With the rise of secular humanism at the end of the nineteenth century many leading scholars and public intellectuals anticipated a gradual atrophy of religious faith. Today however, studies show that the fastest growing ideologies in the world are religious. It seems faith is making a comeback. Even at Dartmouth, a recent survey shows that 88% of students consider themselves to be on a spiritual quest.
In 1945 psychologist and sociologist Elton Mayo wrote that the modern age marked a fundamental change “from an established to an adaptive social order.” In approximately 1000 BC an unnamed psalmist wrote, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Traditional religious vocabulary can sound outdated—even mythical—to the modern, scientific mind. Clashing cultures and unprecedented technological power complicate the spiritual and ethical challenges we face.
Historically, Christians have reacted by withdrawal and rejection of modern society, or accommodation to the point where distinctions with secularism, humanism, and pantheism blur. Between the extremes of neglecting culture on the one hand, and conforming to it on the other, is there a middle ground? This conference will explore that middle ground: a place where faith, reason, and vocation are unified and work together to live the life for which we were created.
This year’s theme is “Faith’s Answer to the Modern World: Integrating Faith, Reason and Vocation.” The day will open with a keynote presentation by Frank Young, MD, PhD, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Young’s address will be followed by a series of panel discussions in which accomplished Christian alumni and prominent scholars will talk with conference participants and each other about how they combine faith and reason in their worldviews and lives.
The Wheelock Conferences, in concert with the shared mission of the Dartmouth student journal Apologia and the Eleazar Wheelock Society, foster faith-based, intellectually rigorous dialogue on the Dartmouth College campus. The Conferences explore a Christian worldview that can offer students a rational, viable and liberating foundation for life and thought—in the academy and afterward.
