Professor Judith Wolfe has received a £174,000 ($230,000) grant from the Templeton Religion Trust to lead a two-year research project entitled “New Directions in Philosophical Theology.”
The aim of the project is to lay the groundwork for a field-shaping programme of research in philosophical theology, defined as a theology resourced by methods and insights from within systematic theology and continental philosophy. It plans to do so (a) by building relationships with theological centres and outstanding individual researchers that already engage continental philosophy constructively for theological advancement, and (b) by formulating a shared understanding of the tasks and questions that should be prioritized over the subsequent c. five years in the field of philosophical theology.
Do you think a philosophically based theological and historical investigation that includes up-to-date paleoanthropological/Prehistoric Archeology scientific input would fit with your goals? I ask this as a Catholic Philosopher ("Thomistically oriented") who has an extensive research background in human evolution as it relates to Catholic Doctrine on Human Origins, Sin, and death. I have corresponded with members of the Thomistic Institute, especially Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. who writes on Evolution and Human Origins online at Thomistic Evolution. Fr. Austriaco holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from MIT. Despite these impressive credentials he is not familiar with the primary literature concerning human origins, nor is he fully informed concerning developments in Catholic Doctrine concerning these hot issue subjects. Sincerely, Richard W. Clinnick