The John Templeton Foundation meets St. Tikhon Orthodox University

On January 29th, St. Tikhon Orthodox University opened its doors to a delegation  of the John Templeton Foundation, in order to discuss future cooperation between  the two institutions.

The John Templeton  Foundation was established in Philadelphia in 1987, by John Templeton, to serve  as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of  human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation encourages “civil, informed  dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such  experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and  new insights”. From 1972, the Templeton Prize honors a living person “who has  made an exceptional contribution to affirming life`s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery,  or practical works”.

The delegation was composed by Michael Murray (Executive Vice President), Alexander Arnold (Program Officer, Philosophy and Theology), Drew Rick-Miller (Manager, Religious Engagement), and Vladimir Busek (from the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic). Father Vladimir Shmalij, vice-rector of the St. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of post-graduate studies in Moscow, and father Vladimir Vorob`ev, rector of St. Tikhon Orthodox University, attended the meeting as well.

During the meeting the  John Templeton Foundation got acquainted with the peculiarities of St. Tikhon  University as an Orthodox educational institution. The participants identified  some common areas of research: in particular, Ivan Zabaev, professor at St.

Source: OCP Orthodox Cognate Page