A conversation with Michael E. McCullough, author of Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct, moderated by Barbara Bradley Hagerty of National Public Radio

Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? Why is forgiveness so difficult? In Beyond Revenge, Michael E. McCullough argues that the key to creating a more forgiving world is to understand both the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in our minds today. Drawing on the latest breakthroughs in the social and biological sciences, McCullough offers practical and often surprising advice for how individuals, social groups, and even nations might move beyond our deep penchant for revenge.

As reviewed in Publishers Weekly:
"Schooling readers in the basics of natural selection, McCullough argues that despite popular belief that revenge is a disease, both revenge and forgiveness have been adaptive for our species. Acting as a chatty tour guide through a labyrinth of game theory and studies of human and animal behavior, he delineates the neurological, psychological, social, cultural, and religious mechanisms behind these choices. . . . Accessible but unsentimental, this book will appeal to all who wish to better understand forgiveness and how to engender it."

About the Speaker

Michael E. McCullough is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology. His research is focused on moral sentiments like forgiveness and gratitude, and he also studies the evolutionary underpinnings and modern-day consequences of religious behavior.

An evening of conversation between Karl W. Giberson, author of Saving Darwin (HarperOne) and Michael Shermer, Skeptic magazine

Raised a fundamentalist, Giberson firmly believed in creationism during his college years. But while working on his Ph.D. in physics, he began to doubt that science could have gotten everything as thoroughly wrong as the creationists suggested. In Saving Darwin, he paints a clear picture of the creation/evolution controversy and explores its intricate history, from Darwin to the current culture wars, carefully showing why — and how — it is possible to believe at the same time in both God and modern evolutionary science.

For video clips of the conversation between Karl Giberson and Michael Shermer, click here.

About the Speakers

Karl W. Giberson is professor of physics at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts. A leading scholar in the field of science and religion, he was the founding editor of Science & Theology News and has served as editor-in-chief of Science & Spirit magazine. He is the author of, among other books, Worlds Apart: The Unholy War between Science and Religion and Species of Origin: America's Search for a Creation Story (with Don Yerxa).

Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com), a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a professor at Claremont Graduate University. His many books include How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God and Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design.

An evening with David Blankenhorn & Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

A Return to Thrift?

Indebtedness has become an American way of life. The national debt has ballooned, the savings rate stands below zero, and the mortgage crisis has devastated the American financial system. The Institute for American Values, under the leadership of David Blankenhorn, has launched a national campaign to confront these linked problems, with the assistance of a diverse group of scholars and public figures. In a recent column describing their efforts, David Brooks of the New York Times called For A New Thrift "one of the most important think-tank reports you'll read this year."

For video excerpts of the conversation with David Blankenhorn and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, moderated by Daniel Gross of Slate and Newsweek, click here.

Newly Published

Jointly written by distinguished scholars and public figures from across the political spectrum, For A New Thrift (www.newthrift.org) powerfully addresses the problem of America's "debt culture." The report's principal author is Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, a senior scholar at the Institute for American Values.

Thrift: A Cyclopedia (published by the Templeton Foundation Press) is David Blankenhorn's extended reflection on the idea and principle of thrift, as well as an effort to bring together a range of previously uncollected materials on the subject. Blankenhorn is president of the Institute for American Values in New York.

An evening with Michael Novak, author of No One Sees God (Doubleday), and Heather Mac Donald

Michael Novak's new book is a reasoned response to today's brigade of "new atheists" as well as an exploration of the "dark night of unseeing" often experienced by believers themselves. The book was prompted in part by a lengthy exchange two years ago, in print and online, between Novak and the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald, a vocal nonbeliever and a critic of the role of religiosity in American public life. In two chapters of No One Sees God—and now at this Templeton Book Forum—he and Mac Donald continue their conversation.

For video excerpts of the conversation between Michael Novak and Heather Mac Donald, click here.

About the Speakers

Michael Novak is the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. His more than 25 books include Belief and Unbelief (1965), The Experience of Nothingness (1970), Will It Liberate? Questions About Liberation Theology (1986), Tell Me Why: A Father Answers His Daughter's Questions about God, with Jana Novak (1998), and On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding (2001). He received the Templeton Prize in 1994 and has won many other international awards.

Heather Mac Donald is a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal. Her work for City Journal and many other publications has covered a range of topics, including homeland security, immigration, policing, race, welfare, homelessness, and educational policy. In 2005, she received the Bradley Prize for Outstanding Intellectual Achievement.

A Conversation with William Damon

In his new book, William Damon makes an impassioned case for altering the "culture of short horizons" that bombards young people with cynical messages about the importance of seeking instant success. As he explains, more and more young adults are "failing to launch" into joyful and productive adulthoods. They are postponing essential life commitments and find themselves drifting along aimlessly, full of uncertainty. "The most pervasive problem of the day is a sense of emptiness that has ensnared many young people," he writes. For too many of them, "apathy and anxiety have become the dominant moods, and disengagement or even cynicism has replaced the natural hopefulness of youth." Describing the results of the first scientific study of these issues, Damon presents important findings about how and why a sense of purpose plays such a valuable role in the lives of young adults.

To see the conversation with William Damon at the Templeton Book Forum, click here.

About the Author

A professor of education at Stanford and director of the university's Center on Adolescence, William Damon is one of the world's leading scholars on the moral and psychological development of children and young people. Prior to coming to Stanford in 1997, he was University Professor and director of the Center for the Study of Human Development at Brown University. His books include The Moral Child, Some Do Care, Greater Expectations, The Youth Charter, and Good Work. He is the founding editor of the well-known series New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development and editor-in-chief of The Handbook of Child Psychology.