Celia Deane-Drummond, Director: Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, University of Oxford, tackles the question of “what is life?” through an exploration of the evolutionary currents of human becoming as both grounded in this world and yet orientated towards transcendence and the development of virtues. Human evolutionary theories have shifted from individual competitively based frameworks to a much stronger emphasis on niche construction in a meshwork of other beings. In dialogue with recent discoveries of burial practices among early hominids, Dr. Deane-Drummond argues against evolutionary accounts of the origin of religious belief as premised on a remote punishing God. Instead, given the fundamental ability of human beings to show long term compassion towards others, she argues that the primary sense in which God can be understood is more likely to be as one who is both loving and compassionate.
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