Templeton Prize

The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, "whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind's place and purpose within it." It was established, funded and administered by John Templeton starting in 1972. It is co-funded by the John Templeton Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, and Templeton World Charity Foundation, and administered by the John Templeton Foundation.<ref>Online: https://templetonreligiontrust.org/areas-of-focus/</ref>

The prize was originally awarded to people working in the field of religion (Mother Teresa was the first winner), but in the 1980s the scope broadened to include people working at the intersection of science and religion.<ref name=Nature2011>Template:Cite journal</ref> Until 2001, the name of the prize was "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion", and from 2002 to 2008 it was called the "Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims have been on the panel of judges and have been recipients of the prize.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The monetary value of the prize is adjusted so that it exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes; Templeton felt, according to The Economist, that "spirituality was ignored" in the Nobel Prizes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:As of, it is £1.1 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was typically presented by Prince Philip, during his lifetime, in ceremonies held at Buckingham Palace.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The prize has been referred to as prestigious<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and coveted,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with The Washington Post calling it the most prestigious award in religion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Atheist scientists Richard Dawkins,<ref name=jeffries/> Harry Kroto<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Jerry Coyne have criticized the prize as "blurring [religion's] well-demarcated border with science" and being awarded "to scientists who are either religious themselves or say nice things about religion",<ref name="danjones">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a criticism rejected by 2011 laureate Martin Rees, who pointed to his own and other laureates' atheism and that their research in fields such as psychology, evolutionary biology, and economy can hardly be classified as the "promotion of religion".<ref name="danjones"/>

Laureates

Year	Laureate		Notes	Ref(s)
1973	Template:Sort	Mother Teresa	Founder of the Missionaries of Charity; 1979 Nobel Peace Prize laureate	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1974	Template:Sort	Frère Roger	Founder of the Taizé Community	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1975	Template:Sort	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan	Former President of India, advocate of non-aggression with Pakistan	<ref name=indy/>
1976	Template:Sort	Leo Joseph Suenens	Pioneer in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement	<ref name=humble>Template:Cite book</ref>
1977	Template:Sort	Chiara Lubich	Founder of the Focolare Movement	<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
1978	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Thomas F. Torrance	Former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland	<ref name=humble/>
1979	Template:Sort	Nikkyō Niwano	Co-founder of the Risshō Kōsei Kai	<ref name=humble/>
1980	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Ralph Wendell Burhoe	Founder of the journal Zygon	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1981	Template:Sort	Cicely Saunders	Founder of the hospice and palliative care movement	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1982	Template:Sort	Billy Graham	Evangelist	<ref name=bbc2002/>
1983	Template:Sort	Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn	Soviet dissident novelist; Nobel laureate	<ref name=bbc2002/>
1984	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Michael Bourdeaux	Founder of the Keston Institute	<ref name=indy/>
1985	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Sir Alister Hardy	Founder of the Religious Experience Research Centre	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1986	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	James I. McCord	Former president, Princeton Theological Seminary	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1987	Template:Sort	Stanley Jaki	Benedictine priest; professor of astrophysics, Seton Hall University	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1988	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Inamullah Khan	Former secretary-general, Modern World Muslim Congress	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1989	Template:Sort	Carl Friedrich Freiherr von WeizsäckerTemplate:Efn	Physicist and philosopher	<ref name=humble/>
	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	George MacLeodTemplate:Efn	Founder of the Iona Community	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1990	Template:Sort	Baba AmteTemplate:Efn	Developer of modern communities for people suffering from leprosy	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Charles BirchTemplate:Efn	Emeritus professor, University of Sydney	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1991	Template:Sort	Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits	Former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth	<ref name=humble/>
1992	Template:Sort	Kyung-Chik Han	Evangelist and founder of Youngnak Presbyterian Church, Seoul. From northern Korea.	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1993	Template:Sort	Charles Colson	Founder of the Prison Fellowship	<ref name=indy/>
1994	Template:Sort	Michael Novak	Philosopher and diplomat	<ref name=indy/>
1995	Template:Sort	Paul Davies	Theoretical physicist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1996	Template:Sort	Bill Bright	Founder of the Campus Crusade for Christ	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1997	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Pandurang Shastri Athavale	Social reformer and philosopher, founder of the Swadhyay Movement	<ref name=nyt/>
1998	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Sir Sigmund Sternberg	Philanthropist; founder of the Three Faith Forum	<ref name=indy/>
1999	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Ian Barbour	Former professor of science, technology and society, Carleton College	<ref name=indy2/>
2000	Template:Sort	Freeman Dyson	Theoretical and mathematical physicist, mathematician, and statistician	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2001	Template:Sort {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Arthur Peacocke	Former dean, Clare College, Cambridge	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2002	Template:Sort	John Polkinghorne	Physicist and theologian	<ref name=indy/>
2003	Template:Sort	Holmes Rolston III	Philosopher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2004	Template:Sort	George F. R. Ellis	Cosmologist and philosopher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2005	Template:Sort	Charles Hard Townes	Nobel laureate and physicist	<ref name=teresa/>
2006	Template:Sort	John D. Barrow	Cosmologist and theoretical physicist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2007	Template:Sort	Charles Taylor	Philosopher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2008	Template:Sort	Michał Heller	Physicist and philosopher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2009	Template:Sort	Bernard d'Espagnat	Physicist	citation	CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
2010	Template:Sort	Francisco J. Ayala	Biologist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2011	Template:Sort	Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow	Cosmologist and astrophysicist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2012	Template:Sort	14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso	Spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2013	Template:Sort	Desmond Tutu	Nobel laureate, social rights activist and retired Anglican archbishop	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2014	Template:Sort	Tomáš Halík	Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2015	Template:Sort	Jean Vanier	Catholic theologian, humanitarian and founder of L'Arche and Faith and Light	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2016	Template:Sort	Jonathan Sacks	Former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, philosopher, and scholar of Judaism	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2017	Template:Sort	Alvin Plantinga	American scholar, philosopher, and writer	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2018	Template:Sort	Abdullah II of Jordan	King of Jordan	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019	Template:Sort	Marcelo Gleiser	Brazilian physicist and astronomer, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020	Template:Sort	Francis Collins	Geneticist and physician	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2021	Template:Sort	Jane Goodall	Ethologist, activist and renowned chimpanzee researcher	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2022	Template:Sort	Frank Wilczek	Theoretical physicist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2023	Template:Sort	Edna Adan Ismail	Health care advocate	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2024	Template:Sort	Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela	Psychologist	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2025	Template:Sort	Patriarch Bartholomew	Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	<ref>https://hellenicnews.com/the-2025-templeton-prize-to-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew/</ref>

See also

• List of religion-related awards

References

General

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External links

• Template:Official website