The Shalem Center Awarded $1.1 million to Develop Jewish Contribution to Global Philosophical Theology Project
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SHALEM CENTER:Suzanne L. Balaban, Vice President, Communications Phone: 011 972 50 811 0348 /suzanneb@shalem.org.il
Pamela P. Thompson, Vice President, Communications Phone: (610) 941-2828 /pthompson@templeton.org
JERUSALEM (November 2, 2010) The Shalem Center in Jerusalem has been awarded a $1.1 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to develop a uniquely Jewish contribution to the field of philosophical theology.
Shalem Center Provost and Senior Fellow Yoram Hazony will oversee the Jewish component of a three-year, $5.7 million project in philosophical theology that will also include two Christian institutions. The Templeton Foundation’s “Analytic Theology” project is aimed at advancing the use of philosophical methods in the study of religious topics and texts. The Jewish component of the project will focus on developing techniques for the philosophical investigation of the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and Midrash. The hosts for the Christian components of the project are the University of Notre Dame in the United States and the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Hazony, an author and scholar whose next book, The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture: An Introduction, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, said, “Jewish tradition is text-based, and the guiding question for the Jewish component will be whether it is possible profitably to investigate the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, and Midrash as works of genuine philosophical interest. If so, then this can lead to new directions in Jewish philosophy, theology, and Bible study. But the results of such work can also have an impact on Christian philosophy, and possibly even on other religions as well. This is a topic that is already being explored by a very small number of philosophers—but there is obviously much more work to be done in this direction, both in terms of methodology for the philosophical study of the Jewish sources, and in terms of substance.”
The funds will be devoted to a series of conferences, workshops, and funded research projects by individual scholars over the coming three years. This novel approach to theological research will enable direct engagement between scholars in the field, provide cross disciplinary research training, opportunities for younger scholars to develop research trajectories, and ways for disseminating the fruits of the philosophical study of religion to a broader, non-academic audience.
“Although analytic theology has been until now, a largely Christian enterprise, it need not be,” said Michael J. Murray, John Templeton Foundation Vice President for Philosophy and Theology. “The emergence of a base for Jewish philosophical theology at the Shalem Center provides an opportunity for consolidating a real Jewish anchor for the project. We hope to see familiar topics and methods from analytic philosophy brought into discussion with traditional Jewish theology to help leverage new theological discovery; see the unique conceptual and methodological resources of Jewish theology brought into dialogue with Jewish and non-Jewish thought, and establish personal connections and collaborative work between Jewish analytic theologians and their Christian and, hopefully, Muslim counterparts with the goal of finding ways to use the tools of philosophy and science to make new discoveries that transcend sectarian boundaries.”
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The Shalem Center (www.shalemcenter.com) is a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute that supports academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies. Shalem has submitted an application to the Israel Council for Higher Education to open Israel’s first liberal arts college. Shalem College will offer the first Israeli B.A. modeled on the American liberal arts degree.
The John Templeton Foundation (www.templeton.org) serves as a philanthropic catalyst for research relating to what scientists and philosophers call the Big Questions. It supports work at the world's top universities in such fields as theoretical physics, cosmology, evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and social science relating to love, forgiveness, creativity, purpose, and the nature and origin of religious belief. It also seeks to stimulate new thinking about wealth creation in the developing world, character education in schools and universities, and programs for cultivating the talents of gifted children.
Click here for Executive Summary from The Templeton Foundation
Suzanne Balaban Tel: 972 (2) 560-5953,  |
