God’s Mechanic Goes Google

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Thursday, 29 October 2009

God’s Mechanic Goes Google

How does religion work in a culture shaped by science and technology? How do scientists and engineers practice their religions? How in particular does a Jesuit brother, and an MIT graduate with a PhD in planetary science, make sense of his Catholicism? Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J. addressed these issues in his presentation of God’s Mechanics to approximately 100 on the Google campus in California.

For his book, Brother Consolmagno examined the personal religious life and theology of scientists and engineers—“techies”—based on conversations with nearly a hundred techies in Silicon Valley (interviewed during the spring of 2007 during a six-week stay at Santa Clara University). In his presentation, Brother Guy also shared his perspective and insights as a Jesuit scientist and astronomer at the Vatican Observatory.
“There was tremendous interest in Brother Consolmagno’s talk at Google,” said Matt Hancher, a software engineer on Google’s Earth Engine team. “It is clear that there are many Googlers wrestling with questions of how to balance and integrate their scientific and technical lives with their spiritual and religious lives. This talk offered a variety of new perspectives, and seemed to spark some good conversations afterwards!”