Battles between “Science and Religion” and “Atheism and Faith” continue in academia and general culture. In this debate, Dr. Michael Ruse and Dr. Michael Peterson debate the issues of faith and science at the level of worldview explanation. Ruse defends atheistic naturalism and Peterson defends Christian theism as the superior worldview. Each argues that his perspective makes better sense of science, evolution, rationality, morality, and other important phenomena better than his opponent’s perspective.

Michael Ruse is Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science. Dr. Ruse is one of the world’s premiere scholars on Darwin and evolution. He does research and writing in the areas of Darwin, evolution, and atheism. His books include Evolution: The First Four Billion Years, Taking Darwin Seriously, The Philosophy of Human Evolution, The Darwinian Paradigm, The Darwinian Revolution, The Evolution-Creation Struggle, The Harvard Companion to Evolution, Philosophy of Human Evolution, and Reflections on the Origin of Species. Dr. Ruse has edited several reference works including the Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology and the Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Biology.

Michael Peterson is Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Peterson specializes in the areas of philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, and philosophy of education. His many books include Reason and Religious Belief, With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy of Education, Evil and the Christian God, Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion, and God and Evil.  His Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings is the leading introductory text in the field, now in its fifth edition and starting its third decade.  He has contributed to many reference books and scholarly works, including The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity; The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology; Blackwell Companion to Philosophy of Religion; C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty; The Continuing Relevance of Wesleyan Theology; Philosophy and the Christian Worldview; and Handbook on Science and Religion.

Moderator: Dr. Michael Pasquarello

Hosted by Asbury Theological Seminary on October 2nd, 2013.