Gordon M. Burghardt, Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Psychology and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, will speak on “Religion in Human Evolution” on Wednesday, September 12, in Oak Ridge.

Burghardt is the first lecturer in a new faith-science lecture series sponsored by First Presbyterian Church and First United Methodist Church, a press release said. The lecture, which will feature videos, will be held at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room of FUMC, which can be reached through the double doors facing Vienna Road.

Burghardt will speak on the book “Religion in Human Evolution,” by Robert Bellah, the late distinguished sociologist of religion who taught at the University of California at Berkeley, the press release said.

Part of Bellah’s book is devoted to Burghardt’s research on ritual and play. [Read more…]