Friday, April 11, 2014
St. Paul, Minn.—Luther Seminary received a $188,540 planning grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a unique project called Science for Youth Ministry. This project will explore how science and faith are discussed with young people in congregations. There will be a special focus on how youth ministries deal with the congruence and conflicts between science and faith.
Given the current dynamics in congregations around this topic, Dr. Andrew Root, associate professor of children, youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary, proposed the research project to uncover major issues and opportunities. As a result of this grant, Root will partner with the Rev. David J. Wood, senior minister at Glencoe Union Church in Glencoe, Ill.; and Tony Jones, author, theologian-in-residence at Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis, lecturer at United Theological Seminary and teacher at Fuller Theological Seminary and St. Cloud State University. Together, they will explore this topic and deliver a white paper about the status of these conversations in early fall 2014. They will also make recommendations regarding subsequent programs for consideration to expand Science for Youth Ministry.
About Luther Seminary
Luther Seminary educates leaders for Christian communities across the country and around the world. It is one of eight seminaries in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Established in 1869, Luther Seminary is the result of six separate institutions consolidating through a series of mergers, the first in 1917, into a single seminary. Luther Seminary has educated more than one-third of ELCA pastors, in addition to an increasing number of lay professionals and leaders of many global Lutheran and ecumenical churches.
About the John Templeton Foundation
The John Templeton Foundation funds independent research and public engagement, pursuing breakthrough discoveries to expand our current knowledge about the universe, the full potentials of humanity and life’s ultimate purpose. The Foundation’s motto, “How little we know, how eager to learn,” exemplifies its support for open-minded inquiry, commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship, and encouraging civil, informed dialogue among scientists, scholars, theologians and the public at large.