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WATCH: The Importance of Imparting Forgiveness in Schools
How does the concept of “forgiveness” vary across cultures? Can it be taught in classrooms, and if so, how do we teach it most effectively? These and other questions fueled a conversation among scholars at this year’s Forgiveness Forum, the third in a virtual conversation series hosted by the Templeton World Charity Foundation that explores the benefits of forgiveness for personal growth and global healing. The virtual conversation, moderated by Time Magazine reporter Katie Reilly, took place during World Education Week, and focused on the connection between forgiveness and educational outcomes. Forum panelists included Dr. Peli Galiti, a visiting scholar with…
Video: The Science of Forgiveness
Learn about the latest research in the science of forgiveness with Dr. Amrisha Vaish, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and leader of a project studying the development of forgiveness supported by the John Templeton Foundation. She discusses studies demonstrating that young children are drawn to those who show remorse, suggesting that forgiveness is a deep-seated and important ability for our species. So why do we all sometimes struggle to do it? This is the second video in our series of interviews produced by the independent media company Freethink. Watch the first episode here, which features…
WATCH: For Children, Saying ‘Sorry’ Is One Thing. Understanding What It Means Is Another.
Along with "please" and "thank you," saying sorry is one of the earliest phrases that many parents teach their children. They do this because it's an important nicety: people say "sorry" to show remorse, to ask for forgiveness, and to show basic concern and awareness of others' needs. But when do children really understand the significance of apologies? When do they begin to care whether a person shows remorse for doing harm -- for ripping up a child's picture, for example, or pushing someone to the ground? These are some of the questions driving the research of Dr. Amrisha Vaish, associate…
Can Forgiveness Bring Healing to the World?
Explore the Science of Forgiveness
During the late 1990s, in the aftermath of the fall of Communism, Nelson Mandela’s election in South Africa, and an easing of the conflict in Northern Ireland, the world faced a new era in which former enemies tried to work with each other. Forgiveness took on new significance beyond religion, with which it had often been associated. The John Templeton Foundation issued a call for proposals that resulted in 20 funded grants, establishment of the non-profit organization, A Campaign for Forgiveness Research, which funded eight additional grants, and a total of almost $10 million put toward research on forgiveness. By…
Love, Goodness, and Renewal | The Colorful Celebration of Holi
Breaking the Cycle of Resentment
‘The Best Form of Self-Interest’
WATCH: Forgetting and Forgiving | Insights from Memory Researcher Dr. Felipe De Brigard
Psychological Perspectives on Divine Forgiveness
Education Is Not Filling Pots, But Igniting Torches
Divine forgiveness: Phase 1
The Development of Forgiveness
The Boundaries of Early Forgiveness
Prayer, Relationships, and Health
Over the course of dozens of studies, Frank Fincham has compiled an impressive list of ways that prayer and forgiveness make a difference. Frank Fincham, who holds an endowed chair of the Florida State University College of Human Sciences, is a former Rhodes Scholar with an Oxford doctorate and a long track record of insightful study of relationships, religious practice, and health. In 2011 he was the recipient, as director of the FSU Family Institute, of a $1.13 million, four-year grant from the John Templeton Foundation to investigate the ways that prayer and forgiveness affect relational well-being and physical health.…
Prayer, Relationships, and Health
Over the course of dozens of studies, Frank Fincham has compiled an impressive list of ways that prayer and forgiveness make a difference. Frank Fincham, who holds an endowed chair of the Florida State University College of Human Sciences, is a former Rhodes Scholar with an Oxford doctorate and a long track record of insightful study of relationships, religious practice, and health. In 2011 he was the recipient, as director of the FSU Family Institute, of a $1.13 million, four-year grant from the John Templeton Foundation to investigate the ways that prayer and forgiveness affect relational well-being and physical health.…
Implementation of forgiveness education to increase agape love in three culturally distinct areas: Belfast, Israel/Palestine, and Hong Kong
Individual differences and children’s motivations for forgiveness
A Darwinian Reconciliation: The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Forgiveness
The Science of Forgiveness in the Practice of Preaching
Forgetting and Forgiving: Exploring the Connections between Memory and Forgiveness
Video: What Is Life?
