(Posted January 19, 2004)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Michael Ruse, a prolific author and noted authority on the philosophy of biology and evolution, will lecture at Juniata College on ?Darwin and Atheism: A Marriage Made in Heaven?? at 7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 26, in Alumni Hall in the Brumbaugh Science Center on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Ruse, professor of philosophy and zoology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., is the author of more than 15 books, including ?Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction?? ?Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology,? ?The Philosophy of Biology? and ?Taking Darwin Seriously.? Ruse has been a member of the Florida State faculty since 2000.

Ruse?s lecture will examine the relationship between evolution and Christianity from the beginnings of organized religions, through the work of Charles Darwin and to the present day. His talk points out that Charles Darwin was influenced by his own Christian beliefs and that his work stemmed from his religious background rather than despite of it. Ruse also explains that later supporters of Darwin, particularly T.H. Huxley, were influential in how evolution is perceived today.

Ruse started his academic career as a lecturer at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada in 1965. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1969 and to associate professor in 1971. He was named full professor in 1974. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 1983 to 1984 and an associate and Fellow at Wolfson College in Cambridge, England from 1990 to 1991.

He earned a bachelor?s degree in philosophy and mathematics from Bristol University, in Bristol, England, in 1962 and a master?s degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Bristol in 1970.

Ruse is a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has appeared on ?Firing Line? on PBS and on programs on the Discovery Channel.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.