Abstracts

For abstracts of all the scientific, philosophical, and theological projects we funded during the grant period, read our Results Report here.

Cholbi Report

In October 2018 the John Templeton Foundation commissioned a post-grant research review outlining The Immortality Project's impact on immortality- and death-related research. The final report was written by Professor Michael Cholbi (Philosophy, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona). Cholbi provides extensive details on the research background of the grant, as well as summaries of our supported research, suggestions for future directions and bibliographies.

Professor Cholbi's report can be seen here.

Background Papers

Various members of the Project Team, primarily the Graduate Student Researchers, wrote a serious of papers to provide contextual and historical information to help interested people understand topics of importance for questions about personal immortality. Those papers are viewable and arranged below according to their appropriate theme—either philosophy or theology.

• Reincarnation in Ancient Philosophy
• The Cultural and Historical Development and Decline of Immortality in Judaism
• Christianity and the Afterlife
• Paths to the Afterlife in the Hindu Faith
• Mormonism and Human Immortality
• Islamic Belief about the Afterlife
• Buddhist Views of the Afterlife
• Three Questions for Comparing and Contrasting the Afterlife Beliefs of Six Prominent World Religions

Essay Prizes

An additional goal of The Immortality Project was to advance discussion of the project themes in popular venues by offering essay prize awards. This component aimed to provide an incentive for authors to publish essays on topics within the purview of the grant, but which are accessible to venues with a more general readership. Our awardees:

• Garrett Pendergraft, “The Only Immortality Is Fame: Why Legendary Athletes Play Past Their Prime“, Real Clear Sports, published 25 May 2015
• Rivka Weinberg, “Why Life Is Absurd” The New York Times, published on 11 January 2015
• Susan Schneider, “The Philosophy of ‘Her’” The New York Times, published on 2 March 2014.
• Stephen Cave, “Not Nothing: How Much Should We Worry about Death?” Aeon Magazine, published on 25 July 2014
• Patrick Stokes, “The Digital Soul: What Will Happen to My Online Identity When I Die?” Aeon Magazine, published on 20 November 2013.
• Jesse Bering, “My Paranormal Adventure in Pursuit of Life After Death,” Aeon Magazine, published on 13 November 2013.
• Samuel Scheffler, “The Importance of the Afterlife. Seriously.” The New York Times, published on 21 September 2013.
• Stephen Cave, “Death: Why We Should Be Grateful for It” New Scientist, No. 2287, published on 12 October 2012.