Have we encountered alien life already and just not realized it? Will deepening our understanding of life in the universe transform our understanding of ourselves? Explore the profound questions surrounding the nature and origins of life that propel the research of astrobiologist Dr. Sara Walker of Arizona State University in this interview. Walker is the recipient of a $2.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a project, co-led by Templeton Prize laureate Paul Davies, to explore the transitions bridging chemistry and the origins of life. What Is Life? "Life is literally the physics of creativity," says Walker. "It's…
Practicing Forgiveness Tour
Humility and Forgiveness: The Role of Social Relations among Three Ethnic Groups
Ecclesial Theology and the Virtue of Forgiveness
Monthly Grant Report – July 2019
Recently Approved Grants Character Virtue Development Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount #CultivatingCharacter: A Global Movement to Cultivate Character both Online and Off Through Living 24/6 Let it Ripple, Inc Tiffany Shlain $350,000 Exemplar Interventions to Develop Character Wake Forest University Eranda Jayawickreme, Michael Lamb $1,686,200 Identifying Metrics of Character Development in Adults: Insights from shared life in L’Arche L'Arche USA Tina Bovermann, Brenna Case $220,000 Individual differences and children’s motivations for forgiveness Trustees of Boston University Peter Blake $233,917 Innovative Videos for the Greater Good Regents of the University of California at Berkeley Jason Marsh $234,800 Human…
Q&A: Five Questions with Betül Kaçar
Betül Kaçar is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona in the departments of Cell Biology and Astronomy. Her research investigates molecular mechanisms of evolution, the origins of life, and the distribution of life throughout the universe. Her research team uses a new approach that infers ancient DNA sequences using phylogenetics, engineers these reconstructed DNA inside microbial genomes, and reanimates them in order to study ancient enzymes in modern organisms. Kaçar’s work at the University of Arizona and previously at Harvard University has been supported by multiple grants from the John Templeton Foundation, including the latest $357,843 grant “Molecular…
Building virtue: environmental and social influences on the development of fairness, forgiveness, honesty, and trustworthiness
Spiritual Yearning Research Initiative: The Search for Meaning Among the Nonreligious
The Spiritual Yearning Research Initiative (SYRI) is aimed at addressing the spiritual yearnings, existential concerns, and search for meaning of spiritually curious but nonreligious individuals and communities. SYRI’s overarching big question is: How can those who experience a deep yearning for a meaningful spiritual life, but find traditional religion unsatisfying, fulfill that yearning? This question involves empirical, conceptual, and normative dimensions, calling for an approach that is cross-disciplinary in nature. The Foundation’s aim in this initiative is to arrive at a better understanding of spiritual yearning and flourishing among the spiritually curious but nonreligious, by supporting research by scholars within…
‘To Be Human Is to Ask the Question, Why?’
