Schloss Studies Science of Religious Belief

» Photo © Brad Elliott

PhotoJeffrey Schloss, Westmont professor of biology, has received two grants totaling $222,338 to study issues related to science and faith. He is exploring “The Adaptive Logic of Religious Belief” with faculty from the University of Edinburgh through an $875,000 grant Edinburgh received from the John Templeton Foundation. Schloss receives $133,878 as a collaborator on the project for the John Templeton Foundation, whose mission is serving as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life’s biggest questions, from explorations into the laws of nature and the universe to questions about the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity.

In addition, Schloss has received support from an $88,460 foundation grant through the Cognition, Religion and Theology Project based in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford. The two-year project, “Philosophical and Theological Implications of the Cognitive and Evolutionary Science of Religion,” investigates the scientific accounts of the origin and persistence of religious belief and practice that have emerged in scientific literature. Schloss and partner Michael J. Murray, Arthur and Katherine Shadek professor in humanities at Franklin & Marshall College, will explore three different areas: scientific accounts of religious belief, leading accounts of the origin and explanation of religious cognition and the philosophical and theological implications. The grant supports a book, a series of talks and articles, and an international conference.

The Cognition, Religion and Theology Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, aims to develop and explore the implications of the cognitive science of religion, a rapidly developing area of interdisciplinary research