Genes, Genesis and God

Professor Holmes Rolston III of Colorado State University

The 2002-2003 Witherspoon Lecture in Religion and Science

Holmes Rolston, III (University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State University) is widely recognized as the father of environmental ethics as a modern academic discipline. He has devoted his career to developing a philosophical interpretation of the natural world and is regarded as one of the world’s leading scholars on the philosophical, scientific, and religious conceptions of nature. His scholarly work and his role as a founder of the influential academic journal Environmental Ethics have been instrumental in establishing, shaping, and defining the modern discipline of environmental philosophy.

Rolston has published widely in his field, including three important books: Philosophy Gone Wild (1996), Environmental Ethics (1988), and Conserving Natural Value (1994). He has also written in philosophy of science and religion more generally, including his 1987 book, Science and Religion: A Critical Survey and more recently, in 1999 Genes, Genesis and God. He is associate editor of the journal Environmental Ethics and serves on the editorial board of a number of other journals, including Environmental Values.