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on the Quest for Meaning “Life is a story. It is our response to the call of suffering in the world.” –Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Morality. The earthly story of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, winner of the 2016 Templeton Prize, came to an end in November 2020. But his response to the call of suffering — a legacy of religious thinking and powerful personal testimony that poured out over dozens of books and a lifetime of scholarship — continues to echo in the world. In his 2020 book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times,…
The Question of Character: Equipping the Next Generation
Video: The Science of Morality
Right and wrong, good and evil -- when viewing the world, our moral judgments often feel clear-cut and consistent. Research shows, however, that we're willing to be more forgiving and flexible with those who are socially close to us, while applying sterner judgments to those who are far away. Why do we make these exceptions? And how can we broaden our sense of morality to be more fair to people outside of our tribes? Learn more about the science of morality in this interview with Dr. Liane Young, professor of psychology at Boston College. Young is the project co-leader with…
John Templeton Foundation Approves Over $49 Million in New Programs
During the final quarter of 2020, the Board of Trustees of the John Templeton Foundation approved 31 funding requests with an approximate total value of over $49 million, the Foundation has announced. "The proposals we have approved show exceptional promise to benefit humanity by contributing to human flourishing," said Heather Templeton Dill, President of the John Templeton Foundation. "Like all the work we support, these projects aim to contribute new perspectives and ideas to subjects of profound importance. Such topics have included research on forgiveness, intellectual humility, and the origins of life, as well as projects that advance our strategic priorities…
The Question of Character: Expanding the Veritas Forum Model to Engage the Next Generation
ONIX: a search for nuclear T-violation using octupole-deformed nuclei in crystals
Into the Unknown: Foundation Reports from the Edge of Physics
Four new scientific reviews tackle the origins of space, time, and the universe—and the mystery of why the cosmos seems ideally suited for human life. What happened before the Big Bang? Is our cosmos precisely tuned to foster life? Is time an illusion? What are the building blocks of reality? On Friday, November 12, science think-tank the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) will publish the first in a new series of reports that unravel these and other perplexing questions. “These reports cover some of humanity’s deepest and oldest questions about where we come from, who we are, the fate of the…
New $5.34 Million Grant to Examine the Neuroscience of Free Will
Think about a decision you’ve made — a big one like where to go to college, or a tiny one like whether to pick up your phone. People take for granted that they act according to their decisions, and that our actions only begin once we’ve made a conscious choice. But is it really true? Several fascinating experiments have suggested otherwise. Beginning this year, a 17-member international team of leading neuroscientists and philosophers will undertake an ambitious four-year set of studies to expand our understanding of decision and action, funded by a $5.34 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation…
Paul Davies on ‘What’s Eating the Universe?’
Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and best-selling author is Regents’ Professor of Physics and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. His research has explored quantum gravity, black holes, early-universe cosmology, and astrobiology as it relates to the origin of life. In 1995 he became the third physicist to be awarded the Templeton Prize, both for his groundbreaking research and his work engaging philosophers, religious leaders and the public around questions of the universe’s origin and nature. Nate Barksdale, lead writer for the John Templeton Foundation’s “Possibilities” newsletter, recently spoke with Davies…
Religion, Spirituality, Aging, and Health
College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose: What Role Does Student and Institutional Religious Identity Play?
The Leap to Life: $2.9M Grant to Explore Life’s Emergence
Robotic chemical reactors, synthetic organisms, and artificial intelligence are poised to shed new light on one of science’s most engaging and vexingly murky questions — the origin of life — in a unique new research project with $2.9 million in core funding from the John Templeton Foundation. The project got its formal start this fall at the University of Arizona under the leadership of astrobiologist Sara Walker, who has made several key contributions to the study of life’s origins, and Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and 1995 Templeton Prize laureate. The three-year series of studies and analyses aims to…
Monthly Grant Report – February 2019
