Touching the Face of the Cosmos Conference

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet” —Stephen Hawking (1942–2018)

Join us for this one-day series of panels, presentations, and papers that explore a missing ingredient in the attempt of humanity to lift itself off this planet and explore the universe. This ingredient both precedes and exceeds science, and is not about making money or attaining military superiority. It is called sense of wonder, spirituality, or religion—the urge of every human being to know what we are doing in this universe.

The anthology Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion, edited by Paul Levinson and Michael Waltemathe (ebook Connected Editions, paperback and hardcover Fordham University Press, 2015), assembled a group of essays and short stories exploring this issue by leading thinkers and writers, including one of the last interviews with John Glenn. Our conference continues this exploration.

Schedule

2 – 3:45 p.m. | Panels: The Intersection of Space Travel and Religion
The Missing Spirit
Paul Levinson
Fordham University

Opening the Gates of Heaven: Religious and Philosophical Implications of Space Travel
Michael Waltemathe
Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

In Search of the Meaning of the Meaning of Life: Space Travel as Communication
Aleksandar Bogdanic
University of Banja Luka, Bosnia

Civilization, Culture, and the New Frontier
James Heiser
Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

4 – 5:15 p.m. | Science Fiction Looks at Space Travel and Religion
Paul Levinson, Alex Shvartsman, and David Walton
Authors
Science fiction is the only kind of fiction that delves into the quintessentially human characteristic of actively shaping and attempting to improve our future in this universe. Three science fiction authors will look at what science fiction shows us about the role of religion in moving humans off this planet into the cosmos.

5:30 p.m. | Plenary Session: What Little Children See in Space
Molly Vozick-Levinson and Brittany Miller
The Children’s Learning Center, New York City 

7 p.m. | Keynote Address: Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?
Guy Consolmagno, S.J. (AKA The Pope’s Astronomer)
Director of the Vatican Observatory

7:45 p.m. | Book Signing

This event is sponsored by the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University.

FREE ADMISSION