Humble Approach Initiative
The Humble Approach Initiative (HAI) is one of the Foundation's signature programs. Under the direction of our Senior Scholar Dr. Mary Ann Meyers, the Initiative brings together a small group of scholars and scientists (usually 10-12) to focus on a particular theme within an interdisciplinary framework. Each workshop is three days long and led by a Program Chair. The Foundation has convened 24 workshops since 1998, to explore such topical themes as: multiverse and string theory, the nature of complexity, emergence and creativity, new frontiers in psychoneuroimmunology, and the nature of personhood. While the HAI workshops are designed for an open exchange of ideas, publishing houses are often very interested in the content of the papers presented. To date, 10 HAI workshops have resulted in edited volumes, with publishers such as Oxford University Press, The Free Press, and William B. Eerdmans.
Exceptional Creativity in Science & Technology
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
November 30-December 2, 2008
Music: Its Evolution, Cognitive Basis, and Spiritual Dimensions
Wolfson College, Cambridge University
September 18-20, 2008
Conscious Process and Free Action
Amelia Island, Florida
April 10-12, 2008
Enlightenment, Modernity, and Atheism
All Souls College, Oxford University
October 19-21, 2007
Games, Groups, God(s) and the Global Good
Princeton University
October 4-6, 2007
Mathematics and Its Significance
Castel Gandolfo, Italy
June 21-23, 2007
Top-Down Causation and Volition
Yosemite National Park, California
April 19-21, 2007
Learning from the Disabled
La Ferme, Trosley-Breuil, France
March 17-19, 2007
Creativity: The Mind, Machines, and Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
November 30-December 2, 2006
God, Matter, and Information: What is Ultimate?
University of Copenhagen
August 17-19, 2006
What Is Our Knowledge of the Human Being?
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City
May 4-6, 2006
Relational Ontology in Science and Theology
The Academy of Athens, Greece
October 14-17, 2005
Spiritual Information: Knowing the Unknowable about God and the Universe
Trinity College, Cambridge University
April 7-9, 2005
Multiverse and String Theory: Toward Ultimate Explanations in Cosmology
Stanford University
March 19-21, 2005
Pneumatology: Exploring the Work of the Spirit from Contemporary Perspectives
New York, New York
November 12-14, 2004
Purpose in Evolution
Castel Gandolfo, Italy
June 24-26, 2004
Innovations in Material and Spiritual Cultures: Exploring the Conjectured Links
Les Eyzies, France
May 14-16, 2004
Spiritual Dimensions of Healing
Queen's College Cambridge University
January 8-10, 2004
Universe or Multiverse - Public Lecture
March 26, 2003
Universe or Multiverse - Humble Approach Initiative
March 27-29, 2003
If our universe, subtle, beautiful, and intelligible as it appears, is just, in Martin Rees's phrase, "one island in the cosmic archipelago," can it really be so special after all?
Emergent Reality: A Critical Appraisal
Granada, Spain
August 17-19, 2002
The Science of Nonlocality and Eastern Approaches to Exploring Ultimate Reality
Jongny-Sur-Vevey, Switzerland
June 21-23, 2002
Were Ancient Panentheistic Views a First Step Toward the Humble Approach in Theology?
St. George's House, Windsor Castle, England
December 6-8, 2001
Mind, Brain, and Personhood: An Inquiry from Scientific and Theological Perspectives
San Diego, California
January 18-20, 2001
Kindling the Science of Gratitude
Dallas, Texas
October 14-16, 2000
Science and Theological Imagination in Science Fiction
London, England
June 24-26, 2000
The Far-Future Universe: Eschatology From A Cosmic Perspective
Rome, Italy
November 7-9, 2000
Expanding Concepts of God
Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 7-9, 2000
Evolution, Purpose and Meaning
Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas
February 4-6, 2000
Complexity, Information, and Design: A Critical Appraisal
Santa Fe, New Mexico
October 14-16, 1999
Psychoneuroimmunology and the "Faith Factor" in Human Health
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
July 12, 1999
Many Worlds: The New Universe and Its Theological Implications
Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas
November 22-24, 1998
Love & The Ultimate Nature of Reality: Cosmology, Freedom and the Theology of Kenosis
Queen's College, Cambridge, England
October 1-2, 1998