Michael Rea and Samuel Newlands, Center for Philosophy of Religion, Awarded 1.4 Million Dollar Grant by Templeton

1. A new translation of the Theodicy by Bob Sleigh and Sean Greenberg, to be completed by the summer of 2011
2. At least two faculty research fellowships (at both junior and senior levels of support, which includes travel and research money) for projects on the problem of evil in early modern thought, to be held in residence at Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame during the 2010-2011 academic year.
3. At least two faculty research fellowships (at both junior and senior levels of support, which includes travel and research money) for projects on skeptical theism, to be held in residence at Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame during the 2011-2012 academic year.
4. A large North American conference (Sept. 16-18, 2010) at Notre Dame on Leibniz's Theodicy on the occasion of its 300th anniversary, in coordination with the two European Theodicy conferences being held in the spring of 2010 and with the Leibniz Society of North America.
5. A smaller, follow-up conference on the Theodicy and its aftermath to be held in Lisbon, Portugal at some point during the 2011-2012 AY.
6. A two-day workshop in the spring of 2011 at ND on recent work in the problem of evil in early modern thought (partly centering on the work of the research fellows in residence that year).
7. A two-day workshop in the spring of 2012 at ND on recent work on skeptical theism and the problem of evil (partly centering on the work of the research fellows in residence that year).
8. Monies to assist in the editing and publication of conference papers and such into a volume on Leibniz's Theodicy and related early modern topics/figures.
9. A one-week graduate seminar on the problem of evil in early modern thought, June 7-11 2010, conducted by Bob Sleigh, Sean Greenberg, and Larry Jorgensen, at Skidmore College, for top pre-ABD graduate students interested in the topic.
10. Two to four one-year dissertation fellowships (with the possibility of a second year of renewed funding) in 2011-2013 for dissertation work on the problem of evil in early modern thought.
11. A four-year-long essay prize contest ($3,000 for each selected, up to 10 total prizes) for cutting edge publications on the problem of evil published in non-academic venues.
12. A separately funded, large-scale public event in 2013 in NYC to generate public awareness of and interest in work on the problem of evil.