Templeton Religion Trust
Tyler VanderWeele, Ph.D., is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Director of the Human Flourishing Program and Co-Director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University.
Over the centuries, humankind has exponentially expanded our understanding of science, technology, and medicine. But what about the spiritual world that surrounds us?
Could the next great frontier be the unseen world of spiritual realities that surround us?
Our Expanding Possibilities Series is a spotlight interview with leading thinkers on their work in relation to our ongoing quest for new spiritual information.
Q: Our founder, John Templeton, thought a lot about using the tools of science for spiritual discovery. How would you say your work aligns with that goal?
Much of my work has been motivated by the conviction that questions about meaning, purpose, virtue, relationships, and spiritual well-being are not beyond the scope of careful empirical inquiry. Historically, these topics were often treated as belonging primarily to philosophy or theology (which I believe they are), but a substantial empirical literature has now emerged, allowing us to study aspects of the spiritual life with increasing rigor.
The Human Flourishing Program aims to bring together insights from the empirical sciences with those from philosophy and theology. The goal is not to reduce spiritual realities to what can be measured, but to better understand how spiritual practices, communities, and beliefs shape human lives. In that sense, the work is closely aligned with the vision of using scientific tools to illuminate, rather than replace, spiritual understanding.
Q: John Templeton believed we knew less than 1% of the spiritual realities that surround us. Are we making progress on this front? And if so, how?
There has been meaningful progress, though it is gradual and necessarily partial. One important development is the increasing ability to study, with greater methodological rigor, the effects of spiritual and religious practices on human life. Longitudinal studies, large-scale datasets, and improved approaches to causal inference have helped move the field beyond speculation toward evidence.
For example, a growing body of research indicates that participation in religious communities is associated with better health, lower rates of depression, greater sense of purpose, and stronger relationships. These findings do not capture the full scope of spiritual reality, but they do begin to shed light on how spiritual practices shape human flourishing.
At the same time, much remains unknown. Questions concerning transcendence, ultimate meaning, and the nature of spiritual experience are not easily captured by empirical methods alone. Progress will depend not only on better data but also on the continued integration of scientific inquiry with philosophical and theological reflection.
Q: In his book The Humble Approach, John Templeton wrote, “Humility is a gateway to greater understanding.” How do you see humility as a catalyst to new spiritual information?
Humility is essential, both in science and in the study of spiritual realities, because it keeps inquiry open. It reminds us that even where evidence is strong, our conclusions remain subject to revision, and that there is often more to learn, especially when the questions concern meaning, purpose, and the transcendent.
Some of our recent work has begun to examine how dispositions such as openness to correction, willingness to engage opposing viewpoints, and attentiveness to the limits of one’s own perspective can be studied not only at the level of individuals, but across academic institutions. We are hoping to launch a major project on intellectual humility in the months ahead. This line of research reflects the idea that the pursuit of truth is shaped by the environments in which it takes place, and that certain intellectual and communal practices can either facilitate or hinder deeper understanding.
This is particularly important for the study of spiritual realities. Many of the questions at stake—concerning ultimate meaning, virtue, suffering, and transcendence—are precisely those on which consensus is difficult to achieve and where empirical methods alone are not sufficient. Progress in these domains depends, in part, on a willingness to remain open to multiple sources of insight, including theology, philosophy, and lived experience.
In this way, humility functions as a catalyst for discovery. It allows for engagement across perspectives, helps uncover blind spots, and makes possible a more integrative and expansive approach to understanding spiritual reality.
Q: Guided by John Templeton’s vision, TRT aims to expand what we know about spirituality and push into undiscovered territory. What excites you about the potential of new spiritual breakthroughs?
What excites me is the opportunity to better understand how spiritual life contributes to human flourishing, and how it is arguably even constitutive of human flourishing. The contributions of religious community and spiritual life to flourishing are increasingly clear, including in our work on the Templeton-funded Global Flourishing Study. However, if flourishing consists in "all aspects of a person's life being good" then that arguably includes one's spiritual life as well. To advance the science of spirituality, I think we need to move towards tradition-specific understandings, and assessments, of spiritual well-being, and that is what we are now doing at the Human Flourishing Program as well.