Leaders of Christian Study Centers partnering with us on The Higher Pursuits Project: Exploring Spirituality and Purpose in the Contemporary University gathered in Madison, WI earlier this month.
We are grateful to be participating in three current and upcoming grant-related projects made possible by the generosity of the John Templeton Foundation.
The first is the Triangle Faculty Roundtable. Once a semester from 2020-2022, the North Carolina Study Center is partnering with the Duke Center for Christianity & Scholarship (the grant coordinator) and InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministries to host faculty gatherings that foster dialogue at the intersection of the Christian faith and modern science. Each event engages with 60-80 faculty from Triangle-area universities and consists of listening to a relevant academic presentation, then discussing the ‘big questions’ raised by the presentation over a meal in small groups. The Triangle Faculty Roundtable is based on and adapts the approaches and experience of the Cambridge Roundtable on Science and Religion.
The second is the Higher Pursuits Project, “an endeavor to engage the history, ideals, and values that shape the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and human flourishing in the contemporary university.” This grant is coordinated by Upper House (the Study Center at the University of Wisconsin), with the North Carolina Study Center is a sub-grantee. We are using this opportunity to develop enhanced educational resources for students and faculty seeking to connect their faith to their academic and vocational pursuits at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The third grant is officially titled ‘Harnessing the Strengths of Comprehensive Moral Communities for Virtue Development in Higher Education’. It will run December 2021 through November 2024. Coordinated by researchers at Baylor University, this project will study how five leading Christian study centers—including the North Carolina Study Center—influence moral identity and virtue development among college students in relation to five secular universities and three religious colleges. These researchers hypothesize that Christian Study Centers are uniquely well-positioned to form students in the areas of moral identity and virtue.
Each of these grants naturally aligns with the Study Center’s mission, “to cultivate Christian life and thought at UNC.” We deeply appreciate the John Templeton Foundation’s support in enhancing our ability to pursue this mission, and are excited to see what happens next.