Templeton Foundation awards $3.4 million for study of creation

The Templeton Religion Trust has awarded a $3.4 million grant to Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill., to examine and develop the Christian doctrine of creation within evangelical theology. The grant is the largest of its kind in Trinity’s 118 year history.

The three-year study will focus on a different theme each year: reading Genesis in an age of science; affirming the doctrine of creation in an age of science; and reclaiming theological anthropology in an age of science.

Rather than defend against godless explanations of origins, the researchers will concentrate on highlighting biblical truth.

“Instead of adopting a defensive posture, this project works hard to lay out what Scripture and the rich theological heritage of the church contribute to our understanding of creation,” D.A. Carson, research professor of New Testament, said in a statement.

The program will involve public lectures, opportunities for visiting scholars to spend a semester on campus, and partnerships with pastors and congregations. Because biblical and theological scholarship can often seem remote from the actual ministry of the church, Trinity plans to make its study more accessible to pastors and congregations with a three step approach, said David Dockery, Trinity International University president.

Large conferences will focus on content for pastors. Publications will interpret the research for both pastors and lay people. And in partner churches, pastors will preach sermons on the content and develop ongoing programs and small group discussions.

The study will explore the questions of young earth creationism and old earth viewpoints very carefully, Dockery said. Reputable representatives of both perspectives will be involved, and study participants will explore various viewpoints within both of the main categories.

Trinity also will use the grant money to establish four scholar-in-residence grants each year, to support six pastors willing to focus on the doctrine of creation, and to initiate a writing competition for graduate students who research related topics.

John Templeton established his foundation, one of America’s 100 largest, in 1987. It funds research relating to questions of human purpose, ultimate reality, and “new spiritual information,” according to the foundation’s website. It awards about $70 million per year in research grants and programs. Templeton believed in Darwinism, but this latest study “will be consistent with Trinity’s commitment to biblical inerrancy and to the truthfulness of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,” Dockery said.

“This is a very distinctive study in that many Templeton programs have asked very important questions about what science has to say to religion but our particular program, over the next three years, is designed to explore an evangelical approach to the doctrine of creation, asking theological questions about science,” Dockery added. “I think that is what makes this study distinctive and, we pray, beneficial for many.”