• Seton Hall University
• College of Arts and Sciences

Wednesday, April 24, 2024
8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Bethany Hall, Room A

Seton Hall University’s Departments of Physics and Catholic Studies, Immaculate Seminary School of Theology, Core Curriculum Program, Center for Catholic Studies, and chapter of the  Society of Catholic Scientists, in collaboration with the Stanley Jaki Foundation, are pleased to announce the 2024 Stanley Jaki International Congress. This conference marked the centenary of Father Stanley Jaki’s birth on August 17, 1924, and was held on April 24, 2024, at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. This event followed our successful inaugural 2015 Stanley Jaki International Conference.

All papers and presentations for this event have been subject to double blind peer review by a distinguished group of scholars. The Program Committee invited the submission of scholarly papers in areas such as the relationship between Christian faith and the natural sciences, the relationship of physics, the philosophy of nature, and metaphysics and other interdisciplinary topics related to faith and science.

About Father Stanley Jaki

Father Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B., S.T.D., Ph.D. (1924-2009), stands as one of the eminent thinkers of the twentieth century. His contributions to Catholic Intellectual Tradition, particularly in the realm of the interplay between science and faith, have left an indelible mark. He served as a physics professor at Seton Hall University from 1965 to 2009; with doctorates in both theology and physics, he devoted over four decades to the study of the history and philosophy of science. With a prolific output comprising over fifty books and more than three hundred and fifty articles, he held prestigious positions such as the Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and the Fremantle Lecturer at Balliol College, Oxford. Father Jaki delivered lectures at esteemed institutions across the United States, Europe and Australia. He held honorary membership in the Pontifical Academy of Science and was a membre correspondant of the Académie Nationale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts of Bordeaux. His accolades include the Lecomte du Noüy Prize for 1970 and the Templeton Prize for 1987.

Congress Schedule

Bethany 106A (In-Person, Livestreamed Presentations)

Click Here for the Biographies of the Conference Contributors

Time	Presentation Title	Presenter
8 a.m.	Introduction	Ines Murzaku, Ph.D
8:05 a.m.	Opening Prayer	Rev. Joseph R. Laracy, S.T.D.
8:07 a.m.	Welcome	M. Alper Sahiner, Ph.D.
8:09 a.m.	Welcome	Rev. Paul M. Haffner, S.T.D.
8:10 a.m.	Opening Remarks	Rev. Gerald J. Buonopane, Ph.D.
8:15 a.m.	"The Mystery of Creation, Various Ontologies, and Effective Communication"	Rev. Brian Humphrey, S.T.L.
8:45 a.m.	"Conciliatory Christian Humanism and the Confinement of Naturalism"	Rev. Zachary Mabee, Ph.D.
9:15 a.m.	“Jaki and Barbour: Pilgrims on Parallel Paths of the Science and Religion Journey”	Rev. Joseph R. Laracy, S.T.D.
9:45 a.m.	"An Examination of Mathematical Realism as it Conforms to and Contradicts the Work of Stanley Jaki and Plato"	Collin Doyle and Iain Morton
10:15 a.m.	"God is Still There: An Analysis of Werner Heisenberg’s Reconciliation of Quantum Mechanics with Aristotelian Hylomorphism"	Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D.
10:45 a.m.	"Searching for Truth in Determinism: A Call for Compassion, Mercy, and Love"	Samantha Mattheiss, Ph.D.
11:15 a.m.	"The Papers of Stanley L. Jaki: An Introduction"	Sarah Ponichtera, Ph.D., et al.
11:45 a.m.	Leave for Chapel
Noon	Mass
12:30 p.m.	Lunch and Poster Session	Posters Presented by MacKenzie Doerr and Kaylee Coghlan
1:30 p.m.	"Nineteenth Century American Catholic Approaches to Darwinian Evolution"	Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D. and Biff Rocha, Ph.D.
2 p.m.	"Nature and Scripture: Galileo’s Proposed Biblical Hermeneutic in the Context of Early Modern Biblical Interpretation"	Jeffrey Morrow, Ph.D.
2:30 p.m.	"Has Stanley Jaki Underestimated the Byzantine Influence on the Rise of Science?" (presented by the Rev. Robert Nicoletti, MJ)	Rev. Paul Haffner, S.T.D.
3 p.m.	"Theology as a Science and the Dialogue with Other Sciences from a Thomistic Perspective"	Rev. João Paulo Santiago, C.S.J.
3:30 p.m.	"Pythagorean Argument of the Grand Design"	Alexey Burov, Ph.D. and Alexei Tsvelik, Ph.D.
4 p.m.	"Stanley Jaki: A Life Devoted to the Relationship Between Science and Faith"	Antonio Colombo, M.S.
4:30 p.m.	"Evolution, Teleology, and Purpose: Transhumanism and the Natural and Supernatural Ends of Being"	Braden Molhoek, Ph.D.
5 p.m.	"AI, International Relations, and Catholicism"	Rev. Brian K. Muzás, Ph.D.
5:30 p.m.	"All Things were Made through Him: Some Thoughts about The Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on the Relationship between Matter and God"	Jordan Miller, Ph.D.
6 p.m.	Conclusion

Bethany 201 (Remote, Virtual Presentations)

Time	Presentation Title	Presenter
2 p.m.	"Chesterton, Undset, and Jaki: Three Catholic Intellectual Giants"	Geir Hasnes, M.S.
2:30 p.m.	"Can What Cannot be Measured Exactly Happen Exactly?"	John Long, Ph.D.
3 p.m.	"Gödel's Theorems in Physics Half a Century after Stanley Jaki"	Gergely Bognár, M.A.