Thank you for turning to Dave Thom’s page for learning more about The
Leadership Connection’s sponsorship of The Cambridge Roundtable.
Items of interest:
1.) Correspondence from Templeton to Dave and its consequences.
2.) How about 2016 Roundtables?
3.) What are your Roundtable goals as a chaplain, Dave?
1.) A Templeton representative wrote to Dave August 21, 2015 about future
funding from Templeton:
Dear David,
Thanks for all the updates and keeping me in the loop. It looks like the
grant went well and the Cambridge program is thriving and you have proven
the concept will also translate to other campuses (something I remember
reviewers were skeptical of). There is clearly good justification to take
another request seriously.
With that said, we are simply not in a position to do so at JTF. As I think I
mentioned to you, we have canceled the fall pre-proposal cycle and are
taking a break from our usual load of proposals because our projections for
2016 (and the remainder of 2015) are pretty bleak. Right now it looks like I
will have to decline most of the proposals I invited for this fall. That is to
say, we do not have the capacity to take on another request and unless the
stock market takes off between now and the end of 2015, that will not
change for at least 12 months (anticipating requests with payments in
2017).
I’m sorry to be a bearer of bad news – this is really not a reflection of the
work you have done – but I am nearly 100% certain that a proposal
considered now will end up in a declination. And I don’t want to waste your
time developing a proposal with almost no chance of success.
I suggest we touch base early next year, although you will have as good an
idea as I as to the prospects then based on the markets. It will take
considerable growth to change those prospects.
Thanks for all your hard work and I hope you can turn the good work you
did with the Templeton Religion Trust grant into some new funding
opportunities.
(I won’t provide his name or position or address so that you’re not tempted
to deluge him or Templeton with letters, though that would be interesting!
The “other campuses” mentioned with new Roundtables are Yale, Brown,
Dartmouth, and where we “re-started” in the Amherst Area Five Colleges.)
The consequences of this correspondence have an upside and a downside:
The upside: From now on, whenever we raise significant funding from other
sources, Templeton considers that excellent news. Some might think it could
mean bad news – as if Templeton might think that when others invest that
they are no longer needed. It’s just the opposite: demonstrated confidence
by new donors gives Templeton added confidence. New donors among a
number of diverse Roundtable participants could significantly encourage
Templeton’s future investment and partnership. The downside: Templeton
may remain uncomfortable and unmoved if markets do not improve.
2.) I have reached out to Marcelo Gleiser, Appleton Professor of Natural
Philosophy and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth. Gleiser’s
latest book is: The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the
Search for Meaning. Marcelo has made very successful presentations for
the Roundtables at Dartmouth and at Yale, and in Amherst, and he will no
doubt stir up lively, open and interesting conversations for us as well.
Professor Gleiser is willing to join us for our next Roundtable in April 2016,
but he agreed to wait to hear from me in January about whether or not we
will have the necessary funding. I pushed this Roundtable back from the
winter months in order to have more time to hopefully assemble the
financial resources necessary to manage on-going Roundtable expenses.
3.) What are my Roundtable goals as a chaplain? Let’s go back to what
every Roundtable invitation states: The Roundtable is “dedicated to fostering
dialogue that explores the intersection of current academic thought and
Christian thought on issues related to science and religion.” So you might
ask, “But if Christian ministers are supposed to be preaching the gospel,
then aren’t Roundtables just a clever way to sneak in some old-fashioned
proselytization?” If that’s true then I’m doing terrible at that in having
atheists as invited speakers, in having non-Christian chaplains as guests,
in not preaching from up front as your MC, and in not organizing known
Christian professors or religious leaders around how to be so clever.
Here’s my story: sure, I do think that there are objective facts that make for
a compelling professional understanding of the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus. And I also think that a personal encounter of Jesus, like my own, can
be equally compelling. The mix of the two variables produces every kind of
Christian that you could possibly imagine. As your Roundtable Coordinator,
I happen to be the kind of minister that has learned so much about science,
art, and religion in the conducting of Roundtables – while enjoying my
personal and professional understandings of Jesus that I know have changed
thanks to Roundtables – that I can’t imagine others not finding something
valuable in every Roundtable event. I am my own most satisfied customer!
When I ask participants for time outside of a Roundtable dinner, a lot is on
the table: 1.) Asking if The Roundtable is proving to be a place to explore
the intersection of science and religion, both personally and professionally.
2.) I’d like to get to know our guests, and 3.) I’d like our guests to get to
know me. 4.) I’d like to set a trend in everyone getting together more often
between Roundtable dinners. Dinner is just the first step in bringing back a
balance to how we live as information professionals – if this is perhaps what
we are as academic and religious leaders. Personal perspectives that we
have on what we think is valuable information are too often de-emphasized,
and Roundtables are an excellent step in bringing back the personal.
From among the many kinds of chaplains whom I have asked to be involved
with Roundtables and in getting together with participants outside of dinner,
Bill Hager stepped up to help me fulfill an agreement with Templeton to have
twenty personal meetings conducted over the course of the grant. Help was
needed because I ran into an immense roadblock: in January I was suddenly
an estate trustee for a dear friend’s family. It is still taking a lot of time and
energy to be a trustee. Thanks Bill, and others, for your help and patience!