Dr Brian Edgar
Qualifications
MTh, PhD
Profile
The part of my ministry which involves the privilege of being a Fellow of ISCAST links together my interests in theology (and the way it relates to other disciplines) ethics (and especially the value of the human person) and science (and the direction it is taking modern society). My teaching focuses on the integration of theology with other disciplines (science-theology; public theology; social ethics) and before becoming Professor of Theological Studies at ATS I spent some years as Director of Public Theology for the Australian Evangelical Alliance and, prior to that, eighteen years as lecturer and then Academic Dean at the Bible College of Victoria. I also spent some years as a member of the Federal Government’s Gene Technology Ethics Committee.
Presentation Topics
I am happy to receive invitations to speak on a range of science-related topics including those noted in the publications list above and also on:
- Science and faith in dialogue — the theory and the history of the relationship between science and Christian faith
- Biotheology — the theological and ethical dimensions of the changes being made to the human person through neurobiology, cybernetics, genetic engineering and medical science
- Biblical perspectives on humanity — the value of the human person and formation as body/soul/spirit
- Humanity in God’s purposes for the universe — a consideration of creation and eschatology in the light of science
- Theology and alien life
- How a theology of creation and fall relates to the science of evolution
- Wesleyan theology and science
- Climate change and theology
I am willing to consider invitations to speak in any location but it should be noted by those interested in this that although I minister full-time with the USA-based Asbury Theological Seminary through on-campus intensives and on-line teaching, I am primarily resident in Melbourne, Australia.
I have published a number of books and articles on a range of theological themes including the Trinity, public theology, ministry and mission. Those relating specifically to science include:
- “Calvin and the Natural Order: Positives and Problems for Science-Faith Dialogue” in Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology peer reviewed on-line journal of ISCAST (July 2010)
- “Religious perspectives on embryo donation and research”, Clinical Ethics (Royal Society of Medicine) (2010) Vol. 5, 35–45 written with Ian H Kerridge, Christopher F C Jordens, Rod Benson, Ross Clifford, Rachel A Ankeny, Damien Keown, Bernadette Tobin, Swasti Bhattacharyya, Abdulaziz Sachedina and Lisa Soleymani Lehmann.
- “God, Persons and Machines: theological reflections” in Christian Perspectives on Science and Technology – peer reviewed on-line journal of ISCAST (May 2010)
- “God and Climate Change” in BriefCACE: Public Morality Monthly, (December 2006) 1-8.
- “Biotheology: Theology, Ethics and the New Biotechnologies“, in the Evangelical Review of Theology, (2006) Vol. 30, No 3, 219-236.
- “Abortion and the Grace of God” in BriefCACE: Public Morality Monthly, No. 31, (June 2006) 3-5
- “Order and Catastrophe: Science and Religion in Australia, 1828” in Pacific Journal of Theology and Science (2000) Vol. 1 No.1, 21-28.
- “Paul and the Person” in Science and Christian Belief (2000) Vol. 12, No.2, 151-164.
- “A New Immortality? Reflections on Genetics, Human Aging and the Possibility of Unlimited Lifespan” in Evangelical Review of Theology: Journal of the World Evangelical Fellowship Vol. 23 No 4, (1999) 363-382.
- “Re-designing People: Dimensions of a Theology of Genetic Engineering” in Interchange: Papers on Biblical and Current Questions (1996) No. 51, 4-29.
- “Embryos: Experimentation and Incarnation” in Colloquium: The Australian and New Zealand Theological Review (1989) Vol. 21, No 2, 27-38.