Recently Approved Grants Human Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount What is Religious Experience? Validating and Testing the Inventory of Non-Ordinary Experiences University of California Santa Barbara Ann Taves; Michael Barlev $234,521 Using Self-Reported Religiosity/Spirituality to Predict Mental Health Outcomes and Biological Correlates Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. Myrna Weissman; Connie Svob $234,302 Project Amazing Grace Phase 2: Making Sense of Grace Biola University Peter Hill $234,779 Philosophy & Theology Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount When and Why We Explain: Need for Explanation and Tolerance for Mystery in Science and Religion The Trustees of…
Raising the profile of Science and the Big Questions (SABQ) research and researchers
Monthly Grant Report – March 2020
Recently Approved Grants Human Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Developing Belief: The Development and Diversity of Religious Cognition and Behavior: Phase 1 University of California, Riverside Rebekah Richert; Kathleen Corriveau $9,866,732 Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project Phase VI Pew Charitable Trusts Alan Cooperman $2,446,900 Philosophy and Theology Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Social virtue epistemology: What does it take to be an intellectually humble Socratic gadfly? Macquarie University Mark Alfano; Jay Van Bavel $797,870 The Launch of MA & PhD Degrees in Philosophy and the Foundations of Science for Latin America Asociación Civil de…
The Testimony of Rocks and Minerals
How Quantum Biology Could Uncover the Secret of Our Origins
The Neuroscience of Free Will
Character, Virtue, Quarantine
The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for nearly everyone around the world. Even for those whose homes are untouched by the coronavirus itself, daily life, work, and family rhythms have been disrupted. One of the John Templeton Foundation’s core interests is the ways that understanding and cultivating character and virtue can measurably improve human flourishing. Over the past several years, we have commissioned research reviews collecting insights and future questions around the topics — many of which seem especially relevant for the challenges that COVID-19 has brought to the foreground. Generosity. From sewing handmade masks to help protect medical…
Monthly Grant Report – January 2019
Recently Approved Grants Human Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Tracking and Understanding the Effects of Transformative Events in People’s Lives Regents of the University of Michigan Rada Mihalcea; James Pennebaker $1,684,328 Systematic Review and Analysis of US Federal Investments in Research on Religion and Health University of Connecticut Crystal Park; John Salsman $234,207 The Third Religion, Economics and Society (RES) Initiative: Making the Economic Study of Religion and Religious Markets a Field of the Future Chapman University Jared Rubin $325,346 Divine forgiveness: Phase 1 Florida State University Research Foundation Inc. Frank Fincham $233,994 Religion and human flourishing…
The Character Course: Design, dissemination and evaluation of a church-based small group programme for character development
Can Science Set Us Free?
NOVA Programming on the Cosmos
True Stories Well Told: Using Narrative to Search For Harmonies Between Science and Religion
What Is Emergence?
Promoting Character Strength Development in Youths Through Interactive Storytelling Online: A Pilot Project
Nine Ways to Make a Diamond
Geometric Phases and Symmetric Quantum Measurements
The Black Hole in the Basement: Part II
A molecular complexity approach to identifying bio-signatures, shadow-life, and new life forms
Pilot Program: Think Big! Life in the Cosmos for the Smithsonian Future is Here Festival
Orienting People toward Forgivingness
The Black Hole in the Basement: Part I
A Plasma Haloscope for the Post-Inflation Axion
TEX Fellowship: Unifying Mind and Machine: searching for new theories of physics with machine learning
Frequency distributions in complex organic molecular mixtures: A search for biological anomalies and their meaning
Thomistic Institute: Seeking the Unity of Truth Through Science and Faith
Novel Cryogenic Methods for Fundamental Physics
Making Meaning in a Post-Religious America
Why Justice and Forgiveness Go Hand In Hand
Privacy Policy
INTRODUCTION AND ACCEPTANCE The John Templeton Foundation (“JTF”) recognizes the importance of your privacy, and we are committed to protecting any data that allows us to directly or indirectly identify you (“personally identifiable Information”). As part of JTF’s normal operations we collect and, in some cases, disclose information about you. This Privacy Policy is meant to inform users of JTF’s website and portals about what information we collect, how we will treat this information, and what options you have to direct our activities. By using JTF’s website and portals, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy. All references…
The Science of Forgiveness
Search Results
It’s a grateful life: Grants explore the benefits of gratitude and humility
Sir John Templeton believed that the path to life’s blessings is paved with gratitude. Recent research has supported this intuition that gratitude and humility can, among other things, help forge stronger leadership, more productive workplaces, and better schools. But questions remain: Can we become more grateful and humble? Can scientific research help us design programs to instill the lessons about gratitude and humility? And how can we move this message from the laboratory and into the global community? With support from John Templeton Foundation, researchers are aiming to answer these questions. Scientists are only at the initial stages of work…
