President Gerald Grudzen and his wife, Marita Grudzen met with Dr. Francis Collins, founder of BioLogos, and Professor Deborah Haarfsma, President of BioLogos, at a Biologos event, Beyond the Impasse: Seeking Truth in Faith & Science, at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, CA, where there were over 450 people in attendance. Dr. Collins is one of the world’s leading scientists and geneticists who headed an international collaboration that first mapped the entire human genome. He was appointed to Director of the National Institutes of Health in 2008, where he has been overseeing the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Read more about Dr. Collins here.)
President Grudzen states: “Our meeting with Doctor Francis Collins and his staff may lead to some form of collaboration with his Religion and Science organization, BioLogos. Dr. Collins was the recipient of the largest award that the Templeton Foundation offers.”
President Gerald Grudzen and Marita Grudzen have each received Templeton Foundation grants for work in the compatibility of religion and science. Marita received her grant for developing a required course at Stanford Medical School on Spirituality and Meaning in Medicine. This course became a required course at Stanford Medical School. Marita worked at Stanford Medical School for 35 years as a faculty member and administrator of Stanford’s Ethno-Geriatric training program.
President Grudzen received a Templeton grant for developing a course on the history of Religion and Science from the historical context of monotheistic religions. It was later published as Spirituality and Science: Greek, Judeo-Christian, and Islamic Perspectives. Part of the research for this book took place at the Oxford University Ian Ramsey Centre for Religion and Science. Dr. Grudzen did his research in collaboration with a Muslim scholar from Bangladesh, Doctor Dhamsur Rahman, and integrated this religion and science material into teaching Philosophy and World Religions at San Jose City College for over 18 years. Courses on Comparative Religion and Science are offered at GMU from an interfaith perspective.
Photo: President Gerald Grudzen and Marita Grudzen at Fox Theater with Doctor Collins and Professor Haarsma on April 28, 2023