professional students.

CSSR sponsored one major symposium about every two years, and four or more guest lectures each semester.[3] CSSR symposia have included:

  • Mind and Reality, February 25 & 26, 2005[4]
  • Love and its Obstacles, November 7, 2004[5]
  • Destructive Emotions: Neuroscience, Psychology and Buddhism, January 28, 2003[6]
  • A Colloquium on the Centennial of William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience, March 24 & 25, 2002[7]

CSSR and Columbia University Press oversee publication of the Columbia Series in Science and Religion.[8]

In academic year 2014-15, the CSSR was relocated from The Earth Institute to the Columbia Center for Science and Society, where it was assigned a place as a Research Cluster. To retain a symbolic link to the CSSR, the new cluster was named the Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity (RCSS).[9]

Led by Robert Pollack up until his retirement in academic year 2022-23, the RCSS secured generous funding, most notably from Harvey Kruegar (a 1951 graduate of Columbia College and 1954 graduate of Columbia Law School) and facilitated numerous undergraduate-led projects at the intersection of science, service, and subjectivity.[9] The current director of the RCSS is Lili Yamasaki.[10]

References
  1. CSSR overview Archived June 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Wendy Chavkin, MD, MPH". Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. 2022-12-01. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  3. Calendar Archived June 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Mind and Reality Archived August 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Love and its Obstacles". Archived from the original on 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  6. Destructive Emotions: Neuroscience, Psychology and Buddhism
  7. A Colloquium on the Centennial of William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience Archived September 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Columbia Series in Science and Religion Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity". rcss.scienceandsociety.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  10. "Lili Yamasaki | Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity". rcss.scienceandsociety.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
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