by Dr. Daryl P. Domning and Dr. Joseph F. Wimmer

About this Guide

The Washington Theological Consortium (WTC) produced this discussion guide as part of an effort to connect the interests and expertise of faculty in Washington-area theological schools with the questions and concerns of people in congregations regarding the relationship between science and religion. We hope to bring theological reflection and scientific research to adult education groups, in an interdisciplinary and ecumenical exploration of fundamental issues in this relationship. You may contact the WTC at (202) 832-2675 for further information, or visit the organization's Web site at http://www.washtheocon.org.

The WTC, a community of theological institutions of diverse Christian traditions, has as its mission:

• To embody and witness more perfectly, through its diverse membership, to the unity that is ours in Christ, so that all may believe;



• To provide an ecumenical context, within the region of the nation's capital, for equipping leaders to serve the mission and ministry of the Church in the world;



• To make known and provide the means for member institutions to share their rich theological and spiritual resources with students, faculties and laity;



• To seek a deeper appreciation of other world religions and to explore, in concert with members of those faiths, values we hold in common.

About the Authors

Dr. Daryl P. Domning is a paleobiologist and professor of anatomy at Howard University in Washington, DC. He earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975. Dr. Domning is considered the world's foremost expert on the evolution of sirenians, an order of marine mammals among whom the manatee is perhaps the best known. His recent discovery of a 50-million-year-old skeleton of an amphibious sirenian with legs is considered one of the best fossil examples of the transition from land-based to sea-dwelling animals. Dr. Domning is a parishioner at St. Camillus Catholic Church, Silver Spring, MD, where he is a member of the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) team. With theologian Monika K. Hellwig, he has coauthored the book, Original Selfishness: Original Sin and Evil in the Light of Evolution (Ashgate, 2006).

Rev. Joseph F. Wimmer, OSA, currently serves as associate professor of Sacred Scripture at Washington Theological Union. He earned his doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1980. As Regent of Studies of Augustinian College in 1968, Fr. Wimmer became one of the signatories of the founding document of the Washington Theological Union. Among his publications: Fasting in the New Testament (Paulist Press, 1982), The Psalter: A Faithful and Inclusive Rendering from the Hebrew into Contemporary English (1994) (as a member of the translating staff and editorial board of the International Committee for English in the Liturgy), and The Canticles (1994).