Up to four one-year Scholarly Planning Grants of $2,500 each will be awarded annually to research teams wishing to plan research projects.
Although all scholarship that seeks to illuminate some aspect of God's creation may be viewed as Christian scholarship, broadly conceived, preference will be given in this program to supporting research for which the substance of the scholarship is significantly informed by a Christian faith perspective.
Past efforts that exemplify this networking strategy for Christian scholarship are the recent work of Christian historians on religion's role in American history, Christian political scientists on the role of religion in American politics, Christian sociologists on the nature of evangelicalism, and Christian philosophers on epistemology.
However, potential themes should not be limited to research about religion. Any theme is appropriate if there is potential for Christian perspectives on that theme to make an important contribution to conversations beyond the Christian Academy (projects for which dissemination is targeted primarily for Christian audiences, such as the production of textual material for CCCU institutions, are not eligible for awards).
This endowed program is established by Walter Hansen in memory of his parents, Ken and Jean Hansen, with appreciation for their modeling the integration of faith with learning and living in the ServiceMaster Company and at Wheaton College.