2016-18 Roundtables on Science & Religion, a project of
The Leadership Connection; David Thom, Project Director;
davethom@mit.edu, cambridgeroundtable.org, 617-258-7333
3 Mt. Lebanon Street, Pepperell MA 01463, cell: 413-259-1083
Science & religion (S&R) are the two strongest and at times most
volatile rival forces world-wide and yet our leading U.S.
universities are not known for conducting research that intersects
the two together. With 18 Roundtables (RTs) having been
conducted over the last year, we have proven that our
Coordinators produce an experience with S&R investigation that is
personally satisfying and professionally stimulating to America’s
faculty at its top universities. Ground-breaking leaders as we are,
these results are low-hanging fruit.
Our Aim and Purpose in extending our partnership is to move
participants past expressions of interest in exploration of S&R
toward expressions of collaborative research and the routing of
partnering participants toward applications for funding in S&R
research.
The momentum that has been created in these five groundbreaking convocation of scholars needs at the very least an
unbroken sequence of semesterly rallying points to build on
confidences in the program sponsorship, its inter-magisterial
leadership, and the growing comfort of its inter-disciplinary
community.
Our first grant’s Outcomes had expectations of RT participants
gaining new insights in S&R and of exploring S&R intersections
with other participants. Another stated Outcome “doubles-down”
on these results: “In the 3 years following this project, we look
forward to seeing participants at each location conducting public
explorations of S&R in the classroom or in other public settings
together with other participants.”
In keeping with the sound thinking behind Templeton’s
substantial initial investment, follow-up investment must
immediately be made in the training of a layer of Local
Roundtable Leaders (LRLs) whose mandate is the catalyzing of
relationships that will lead to the routing of diverse partners
toward united applications for funding in S&R research: an
imperative requiring deft in coaching, guidance and leadership.
“Meeting and greeting” is fleeting, but “dating and relating” can
be grating. Dramatic research results aren’t drawn from easy
homogenous thinking - instead it grows from a team of rivals.
Coordinators on the brink of urging forth uninterrupted Templeton
sponsorship risk losing LRL volunteer investment that is so critical
to forming a team approach in guiding grant applicants in
overcoming the polarizing differences in S&R advocacy. The very
human concern for the guiding of scholars that one day move
institutions is a fitting Templeton investment.