Opportunities

Nanzan Chair for Interreligious Research

The Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan, wishes to announce the endowment of $1 million from Robert Roche, president of Oak Lawn Marketing, to establish the Roche Chair for Interreligious Research at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture. The aim is to honor scholars who have made a distinguished contribution to mutual understanding among religions and traditions of religious thought East and West. Appointment to the one-year, renewable position involves full-time residence at the Nanzan Institute. The inauguration of the chair is set for spring 2006. Further information is available at www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/activities.

Buddhism, Christianity, and Science in Dialogue

The John Templeton Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $43,000 to Paul D. Numrich of the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus, Ohio, for a project titled "Comparative Religious Perspectives on Science: Buddhism and Christianity." This project will facilitate dialogue about science among Buddhist and Christian scholars, philosophers, and theologians, thereby enriching current knowledge and challenging common assumptions in the science and religion field. The highlight of the project will be a two-day conference featuring Buddhist and Christian speakers that will be open to the public, the media, scholars, educators, religious leaders, and other interested parties. Conference presentations will form the core of an eventual edited volume.

This project will broaden the intellectual scope and widen the religious representation of the science and religion field, drawing interest in the religious insights that Buddhism has to offer and in the dynamic interchange of ideas between Buddhists and Christians. Even veterans of science and religion discussions will find something new to ponder here. This project will help to make the case to funding agents and research institutes to support multireligious dialogue about science and religion.

The project has three expert advisors: Thomas Kasulis, professor of Japanese religions and Asian and Western philosophies, Ohio State University; Dr. Donald Luck, T.A. Kantonen Professor of Theology, Trinity Lutheran Seminary; and Dr. George Murphy, adjunct faculty in Science-Theology Dialogue and Systematic Theology, Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

Contact Paul D. Numrich, pnumrich@mtso.edu or 740–362–3443, for more information.