Center for Process Studies receives John Templeton Foundation grant to explore meaning, mind, and human flourishing in a scientific age

PORTLAND, Ore. —  The Center for Process Studies (CPS) has been awarded a grant (#63861) from the John Templeton Foundation to launch an innovative interdisciplinary project entitled Modern Meaning: Spiritual Yearning and the Quest for a Flourishing World . The initiative brings together scholars from philosophy, theology, psychology, and the natural sciences to investigate one of the defining questions of our time: How can contemporary understandings of the universe support lives of meaning, purpose, and hope?

Across many disciplines, researchers have noted growing concern about a modern “meaning crisis,” particularly among younger adults, alongside renewed philosophical and scientific interest in questions of consciousness, intelligence, and the nature of reality. The project will explore how different philosophical, metaphysical, and theological frameworks—including panentheistic,  panpsychic, and process-relational perspectives—may help illuminate these questions while remaining in constructive dialogue with contemporary science.

“Our goal is not to advance a single worldview as the final answer,” said project lead Dr. Sheri D. Kling . “Rather, we want to create a rigorous…