About ISSR
The International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) was founded in 2002 with the generous funding and support of the John Templeton Foundation following a four-day conference in Granada, Spain, which, until the late 15th century, was the center of peaceful discourse among scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Society is dedicated to advancing education through interdisciplinary learning and research in the fields of science and religion, broadly understood. This mission is pursued within an international and multi-faith framework, drawing inspiration from that foundational conference held in Granada.
The Fellowship of the Society has now grown to over 400 members worldwide. ISSR Fellows comprise many of the most prominent and leading scholars in the field of science and religion. Indeed the first two presidents, George Ellis, a theoretical cosmologist and Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, and John Polkinghorne, former Professor of mathematical physics and President of Queen’s College, Cambridge, are both recipients of the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities – the world’s best-known religion prize, awarded each year to a living person to encourage and honour those who advance spiritual matters. You can find out more about our Past Presidents by clicking here.
Membership in the society is truly universal: the society incorporates and counts among its members atheists as well as representatives from various faith traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Membership is also widely distributed geographically, with representatives from countries as diverse as South Korea, India, the UAE, Brazil, Argentina, as well as those from Europe and the United States.
Nominations for Fellowship of ISSR may only be made by an existing Fellow and are made based on four categories of achievement. These categories are as follows:
- Significant contribution (e.g. books) to the field of science/religion; or
- Excellent standing in one of the relevant areas (science, religion, philosophy) together with sustained interest in or support of the science/religion debate; or
- Demonstration of significant organizational and entrepreneurial skills within the science/religion field, especially in geographical regions or religious traditions in which science-religion studies are not yet well-developed.
- Early career scholars whose publications in the science-religion field indicate outstanding promise.