Two new grants aim to unravel the essence of hope & optimism
Some people are unflappable optimists. The gambler who just knows that the next roll will be a winner. The patient diagnosed with cancer who is sure he can beat it. Or the Cubs fan who knows that this year is the year. What makes us hopeful? When is optimism reasonable? Are hope and optimism good for us? Through two grants from the John Templeton Foundation, sociologists, philosophers, and scientists are seeking to explain precisely what constitutes hope and optimism, to probe what makes us hopeful and optimistic, and to discern when and where they are good for us. With support…
Faith, Politics, and Intellectual Humility
A public symposium on the prospects for civil discussion In the age of the internet comment, it gets harder and harder to imagine meaningful dialogue between people who disagree about topics as deeply held and divisive as faith and politics. On April 25 in Hartford, Connecticut a trio of speakers with divergent backgrounds but a common interest in revitalizing civic discourse will make the case for — and chart paths towards — just such conversations. At the event titled “Talking About Faith and Politics: Navigating Our Differences with Conviction and Humility," former presidential advisor David Gergen, interfaith youth activist Eboo…
Five Steps to Opening Minds
A new $2.6M grant to help communities cultivate intellectual humility through online learning Admitting mistakes can be difficult — especially in a polarized society where certainty is prized — but learning to be intellectually humble may be key to fostering productive dialogue across the differences that divide us. Inspired by the need for such virtues, a team of researchers is now working to help communities learn to appreciate curiosity, open-mindedness, and constructive dialogue in a new, three-year, $3.8 million project led by Jonathan Haidt and Caroline Mehl. Created to address rifts within American society, the OpenMind Program aims to identify…
Promoting Intellectual Humility in Classrooms
A new project will help gauge how students feel realizing the limits of their understanding — and ways they can positively respond Much of the goal of education is about getting students to know things — to be informed discussion participants or well-prepared test-takers. But for education to be successful, and for students to flourish in the classroom and beyond, it can be equally important to show students productive ways of not knowing. Intellectual humility, which might be defined as recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge and being open to learning from others, has emerged as one of the central…
Strategic Priority Q&A: Science of Virtues
Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. This conversation is the third in a series of conversations about the Strategic Priorities that the John Templeton Foundation will be funding over the next five years. This interview with Sarah Clement, Senior Director, Character Virtue Development, was conducted and edited by Benjamin Carlson, Director, Strategic Communication. To get started, why don’t you share a little about your story – what brought you to the Foundation? What…
His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan Receives Templeton Prize
“Everything you honor me for simply carries onward what Jordanians have always done, and how Jordanians have always lived—in mutual kindness, harmony, and brotherhood” His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was awarded the 2018 Templeton Prize in the presence of ambassadors, Jordanian and U.S. government officials, and Washington political leaders, faith leaders, the media, and society at a ceremony Tuesday evening at Washington National Cathedral. “Today, I am truly humbled to be recognized by all of you. But let me say, everything you honor me for simply carries onward what Jordanians have always done, and how…
Conversations With Grantees: Jeffrey Rosen
Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Jeffrey Rosen, the President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, he speaks about the importance of intellectual humility, spreading "constitutional light," and preserving civil discourse in the age of social media. He also discusses the Center’s Interactive Constitution, an interactive platform sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation that explores modern implications of the Constitution’s history. “People are learning to debate issues…
Foundation-Supported Researchers Win Nobel Prize and MacArthur Fellowship
Two researchers who have received support from the John Templeton Foundation were announced this week as winners of the Nobel Prize and the MacArthur Fellowship. Jennifer A. Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on developing a method for editing the genome. She received the award jointly with Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier of France. Doudna was the co-leader of a John Templeton Foundation-supported project to convene discussions among scientists, ethicists, and civil and religious leaders on the challenges and opportunities of gene editing and to develop “a set of common principles to…
