{"id":1356,"date":"2019-01-08T08:33:30","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T08:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/uscs-spiritual-exemplars-project-to-uncover-stories-of-hope\/"},"modified":"2024-08-07T23:19:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T23:19:16","slug":"uscs-spiritual-exemplars-project-to-uncover-stories-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/crcc\/uscs-spiritual-exemplars-project-to-uncover-stories-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"USC\u2019s Spiritual Exemplars Project to Uncover Stories of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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USC\u2019s Spiritual Exemplars Project to Uncover Stories of Hope<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n Announcement\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n By<\/span>CRCC Staff<\/a><\/strong>\n \n January 8, 2019<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) at the University of Southern California is embarking on an ambitious project to tell 100 stories of exemplary individuals inspired by their spirituality to engage in humanitarian work.<\/p>\n

A $3 million project with funding from the John Templeton Foundation<\/a> and the Templeton Religion Trust<\/a>, “Spiritual Exemplars: A Global Project on Engaged Spirituality” will allow CRCC to expand its knowledge on the role of religion in the public sphere and create a new field of study around these extraordinary people.<\/p>\n

“Spiritual exemplars bring a compelling and inspiring window into the many ways that spiritually-inspired commitments can yield personal and even social transformation,” said Kimon Sargeant, vice president of programming at the John Templeton Foundation. “Sometimes these exemplars are hidden in plain sight; many others are truly unknown. What they all have in common is that their lives and their work show us what the best of humanity can be.”<\/p>\n

Over the course of three years, a team of researchers and journalists will create written and multimedia profiles of people motivated and sustained by their spirituality to address issues of poverty, human rights and other humanitarian concerns.<\/p>\n

The exemplars profiled will include the likes of Maggie Gobran, whose organization serves 32,000 families living in Egypt’s garbage slums. Donald E. Miller, the lead investigator on the project and CRCC’s director of strategic initiatives, first met “Mama Maggie,” through another research project in 2001 and recently created a 15-minute documentary about her<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since its inception following the 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles, CRCC has studied the role of religion in transforming communities locally and globally. The Spiritual Exemplar project builds upon this expertise by focusing on the engaged spirituality of exceptional individuals.<\/p>\n

CRCC crafted five criteria for the people they will profile:\n<\/p>\n