NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt University will become the center of
an ongoing conversation about the friction and connections between
science and religion with the help of a grant from the Metanexus
Institute on Religion and Science in Philadelphia.
The Templeton Research Lecture Grant will bring at least $270,000 to
the university to fund a research group, speakers, publications and a
major conference over three years. A Templeton Research Fellow will be
named each year to deliver a lecture series and write a book on
religion and science.
The grant was awarded this month to the Center for the Study of
Religion and Culture, a transinstitutional center at Vanderbilt drawing
on the expertise of a diverse array of faculty.
“The challenges of the 21st century √ñ require new interdisciplinary
collaborations, which place questions of meanings and values on the
agenda,” said William Grassie, executive director of the Metanexus
Institute. “We need to put questions about the universe and the
universal back at the heart of the university.”
The Metanexus Institute advances research, education and outreach on
the constructive engagement of science and religion. It runs some 300
projects in 30 nations, including the Templeton Research Lectures
funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Born in Winchester, Tenn., Sir John Templeton, 92, is best known as
a pioneer in the development of value-based, globally diversified
mutual funds, founding the highly successful Templeton Growth Fund and
Templeton World Fund. Selling both funds in 1992, he established the
John Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken, Pa., near Philadelphia.
The foundation‘s mission is to pursue new insights at the boundary
between theology and science through rigorous, open-minded and
empirically focused methodologies, drawing together talented
representatives from a wide spectrum of fields of expertise to
encourage worldwide exploration of the moral and spiritual dimensions
of the universe and of the human potential within its ultimate purpose.
A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar, Sir John Templeton was knighted in 1987 by Queen Elizabeth II.
The research at Vanderbilt will focus on scale, linking disciplines
according to their scope. Subjects like microbiology and nanophysics
will fall on the micro side of the scale, with theology, astronomy and
the like at the macro end of the spectrum.
“Our intuition is that intellectual inquiry and the examined life,
including its spiritual dimensions, are not subject to a single set of
propositions no matter what their source,” wrote Vanderbilt professors
Volney Gay and Richard Haglund, co-chairs of the project. “We view the
dialogue between science and religion as continuous and ongoing. And we
believe a focus on the hierarchy of nature is both large enough to
attract key intellectual partners and focused enough to permit genuine
advance.”
Public participation in discussions about science and religion is critical to both Vanderbilt and the Metanexus Institute.
“Stem cell research, evolution, genetic research and engineering are
all subjects of vital interest to scientists and followers and scholars
of religion,” said Mark Justad, project director and executive director
of the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture.
“Vanderbilt is uniquely qualified to lead this debate, as a leading
scientific research university with a top-flight divinity school. We
hope to use this as a constructive platform for productive dialogue on
issues involving science and religion.
“We hope this grant will mark the start of a permanent conversation on these issues.”
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu