Northwestern professors chosen for Howard Hughes Medical Institute workshop

Dr. Sara Sybesma Tolsma, professor of biology, and Dr. Cambria Kaltwasser, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies, have been selected to participate in a Howard Hughes Medical Institute workshop on science and religion.

Two Northwestern College professors have been selected to participate in a Howard Hughes Medical Institute workshop on science and religion.

Dr. Sara Sybesma Tolsma, professor of biology, and Dr. Cambria Kaltwasser, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies, will attend the Roads to Reconciliation Workshop, to be held at Brigham Young University July 11–13.

Participants registered as teams of three, each consisting of a faculty member from a biology-related discipline, another from a theology-related discipline, and a local minister representative of a majority of a college or university’s student body. Joining Tolsma and Kaltwasser on their team is the Rev. Elizabeth Brown Hardeman, co-pastor of American Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa.

During the workshop, participants will work on developing a set of learning materials to help students understand how faith and science are compatible and can coexist in harmony.

“Well-meaning scientists have approached the intersection between faith and science in ways that lengthen the divide between these two ways of interpreting the world,” organizers of the workshop explain. “We believe that by involving theologians, scientists and clergy in a combined effort toward a solution, we can create a mutually respectful and highly effective method to help students reconcile these two ways of knowing toward a more scientifically literate society.”