The Quest for God is a one year project on the role of loving desire in the spiritual quest for God, directed by Professor Fiona Ellis (University of Roehampton) and Dr Clare Carlisle (Kings College London).

 

The project will pave the way towards a new philosophical model of desire, by both rethinking some traditional models and critiquing the dominant contemporary model. Our work is exploratory at this stage, contributing to the emergence of a fruitful debate on a neglected area in philosophy and theology. We aim to develop it into a larger project subsequently.

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We begin from the hypothesis that the desire for God is a universal part of human nature (though it may not manifest itself under that description) and will explore it further by employing the following methodology.

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Stage I, led by Fiona Ellis, will unpack the philosophical implications of this concept of desire, and show how it can be a human way of apprehending the divine.

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Stage 2, led by Clare Carlisle, will investigate the reciprocal relation between religious desire and religious practice, developing a philosophical account of desire-involving practices alongside an empirical study of religious practitioners.

 

Stage 3, led by John Cottingham, will argue for the universality of the spiritual quest for God by comparing explicitly religious desire with other widespread forms of yearning often thought to be explicable in secular terms, but which turn out under scrutiny to resist such reduction. 

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The project aims to establish channels of engagement both within academia and in the public square. The relevant audiences will be encouraged to question some prevailing models of desire, to take seriously its spiritual and practical significance, and to consider the implications for an understanding of the quest for God.

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Research activities involve a workshop at University of Virginia (UVA), a capstone conference to take place in late November/early December 2020, and a seminar series throughout the year.

The non-academic activities include a school workshop at Ripon Grammar School, interviews with religious practitioners, and a public lecture.

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In order to successfully communicate the research findings of the project to intellectually curious audiences beyond the academy, we have paired with Grey Matter Group (GMG), a multidisciplinary design and marketing firm which specialises in collaboration with academic researchers, and have previously worked with other Templeton Religion Trust funded projects. As we progress, GMG will be producing images and video  content encapsulating why thinking about desire for God is of central importance today.