Kevin James Sharpe (23 January 1950 – 6 November 2008) was a mathematician, theologian, archaeologist, Anglican priest and professor at

Union Institute & University Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a private university in Cincinnati, Ohio. It specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses ...

. He is known for his publications on the

relationship between religion and science The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern u ...

, on the interpretation of

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...

David Bohm David Joseph Bohm (; 20 December 1917 – 27 October 1992) was an American-Brazilian-British scientist who has been described as one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th centuryPeat 1997, pp. 316-317 and who contributed u ...

, as well as for his investigations with

Leslie Van Gelder Leslie Van Gelder (born January 27, 1969) is an American archaeologist, writer, and educator whose primary work involves the study of Paleolithic Finger Flutings in Rouffignac Cave and Gargas Cave in Southern France. Working with her husband, ...

finger fluting In prehistoric art, finger flutings are lines that fingers leave on a soft surface. Considered a form of cave painting, they occur in caves throughout southern Australia, New Guinea, and southwestern Europe, and were presumably made over a conside ...

s in the

Rouffignac cave The Rouffignac cave, in the French commune of Rouffignac-Saint-Cernin-de-Reilhac in the Dordogne département, contains over 250 engravings and cave paintings dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. In conjunction with other caves and abris of th ...

Education

In 1975, he obtained a Ph.D. in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

from

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

, Melbourne, Australia, under supervision of Graham Elton, with a thesis entitled “Relationships between Group Topologies”.Curriculum Vitae
on personal web site (downloaded 13 April 2012) In 1976, Sharpe was ordained as an

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particul ...

.Obituary
Union Institute & University (downloaded 13 April 2012) He obtained a second Ph.D. in religious studies in 1987 from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, Boston, Massachusetts, for work performed under supervision of Professors Robert S. Cohen of the Philosophy Department, and Harold H. Oliver with the topic “Christian Theology and the Physics, Metaphysics, and Mathematics of

”, which later led to his book published in 1993.

Career

Since 1987, Kevin Sharpe was professor in the Graduate College of the

, Cincinnati, and associate director of research at the ''

Ian Ramsey Ian Thomas Ramsey (31 January 1915 – 6 October 1972) was a British Anglican bishop and academic. He was Professor of the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Oxford, and Bishop of Durham from 1966 until his death in 1972. He wrote ex ...

Centre for Science and Religion'',

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, England. He was editor of ''Theology and the Sciences'' of the ''

Fortress Press 1517 Media, formerly Augsburg Fortress Press, is the official publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), also publishing for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) as ''Augsburg Fortress Canada''. Headquar ...

'' series as of 1991, founding editor of '' Science & Spirit'', and member of the advisory boards of ''

Anthropology of Consciousness Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavio ...

'', of '' Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science'' and of the ''Center for Humility Theology'' at the

John Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a philanthropic organization that reflects the ideas of its founder, John Templeton, who became wealthy via a career as a contrarian investor, and wanted to support progress in religious an ...

. Sharpe authored more than 130 journal articles.

Finger flutings

Together with his second wife, Dr. Mary Catherine Lacombe, Kevin J. Sharpe wrote several articles on finger flutings, after doing research in the Rouffignac cave and in Australian caves. Dr. Lacombe, who had a PhD in writing along with experience in childhood education made the connection between these finger flutings and mnemonic devices that young children use. and .) Continuing with his third wife

, Kevin J. Sharpe, pursued his interest in archaeology lectured extensively on early

cave painting In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...

s and markings, in particular on

s by men, women, and children in the

. They continued to interpret these as early

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...

devices and a precursor to writing.Zypon: Journal of Religion & Science, March 2010 editorial
(downloaded 13 April 2012)

Books

* Kevin J. Sharpe: ''Science of God: Truth in the Age of Science'', Rowman and Littlefield, 2006, * Kevin J. Sharpe, Rebecca Bryant: ''Has Science Displaced the Soul? Debating Love and Happiness'', Rowman and Littlefield, 2005, * Kevin J. Sharpe: ''Sleuthing the Divine: The Nexus of Science and Spirit'', Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2000, * Kevin J. Sharpe: ''David Bohm's World: New Physics and New Religion'', Bucknell University Press, 1993, * Kevin J. Sharpe: ''From Science to an Adequate Mythology'', Science, Religion, and Society Series, No. 1, 1984,

References

External links

Personal web site

Union Institute & University {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Kevin J. 1950 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American theologians 21st-century American theologians