1. Biocultural Evolution and Theological Anthropology. This project is funded by a $297,000 AUD ($206,000 USD) John Templeton Foundation grant. 2022-23. Investigators: Michael Burdett (Nottingham), Nathan Lyons (UNDA), Megan Loumagne-Ulishney (Gannon), Victoria Lorrimar (UNDA).
This science-engaged theology project will use recent findings in evolutionary biology to clarify the “biocultural” character of human beings in theological anthropology. The primary investigators will examine three particular themes in this area—morality, purposiveness, and aesthetics—and will develop mentoring relationships with practicing scientists to support their investigations. The project will draw on the latest research on niche construction, gene-culture coevolution, and cultural evolution (including, but not limited to, work done under the banner of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis) to show the mutually constitutive interplay of biological and cultural processes in hominid evolution. Nature-culture continuities identified in this biology literature will be considered for each of the project's three theological foci. The project will chart new pathways in science-engaged theological anthropology and contribute to bringing the field up to date in terms of its engagement with current evolutionary thinking. A workshop and an open access journal special issue will bring a wider network of researchers into the project to treat themes in theological anthropology that are related to, but extend beyond, the foci of the PIs. These additional themes will include topics such as rationality, language, sociality, domestication, religion, and co-creation. The PIs will also conduct a series of interviews with scientists working on biocultural evolution, which will be published online and will widen the public impact of the project.
2. Nature-Culture Continuities in Medieval Philosophy and Theology. This project is funded by a $416, 213 AUD ($282,000 USD) Australian Research Council DECRA grant. 2023-27. Investigator: Nathan Lyons.
While nature and culture tend to be opposed to one another in modern philosophy, in medieval thought there are many continuities between the two domains. This project will provide the first sustained historical study of nature-culture continuities in medieval Latin philosophy and theology, examining the areas of: cognition; language; semiotics; ethics and politics; animality; ecology; metaphysics; and God. The project will fill a significant gap in medieval intellectual history, enhance Australia’s research capacity in the history of philosophy and history of theology, and demonstrate how medieval ideas can inform contemporary debates about humanity’s relationship to the natural world.
3. God and Being. This project examines how the Western philosophical-theological tradition (Greek, Arabic, Latin) between Plato and Aquinas construes the relation between God and being. It gives a historical survey of the two major positions: that the divine first principle is “beyond being” (eg. Plato, Plotinus, Dionysius), and that it is “being itself” (eg. Augustine, Avicenna, Aquinas). The project argues that we can recognize in the two positions, despite their apparent contradiction, complementary approaches to a shared project of inquiring into transcendence.
This science-engaged theology project will use recent findings in evolutionary biology to clarify the “biocultural” character of human beings in theological anthropology. The primary investigators will examine three particular themes in this area—morality, purposiveness, and aesthetics—and will develop mentoring relationships with practicing scientists to support their investigations. The project will draw on the latest research on niche construction, gene-culture coevolution, and cultural evolution (including, but not limited to, work done under the banner of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis) to show the mutually constitutive interplay of biological and cultural processes in hominid evolution. Nature-culture continuities identified in this biology literature will be considered for each of the project's three theological foci. The project will chart new pathways in science-engaged theological anthropology and contribute to bringing the field up to date in terms of its engagement with current evolutionary thinking. A workshop and an open access journal special issue will bring a wider network of researchers into the project to treat themes in theological anthropology that are related to, but extend beyond, the foci of the PIs. These additional themes will include topics such as rationality, language, sociality, domestication, religion, and co-creation. The PIs will also conduct a series of interviews with scientists working on biocultural evolution, which will be published online and will widen the public impact of the project.
2. Nature-Culture Continuities in Medieval Philosophy and Theology. This project is funded by a $416, 213 AUD ($282,000 USD) Australian Research Council DECRA grant. 2023-27. Investigator: Nathan Lyons.
While nature and culture tend to be opposed to one another in modern philosophy, in medieval thought there are many continuities between the two domains. This project will provide the first sustained historical study of nature-culture continuities in medieval Latin philosophy and theology, examining the areas of: cognition; language; semiotics; ethics and politics; animality; ecology; metaphysics; and God. The project will fill a significant gap in medieval intellectual history, enhance Australia’s research capacity in the history of philosophy and history of theology, and demonstrate how medieval ideas can inform contemporary debates about humanity’s relationship to the natural world.
3. God and Being. This project examines how the Western philosophical-theological tradition (Greek, Arabic, Latin) between Plato and Aquinas construes the relation between God and being. It gives a historical survey of the two major positions: that the divine first principle is “beyond being” (eg. Plato, Plotinus, Dionysius), and that it is “being itself” (eg. Augustine, Avicenna, Aquinas). The project argues that we can recognize in the two positions, despite their apparent contradiction, complementary approaches to a shared project of inquiring into transcendence.