Canyon Institute for Advanced Studies has had the distinct honor of being the only Institute selected by the John Templeton Foundation to administer this prestigious award (2001-2008). When Sir John Templeton founded the Prize in 1972, he felt that Alfred Nobel had overlooked the most important dimensions of humankind, religion and the pursuit of spiritual growth and progress. For this reason, the Templeton Prize has always been larger than the Nobel Prize, reflecting Sir John Templeton's sense of importance of religion and growth in spiritual knowledge was more important than any other field of endeavor. Today, the Templeton Prize continues to be the world's largest single monetary award.
The Prize is awarded each year to a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery or practical works. In Sir John's words, the Prize aims to identify "entrepreneurs of the spirit" - those individuals who have devoted their talents to those aspects of human experience that, even in an age of astonishing scientific advance, remain beyond the reach of scienfic explanation.
Both the John Templeton Foundation and Canyon Institute for Advanced Studies are organizations with a deep respect for different religions and world views. As a Christian interdisciplinary research center, we bring together minds and resources to investigate and research issues emerging from new discoveries and advances for the purpose of better understanding their implications in the common ground of faith and discipline. Toward that end, CIAS disseminates information and perspectives to assist people of faith in the global community in developing sound, coherent, and informed foundations for engaging today's exciting but challenging opportunities. CIAS affirms the goals of the Templeton Foundation, best met through fostering a free-flowing marketplace of ideas in these domains.
Barbara Small, former Executive Manager of Canyon Institute for Advanced Studies, served as a key advisor to the Templeton Prize program.
John Marks Templeton, philanthropist and pioneer global investor who founded the Templeton Mutual funds, passed away on July 8, 2008. Sir John spent a lifetime encouraging openmindedness and devoted his Foundation's motto "How little we know, how eager to learn" exemplified his philosophy both in the financial markets and his ground breaking methods of philanthropy. Click here to learn more about his life and accomplishments.
See Canyon Institute at the Templeton Prize award ceremonies in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
More information on the Templeton Prize may be found on the Templeton Prize website, www.templetonprize.org, or by emailing info@templetonprize.org.
