Theology essay competition and PhD stipends

It's not always easy to make an honest living from theology. So here are two notable opportunities for young theologians in the coming year:

Essay competition in honour of Polkinghorne

In 2010 the International Society for Science and Religion will be celebrating the 80th birthday of its founding President, John Polkinghorne. With funding from the Templeton Foundation, the ISSR is offering three substantial prizes to students or younger academics (not yet in a tenured post) for an essay on a major theme of Polkinghorne’s work (e.g. divine action, chaos theory, eschatology, natural theology, information, epistemology, etc). The prizes are very lucrative:

1st prize: £10,000
2nd prize: £5,000
3rd prize: £2,000

For further details, see the ISSR website.

Two PhD stipends in theology, University of Agder

LeRon Shults also announces that his university in Norway will be providing two new PhD stipends for theology students. Recipients of the stipend will receive a salary of about US$52,000 per year over three years, as well as travel funds, etc. LeRon has more details at his blog.