Charles Henderson, Executive Director of ARIL/CrossCurrents magazine, explains the need for this research program: "At a time when religion appears to be at the heart of humanity's gravest conflicts, it is clear that an increased understanding of how religion affects our lives is not an option: it is a necessity for survival. For 20 years we have sponsored the colloquium because we want to have an impact not only on how religion is taught and studied, but also on the way it influences events that touch us all."

Scholarship winners form a collaborative learning community, diverse in race, age, gender, religion and intellectual discipline, as they work on their individual research or writing projects. Winners are chosen for their capacity for integrating personal faith with the life of the mind, and for a project that will be of interest to those outside his or her area of academic specialization or religious tradition.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to participate in this distinguished program," says Turak. "The Coolidge Fellows are a diverse group of some of the best religious thinkers in the country, people who represent outstanding scholarship and profound faith. I am honored to collaborate with them."

Turak's project will focus on authenticity as the goal of religious experience, and how his work with the Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS) has introduced college students to transformational spiritual education leading to greater authenticity. He plans to show how this approach has led to a transformation in these students and in their attitude toward religion and even religious vocation. Finally, drawing on research he conducted at St. John's University School of Theology, the project will briefly outline the values that underpin the SKS and its intellectual roots. These values have allowed the SKS a flexibility that appeals to students across the religious and even non-religious spectrum while providing a conceptual and practical rigor that is non-relativistic.

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The Association for Religion and Intellectual Life (ARIL) is a nonprofit which sponsors CrossCurrents magazine, additional publications, and associated programs such as the Coolidge Scholarship Program. CrossCurrents is a global network for people of faith and intelligence who are committed to connecting the wisdom of the heart and the life of the mind. In print, online and in real time, it brings people together across lines of difference. For more information, visit www.crosscurrents.org.

The Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation (SKSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging people to consciously develop their own personal, moral and spiritual values and to live according to them. At the forefront of the national interest in spirituality, the SKSF creates experiential learning programs and social contexts within which people can explore the deeper questions in life, developing intellectual understanding and personal character in a quest for the life worth living. The SKSF advises the SKS campus groups, sponsors a non-student discussion group, and co-sponsors meetings, lectures, retreats and The Symposium spiritual journal. For more information, visit www.selfknowledge.org.