Templeton Prize

From Philosopedia

TEMPLETON PRIZES

Since 1972, the Templeton Foundation has made annual grants to a living person who, in the estimation of its judges, best exemplifies "trying various ways for discoveries and breakthroughs to expand human perceptions of divinity and to help in the acceleration of divine creativity."

The prize is named after Sir John Templeton, an American-born British entrepreneur and businessman, who was knighted (Knight Bachelor) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his philanthropic efforts.

Templeton was born on 29 November 1912) in Winchester, Tennessee. He graduated in 1934 from Yale, was a Rhodes Scholar to Balloi College, University of Oxford, and graduated from there with a Master's degree in law. A stock investor, businessman, and philanthropist, he renounced his U. S. citizenship in 1968 and has dual naturalized Bahamian and British citizenship. He is a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church and for 12 years served as chairman of the Princeton Theological Seminary. He became a billionaire by being a pioneer in the use of globally diversified mutual funds.

The monetary value of the prize (795,000 GBP or approx. 1.5 million US dollars in 2007) is adjusted so that it exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes. The prize is, as of 2006, the largest single annual financial prize award given to an individual for intellectual merit. Prince Phillip in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace has been presenter of the prize. Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims have been on the panel of judges and have been recipients.

Prize Winners

All the following are believed to be Theists

1973 - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

1974 - Frère Roger, founder of the Taizé Community

1975 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India

1976 - Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens

1977 - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement

1978 - Very Rev. Prof. Thomas Torrance

1979 - Rev. Nikkyo Niwano

1980 - Ralph Wendell Burhoe, founder of Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science

1981 - Cicely Saunders, hospice founder

1982 - Billy Graham, evangelist

1983 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet dissident novelist

1984 - Rev. Michael Bourdeaux, founder of the Keston Institute

1985 - Alister Hardy, founder of the Religious Experience Research Centre

1986 - Rev. James I. McCord of the Princeton Theological Seminary

1987 - Stanley Jaki

1988 - Dr. Inamullah Khan

1989 - Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, physicist, and Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community

1990 - Baba Amte and L. Charles Birch

1991 - Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits

1992 - Kyung-Chik Han

1993 - Charles Colson, founder of the Prison Fellowship

1994 - Michael Novak, philosopher and diplomat

1995 - Paul Davies, theoretical physicist

1996 - Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ

1997 - Pandurang Shastri Athavale

1998 - Sigmund Sternberg, philanthropist

1999 - Ian Barbour, professor

2000 - Freeman Dyson, physicist

2001 - Rev. Arthur Peacocke

2002 - Rev. John Polkinghorne

2003 - Holmes Rolston III

2004 - George F. R. Ellis, cosmologist and philosopher

2005 - Charles Townes, Nobel laureate , physicist (inventions include the maser as well as early work on the laser)

2006 - John D. Barrow, cosmologist and theoretical physicist

2007 - Charles Taylor, Canadian who teaches law and philosophy at Northwestern University

2008 - Rev. Prof. Michael Heller, physicist and philosopher

2009 - Bernard d'Espagnat, physicist

2010 - Francisco J. Ayala, biologist and former priest

Conversations

The John Templeton Foundation's website includes information about how it funds core themes (e.g.,

epistemology;

ethics and moral philosophy;

metaphysics;

natural philosophy;

philosophical theology;

philosophy of language;

philosophy of mathematics and logic;

philosophy of mind;

philosophy and history of science;

religious phenomenology;

theology of nature.

"Does the Universe Have a Purpose," one of the core themes, resulted in various responses:

Yes - David Gelernter; Owen Gingerich; John F. Haught;

Certainly - Jane Goodall

Indeed - Nancey Murphy

Very Likely - Bruno Guiderdoni;

Perhaps - Paul Davies;

I Hope So - Eli Wiesel

No - Peter William Atkins; Christian de Duve;

Unlikely - Lawrence M. Krauss;

Not Sure - Neil deGrasse Tyson.