The 2010 St. Thomas Summer Seminar
in Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology

Organized by
Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers)
Michael Rota (University of St. Thomas)

Recent PhDs and current graduate students in philosophy, theology, or religious studies are invited to apply to participate in the 2010 St. Thomas Summer Seminar in Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology. Twenty participants will be selected; each will receive a stipend of $2,800 and will be provided with accommodations and meals for the duration of the seminar. (Regrettably, funding for travel costs cannot be provided.)

Seminar Dates: June 15 - July 2, 2010

Location: University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, Minnesota 

Application Deadline: Applications must be received by December 1, 2009.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Application is open to graduate students in philosophy, theology, and religious studies and to recent PhDs in these fields. By a "recent PhD" we mean an individual who completed his or her PhD in 2005 or later. We welcome applications from individuals of any philosophical persuasion or stance vis-à-vis religious beliefs.

Selection of participants will be made by a panel of academics with expertise in the philosophy of religion. Participants will be selected on the basis of (a) the applicant's academic performance to date, (b) his or her potential for doing high quality research in the future in the areas of philosophy of religion and/or philosophical theology, and (c) his or her interest in research on the topics addressed in the seminar.

Selection decisions will be made by February 15, 2010.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit an application package including:

(a) CV,
(b) a short writing sample (3500 words maximum),
(c) a one page statement explaining their interest in the program, and
(d) one confidential letter of recommendation.

Applications should be made by attaching the CV, writing sample, and the statement of interest to an email sent to ustphilrel@stthomas.edu, and by directing the writer of the letter of recommendation to email the letter to ustphilrel@stthomas.edu. (In the case of the letter of recommendation, the name of the person being recommended should be included in the subject line of the email.)

The writing sample should be no more than 3500 words. However, it is perfectly acceptable to send in a 3500 word excerpt of a longer piece, provided that the excerpt can be read and understood on its own.

Electronic submission is strongly preferred, but in cases where this is not feasible, material can be sent to:

Dr. Michael Rota
St. Thomas Philosophy of Religion Project
Department of Philosophy, JRC 241
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105-1096

Seminar Structure

Over the course of the three-week seminar, several leading scholars will preside over the seminar for a period of two to four days each, addressing a selected significant topic in the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, or science and religion. These will be our primary speakers. During the latter portion of each of the primary speakers' sessions, a well-known figure in philosophy, natural science, or theology who largely disagrees with the primary speaker on the issues being discussed will join the seminar to contribute to the discussion. The two speakers, together with the seminar participants, will then discuss and debate the central topics at issue. These sessions will be much more like graduate seminars than like paper presentations at a conference.

We will also have two seminar sessions that focus on ways in which those working in the areas of philosophy of religion or philosophical theology can engage their own academic disciplines, academic disciplines other than their own, and the broader culture at large. This last is an especially important and neglected concern. While a number of influential scientists have been highly successful in reaching broad audiences outside the academy, philosophers of religion have been far less adept at disseminating their work beyond the ivory tower.

Finally, while the integration of science and philosophy of religion has been increasing at a rapid pace, many graduate students and younger scholars in the area suffer from either minimal training in science, or a less than complete grasp of the potential avenues of synergy between science and philosophy of religion. We will therefore devote two days during the seminar to an intensive session that brings a leading figure in science and religion or the philosophy of science to tutor seminar participants in at least one area on the cutting edge of science and religion debates.

Click here for pdf of seminar flyer.

Future Seminars

We will hold similar seminars in 2011 and 2012. Participants in the 2010 seminar are eligible for future seminars.

Our 2011 and 2012 seminars will likely include sessions on the problem of evil (with Eleonore Stump), the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God, Pascal's Wager, the problem of divine hiddenness, the question of whether or not evolutionary explanations of religious belief make religious belief less warranted, divine attributes, and the problem of freedom and foreknowledge. We intend for the scientific sessions in 2011 and 2012 to focus on issues in the philosophy of cosmology and the psychology of religious belief.

This three year seminar program is funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Contact Information

Please direct all questions about the program to:

Dr. Michael Rota
St. Thomas Philosophy of Religion Project
Department of Philosophy, JRC 241
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105-1096
ustphilrel@stthomas.edu