2012: A Year Marking Scientific and Spiritual Progress

Sir John Templeton (1912-2008)

This year is one of great significance for the John Templeton Foundation (JTF). It marks 25 years since the Foundation was established in 1987 by Sir John Templeton, who believed in the progress of religious and scientific endeavors and sought to investigate the Big Questions for the discovery of new spiritual insights. In addition, the Templeton Prize, created to identify “entrepreneurs of the spirit,” celebrates its 40th anniversary. This year also commemorates Sir John being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic accomplishments and the establishment of the Laws of Life Essay Contest. Finally, 2012 is the centenary year of the birth of Sir John on November 29.

Sir John wrote in Wisdom from World Religions, “In every instance, the successful dreamer took some kind of action to bring the dream into manifestation. This fact can serve as encouragement for each of us that our dreams can come true when we activate them! And activate is the key word. Futuristic vision often lies seeded in the rich soil of adventurous souls and minds.” These anniversaries illuminate Sir John’s “activation” of his vision for the future of JTF as well as the future of spiritual and scientific research.

The multiple 2012 anniversaries are being observed throughout the year by a range of groundbreaking initiatives, events, and major academic conferences. “In this 25th year of the Foundation’s operations, we are looking back at the many unusual achievements of grantees, and also looking forward to expanding the possibilities of further discovery,” explains Barnaby Marsh, executive vice president of strategic initiatives. “Sir John wanted to support today’s explorers and pioneers. This is what we are doing.”

“For us, it will be a year of gratitude, and one we intend to mark by thanksgiving but also rejoicing,” continues Mary Ann Meyers, senior fellow. “We hope that the result of the time and effort expended will be something of enduring impact—something that advances the purposes of Sir John’s Foundation.”

The events of the year include:

June 1, Reflections of Templeton Laureates

Seven living scholars who have delivered the prestigious Gifford Lectures, established 125 years ago this year, have also been Templeton Prize winners.

The work and insight of these individuals will be celebrated in June at a forum to be held at the British Academy, London. Freeman Dyson, John Barrow, Ian Barbour, John Polkinghorne, Holmes Rolston, Charles Taylor, and Martin Rees will offer reflections on the ideas they presented in their lectures in relation to subsequent progress in science and changes in society.

The Gifford lecturers of this year—Sarah Coakley, Diarmaid MacCulloch, V.S. Ramachandran, and Denis Alexander—will also be honored at a reception and dinner. “Over the past few decades the academic study of the relationship between science and religion has come a very long way, not least thanks to the support and encouragement of the John Templeton Foundation,” remarks Denis Alexander, director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion based at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge. “Much remains to be done, not least in bringing cohorts of those from the sciences as well as the humanities around the table together to tackle the Big Questions.”

June 23–25, Events in Winchester and Sewanee, Tennessee

Winchester is the hometown of Sir John. With the neighboring city of Sewanee, home of the University of the South, it will host a series of events to mark the centenary of Sir John’s birth.

Sir John’s seminal work on the Laws of Life will be celebrated in Winchester on June 23 as “A Celebration of Spirit.” This festival also marks the 25th anniversary of the Laws of Life essay competition.

There will also be a church service in Winchester and a symposium on Human Flourishing at the University of the South.

October 12–13, New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology

This conference at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia will hear from grant beneficiaries of the new anniversary awards program, New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology, supporting the work of researchers and scholars examining advances into the Big Questions.

It will also celebrate the high school and college student winners of the New Cosmic Frontiers International Essay Competition.

More information on this initiative can be found in the March 15, 2012 edition of the Templeton Report.

October 16–17, CTI Spiritual Progress Forum

Spiritual progress was a central theme for Sir John. “The world operates on spiritual and moral principles just as it does on the laws of physics and gravity,” he wrote. “It is up to us to learn what those laws of life are and then to live by them.”

The Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ, directed by Professor William Storrar, has launched an initiative for the anniversary to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on spiritual progress.

This October event is a major international symposium to champion the thought of thinkers including Jonathan Sacks, Marilynne Robinson, and Robert Bellah. The forum is by invitation only, though it will include webcasts of public events chaired by author and broadcaster Krista Tippett.

October 25–28, The Science and Religion Dialogue: Past and Future

This major academic conference will take place at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Hosted by Michael Welker, professor of systematic theology at the university, it will bring together dozens of highly-regarded scholars working in the field of science and religion.

Confirmed speakers include Martin Nowak, John Polkinghorne, Owen Gingerich, and Simon Conway Morris. They will examine key issues in the dialogue between science and religion, such as the relationship between evolutionary biology and eschatology, as well as considering the state of the dialogue in our current post-secular moment. Seminars will also be dedicated to specific academic disciplines from across the natural and human sciences, as well as theology and philosophy.

Questions to be addressed include what makes faith rational in an age of science, and how cosmology impacts the human condition. Part of the conference will be given over to young scholars and prospective future leaders in the field of science and religion.

Participation is by invitation only, though the conference will be broadcast live on the web for global audiences.

The conference will also open with a festive event, attended by Dr. Jack Templeton, president and chairman of the Foundation, to commemorate the 100th birthday of Sir John and the 25th anniversary of JTF.

Recipient of the Templeton Prize, Charles W. "Chuck" Colson, 1931-2012

Charles W. Colson, who was awarded the 1993 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and founded Prison Fellowship, died April 21 at the age of 80.

A former special counsel to President Richard Nixon, he began Prison Fellowship in 1976 after serving a federal prison sentence for obstructing justice in the Pentagon Papers case. His inspiration has led to the world’s largest prison outreach and criminal justice reform organizations in the world, marked by a network of ministries in more than 110 nations.

At a later Templeton Prize ceremony, in 2003, Colson explained that his award recognized not himself, but rather his organization’s volunteers serving prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. “Christian conviction inspires public virtue, the moral impulse to do good. It has sent legions into battle against disease, oppression, and bigotry. It ended the slave trade, built hospitals and orphanages, tamed the brutality of mental wards and prisons.”

The Foundation honors the work of Prison Fellowship in the transformation of prisoners and their reconciliation to God, family, and community. It remembers with deep respect Chuck Colson’s belief in religious liberty as the essence of human dignity.