Made possible through a $4.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, this project’s underlying question is: What would it look like to develop and apply new, inter-disciplinary theologies of hope in domains where despair prevails and hope is yearned for? In trying to answer this question, CTI will convene groups of scholars residentially and digitally, host workshops and colloquia, create online resources, chair global webinars, and record new podcasts, among many other ventures. Our new state-of-the art building provides the perfect location and facilities for such an ambitious research agenda.

As Principal Investigator on the grant, Dr. Tom Greggs will be joined in leading the project by a co-investigator, The Rev’d Dr. Jonathan Jong (a philosopher and psychologist working between the Universities of Oxford and St Mary’s University Twickenham, and a priest based in the Diocese of Chichester). Dr. Valerie Cooper (Duke University) and Dr. Amos Yong (Fuller Seminary) will be joining the project as Senior Fellows. 

The project focuses on developing theologies of hope in five areas: (1) Technology and AI; (2) Civics and Democracy; (3) Youth and Education; (4) Health and Medicine; and (5) Entrepreneurship and Economics. Each area will bring together five fellows from around the globe, and adverts will soon be posted for these competitive fellowships. In addition to these areas, and sixty years on from the publication of Jürgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope, several major works of systematic, practical, and contextual theologies of hope will be produced by a core team (including CTI Associate Director Dr. Joshua Mauldin and the two Despair to Hope project Senior Fellows).