Conversations with Grantees: Angela Duckworth
Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Angela Duckworth, founder and CEO of Character Lab and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, she speaks about being a good person, advancing the science and practice of character development, and recognizing that you're not always right — a trait called intellectual humility. "Since there have been people, there has been this question of, how do I grow up to…
Brian Greene Talks Black Holes at TEDSocial Event
New York, NY — Just hours after Templeton-backed researchers unveiled the first-ever picture of a black hole, renowned physicist Brian Greene appeared at a Foundation-sponsored event to discuss how black holes are revolutionizing our understanding of reality. “Black holes provide a number of theoretical puzzles that we are still trying to resolve,” said Greene, professor of mathematics and physics at Columbia University and co-founder of the World Science Festival. The TED Social event, “How Black Holes Change Our Picture of Reality,” was organized jointly by the John Templeton Foundation and Simons Foundation and brought together dozens of science-interested members from the…
How Grantees Are Helping With COVID-19
Templeton Grantees Respond to the Coronavirus At the beginning of 1665, a deadly plague shuttered Cambridge University and sent a 23-year-old Isaac Newton back to his family estate. There, in relative seclusion, Newton thought and wrote and calculated — making breakthroughs in calculus, motion, optics, and gravitation. Newton’s annus mirabilis has become an oft-repeated (and at times embellished) chestnut in the history of science, but it gets at the truth that when the world is turned upside-down and many possibilities are foreclosed, others can open up. Today, as then, tragedy, uncertainty, and massive shifts in the rules of everyday life…
Conversations with Grantees: Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman
Please note: The information in this article reflects our strategic priorities at the time of writing and may change over time. To confirm our current funding interests, please view our Funding Areas. In this conversation with grantee Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman, founding director of Sinai and Synapses, he speaks about the importance of intellectual humility, the Scientists in Synagogues program, bringing together science and religion, and how to nurture constructive — not destructive — conversations. "Imagine if, when we have disagreements, if we have different perspectives, that those conversations actually move us forward." Watch to learn more: This interview is…
On Asking Open-Minded Questions: Heather Templeton Dill Interviewed on ‘Beyond Belief’
What inspired one of the world’s great pioneering global investors to devote his wealth to unlocking the mysteries of the universe and human nature? Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation and granddaughter of its founder, explored such questions and more in a wide-ranging interview on Beyond Belief, a weekly online show that features guests of diverse backgrounds exploring their views on spiritual and intellectual questions. Beyond Belief is produced by Aish, a Jewish community and content-focused organization. Host Rabbi Adam Jacobs interviewed Dill in a forty-five-minute conversation that covered the Foundation’s origins and the vision of Sir…
WATCH: Did Science Invent Optimism?
What role did science play in the emergence of optimism? Join us in conversation with the Columbia University professor and chair of biology, Dr. Stuart Firestein. Author of two trade books on the surprising role of ignorance and failure in science, Dr. Firestein is at work on a new book on optimism, from which he shares a preview in this exclusive discussion with the John Templeton Foundation. His bold argument makes the sweeping claim that it was the emergence of science, and its discovery of technologies that enabled rapid improvement in quality of life, that first allowed people to feel…
Video: Why Intellectual Humility Matters
What is intellectual humility? And how might practicing this virtue help to make people more thoughtful, open, and happy? A new video produced by the John Templeton Foundation in partnership with Freethink media company shares insights from the latest research and scholarship to shed light on these questions. Watch to learn more: "Intellectual humility goes back to one of the core purposes of what Sir John Templeton was trying to achieve," says Richard Bollinger, program officer in Character Virtue Development for the Foundation. "He believed the nature of reality was too big for any one person or one discipline to…
2018 TEMPLETON PRIZE CEREMONY TO HONORHIS MAJESTYKING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN
CONTACT: Donald Lehr – The Nolan/Lehr Group +1 (212) 967-8200 / mob +1 (917) 304-4058 dblehr@cs.com / www.templetonprize.org FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 . 2018 TEMPLETON PRIZE CEREMONY TO HONOR HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will receive the 2018 Templeton Prize in the presence of ambassadors, Jordanian and U.S. government officials, and Washington political leaders, faith leaders, and society on Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 PM, at a ceremony to be held at the Washington National Cathedral. Admission to the ceremony is strictly by…
