Ernest Simmons

Title: Professor and Director, Dovre Center for Faith and Learning
Department: Religion
Phone: 218.299.3430
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Degrees and Education:

  • Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School, 16 May 1981 Major in Philosophy of Religion and Theology Dissertation: "Process Pluralism and Integral Non-Dualism: A Comparative Study of the Nature of the Divine in the Thought of Alfred North Whitehead and Sri Aurobindo Ghose" Advisor: John B. Cobb, Jr.
  • M.Div. (with honors) Luther Theological Seminary, 1973
  • B.A. (with Distinction) Colorado State University, 1970 Major in Philosophy; Minor in Psychology

Courses Taught:

  • REL 324: The Legacy of Luther
  • REL 245: Sex, Love, and Death
  • REL 342: God--The Question and the Quest
  • REL 483: Beyond the Big Bang

Research / Teaching Interests:

  • Luther's Theology of the Cross and Quantum Field Theory
  • Systematic Theology in Relation to Natural Science
  • Relation of Faith and Learning in Lutheran Higher Education

Scholarly Activities:

PUBLICATIONS

1. Articles:

  1. "Beyond Legacy and Leadership: Lutheran Higher Education In a Global Age" Forthcoming LECNA publication Fall, 2012
  2. "The Role of Theology in the life of the Church: Introduction," Dialog, Vol. 50:2, Summer, 2011.  (Also Guest Editor)
  3. "Introduction," The Cross and the Academy by Paul J. Dovre, Lutheran University Press, Spring, 2011. (Also Editor)
  4.  "Education for Vocation in Public Life USA," Dialog, Vol. 49:2, Summer, 2010
  5. "The First iPresident," editorial, Dialog, Vol. 48:2, Summer, 2009
  6. "Introduction," The Theological Foundation for Biological Intervention, Lutheran University Press, August, 2008
  7. "Beyond Dialogue: The Role of Science in Theology" Dialog, Vol.46 No.3, Fall, 2007
  8. "Christ, Culture and the Lutheran Intellectual" Intersections - Fall, 2007
  9. "Quantum Perichoresis: Quantum Field Theory and the Trinity," Theology and Science, vol. 4 No. 2, Summer, 2006
  10. "Whither the Dialectic?" editorial, Dialog, vol. 44 no. 4, winter 2005
  11. "Barbour in Process: Contributions to Process Theology." Fifty Years in Science and Religion: Ian Barbour and His Legacy. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub., 2004
  12. "The theology of the Cross and Popular Culture." Word and World, vol. 23 no. 3, Summer, 2003
  13. "What Does the Church Owe Lutheran Higher Education?" Lutheran Partners, March/April, 2003
  14. "A Protestant Critical Mass School: Concordia College" in Mentoring for Mission: Nurturing New Faculty at Church-Related Colleges.Lilly Mentoring Projected. editor Carol Simon. Eeerdman's, October, 2002
  15. "The 911 of 9/11," editorial, dialog, Vol. 41:1, Spring, 2002
  16. "The Lutheran Theological Tradition and Recruiting Lutheran Students," Intersections, No. 13, Winter, 2002, pp. 4-11
  17. "God of the Gaps" 1,000 word entry for the Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, J. Wentzel Van Huysteen, editor, Macmillan, summer, 2002.
  18.  "Transcendence, " "Transmigration," "Mediatation,"100 word entries Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, J. Wentzel Van Huysteen, editor, Macmillan, summer, 2002
  19. "Towards a Kenotic Pneumatology: Quantum Field Theory and the Theology, republished in Expanding Humanity's Vision of God, Templeton Press, July, 2001
  20. "Reclaiming Lutheran Students and the Lutheran Theological Tradition" LECNA Papers and Proceedings, Fall, 2000
  21. "The Sighs of God: Kenosis, Quantum Field Theory and the Spirit", Paul Sponheim  Festschrift, Word and World, April, 2000
  22.  "Towards a Kenotic Pneumatology: Quantum Field Theory and the Theology of the Cross", Center For Theology and The Natural Sciences Bulletin, March, 2000.
  23. "From Ethos to Logos: ‘Real Presence' in the Academy", dialog, Spring, 1997
  24. "Editor's Introduction" Zygon, Journal of Religion and Science special issue devoted to the thought of Ian Barbour, March, 1996
  25. "Soli Deo Gloria: A Doxological Vision of the Church College", The Cresset, Vol. LVIII    No. 7B     June, 1995
  26. "Creation in Luther's Theology of the Cross", dialog, Vol. 30 No. 1 Winter, 1991
  27. "God and Space: Implications of Space Development for Theology", Teaching at Concordia, 1989.
  28. "A Lutheran View of Christian Vocation in the Liberal Arts--I", The Cresset, Vol. LII, No. 2 (Dec., 1988) 
  29. "A Lutheran View of Christian Vocation in the Liberal Arts--II," The Cresset, Vol. LII, No. 3 (Jan., 1989)
  30. "Mystical Consciousness in a Process Perspective" Process Studies 14/1, Winter, 1985
  31. "Not Bound by Human Standards" The Lutheran Standard October 2, 1981

2. Reviews:

  1. Divinity and Diversity, Marjorie Suchockie, Dialog, Vol. 46 No. 1 Summer, 2007
  2. The Cross in Our Context, Douglas John Hall, Dialog, Vol. 45 No. 4 Winter, 2006
  3. Science and the Study of God, Alan Padgett, Theology and Science, November, 2005
  4. Nature, Human Nature and God, Ian Barbour - Dialog, July, 2004
  5. The Gift and Task of Lutheran Higher Education, Tom Christenson, Dialog, July, 2004
  6. Religion and Popular Culture in America ed. By Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan, Dialog , Winter, 2001.
  7. Two Hundred Years of Theology: Report of a Personal Journey by Hendrikus Berkhof, Theology Today, Vol. XLVIII No. 2 (July, 1991)
  8. Spiritual Care by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Interpretation Vol. XL, No.4  (Oct., 1986) 
  9. Justification-A Matter of Death and Life, by Gerhard Forde Trinity Seminary Review, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Fall, 1984)

3. Books:

  1. The Entangled Trinity: Quantum Physics and Theology, Fortress Press Book Contract, Dec.. 1, 2011 (Forthcoming)
  2. Lutheran Higher Education: An Introduction for Faculty, Augsburg Fortress Press, 1998.