Featured speaker Deborah Haarsma
The Webb Telescope, God, and the Multiverse
12November
Join BioLogos President Deb Haarsma as she gives a public lecture entitled, “The Webb Telescope, God, and the Multiverse,” at Calvin University on November 12, at 7 pm.
The new Webb Telescope is showing us beautiful new vistas of planets, nebulae, galaxies, and the earliest epochs of our universe. Yet research hints that our universe may be just a tiny part of a multiverse of imagination-staggering immensity—a prospect that has echoed in interesting ways throughout our society. From the widely successful Marvel superhero movies, to TikTok, to the frontiers of theoretical physics, the idea of a multiverse is impacting our view of the world. What does science actually have to say about alternate universes? And how would the various multiverse theories intersect with our understanding of God, and of ourselves? Join us for a tour of our universe from the Webb Telescope and an exploration of the multiverse.
This event is hosted by the West Michigan Chapter of the American Scientific Affiliation.
Featured speaker
Deborah Haarsma
Dr. Deborah Haarsma served as President of BioLogos from 2013 to 2024. Under Haarsma’s leadership, BioLogos grew in both numbers and influence, from private events and a small website to extensive programs and widespread impact (see Our History). During her tenure, BioLogos built an extensive network of experts, writers, and speakers, and developed national conferences, a high-school curriculum, and a podcast. BioLogos became the leading resource on the viewpoint of evolutionary creation and went on to help Christians wrestle with many complex science topics, always working at the intersection of Christ-centered faith and rigorous science and in a spirit of gracious dialogue.
Haarsma is a frequent speaker on modern science and Christian faith at churches, universities, and conferences. In addition to extensive writing and speaking for BioLogos, she has appeared on several podcasts, including Undeceptions (on Outer Space and on The Multiverse) and the Jesus Storybook Bible podcast. Her writing has been featured at Big Think and Sojourners, as well as in several books, including Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Design, the collection Calvinism for a Secular Age, and the collection Christ and the Created Order. She wrote the book Origins with her husband and fellow physicist, Loren Haarsma, presenting the agreements and disagreements among Christians regarding the history of life and the universe.
Previously, Haarsma served as professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Calvin University. In her research, she used telescopes around the world and in orbit to pursue extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology, with publications on young galaxies, large galaxies, galaxy clusters, the curvature of space, and the expansion of the universe. Haarsma completed her doctoral work in astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (profile by MIT’s Octet Collaborative) and her undergraduate work in physics and music at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota (profile for 2022 Alumna of the Year award). She and Loren enjoy science fiction and classical music, and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.