The Alien Earths Initiative
End of Year Message from President Heather Templeton Dill
Dear Friends, Curiosity is one of the core principles that guides our work at the John Templeton Foundation. How can we live meaningful and purposeful lives? How does our social context inform decisions that we make or the way we interact with each other? How does basic science research contribute to human flourishing – even when it takes years to get results or to transform our understanding? These questions drive our curiosity because they focus on the role that humans play in making the world a better place. This year, perhaps more than others in recent memory, reminded us why…
Hope and Grit: Companions on the Road to Change
Collaborative Inquiries in Christian Theological Anthropology
A new project will foster interdisciplinary work — informed by both science and theology — on what it means to be human Human flourishing and freedom are topics that have long been considered by theologians and humanities scholars, but recent work in the life and social sciences—on subjects ranging from how brains make decisions to how individuals develop virtues — is presenting some of those age-old topics in a new light. A new three-year, $3.9 million research project funded by the John Templeton Foundation and led by theologians Jesse Couenhoven at Villanova University, and Gerald McKenny and Neil Arner at…
Foundation Releases White Paper on Study of Hope and Optimism
A new report explores the benefits of two related virtues. A new paper published by the John Templeton Foundation explores the latest scientific and philosophical research on the related but distinct virtues of hope and optimism. The 45-page white paper, written by Michael Milona, a philosophy professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, examines findings on the benefits and risks involved in both hope and optimism. Milona’s summary gave particular focus to the results of another Templeton-funded initiative, “Hope & Optimism: Conceptual and Empirical Investigations,” a three-year, $4.4 million project led by Samuel Newlands at Notre Dame and Andrew Chignell…
The Templeton Project for Open Inquiry in the Legal Academy: Free Enterprise and Religious Freedom
Monthly Grant Report – December 2019 & January 2020
Recently Approved Grants Human Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Religious belief, health and disease: a family perspective. I. Data collection University of Bristol Jean Golding; Kate Northstone $234,800 Scholarship for International Faculty/Students to Attend Spirituality & Health Research Workshop Duke University Harold Koenig; Benjamin Doolittle $115,411 Natural Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Social Practices, Scientific Practice, and Human Evolution Wesleyan University Joseph Rouse $233,297 Philosophy and Theology Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Panentheism and Religious Life The Johns Hopkins University Yitzhak Melamed; Clare Carlisle $232,748 SCP Graduate Fellowships for Science…
Monthly Grant Report – June 2019
Recently Approved Grants Human Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount Knoxville Marriage Initiative: Partnering with churches to deliver science-based interventions to solve a community problem The University of Tennessee Kristina Gordon $234,800 Natural Sciences Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount The creative role of stress in evolution and development Yale University Gunter Wagner; Alan Love $886,152 Philosophy & Theology Project Title Grantee(s) Project Leader(s) Grant Amount What Breathes Fire into the Equations: The Metaphysics of laws of nature Rutgers University Foundation Barry Loewer $167,325 The Fine-tuning Argument: A Curated Bibliography The University of Mississippi Neil…
Heather Templeton Dill Joins the Generosity Commission
President Heather Templeton Dill and the John Templeton Foundation are proud to be a part of the Generosity Commission which launched on October 12th. This commission consists of a group of leaders across business, philanthropy, and civil society that will address the ways in which generosity is conveyed in America, especially during times of conflict, and how it can be fortified. Following a two-year plan that calls for new research and national conversation, the Generosity Commission will explore and promote multiple ways that philanthropy, volunteerism and community are being redefined in 21st century America. The group’s two goals are to…
Is macroevolution testable? Comparative insights into convergent evolution
Marcelo Gleiser Wins 2019 Templeton Prize
MARCELO GLEISER AWARDED 2019 TEMPLETON PRIZE WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA. – Marcelo Gleiser, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and a leading proponent of the view that science, philosophy, and spirituality are complementary expressions of humanity’s need to embrace mystery and the unknown, was announced today as the 2019 Templeton Prize Laureate. Gleiser, 60, the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has earned international acclaim through his books, essays, blogs, TV documentaries, and conferences that present science as a spiritual quest to understand the origins of the universe and of…
