Bible Institute of South Africa

The International Society for Science and Religion (Bene’t House, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge UK) ran a competition where the prize was a set of library books. Mr David Fitz-Patrick, our registrar and Librarian entered the competition and BISA was one of a select number of colleges to win the award!

The letter from ISSR reads “I am very pleased to inform you have been selected as an ISSR Library awardee. Your application was reviewed under a competitive judging process and your institution will join a select group of only 150 institutions worldwide to receive a full set of the library. The ISSR Library consists of 224 volumes spanning all areas of the interface between science and philosophy.  The primary focus is directly on science and spirituality and includes eleven other subject areas. These range from the sciences and social sciences to history, philosophy and the environment”. 

The approximate value is around US$1,800. ISSR will very kindly pick up all shipping and customs/duties costs. 

Context of the Award

"The International Society for Science & Religion was established in 2002 for the purpose of the promotion of education through the support of inter-disciplinary learning and research in the fields of science and religion conducted where possible in an international and multi-faith context.

The Society took shape after a four-day conference in Granada, Spain, which until the late 15th century was the center of peaceful discourse between scholars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Beginning in 2010, approximately one hundred and fifty complete sets of volumes will be awarded through an international competition to institutions of higher learning and other high-impact centers in targeted regions around the globe. The International Society for Science and Religion requests proposals from institutions of higher learning to receive complete Libraries of major works in thefield of science and the human spirit. 

Our central aim is the facilitation of dialogue between the two academic disciplines of science and religion, one of the most important current areas of debate in terms of understanding the nature of humanity. This includes both the enhancement of the profile of the science-religion interface in the public eye, as well as the safeguarding of the quality and rigour of the debate in the more formal, academic arena".

Context information taken from: www.issr.org.uk