PURPOSE & APPROACH
To discover connections.
To deepen understanding.
The Institute for Advanced Torah and Science is dedicated to exploring remarkable connections between fundamental physics and Torah, and to advancing groundbreaking interdisciplinary studies that demonstrate how the Torah and science illuminate and deepen one another.
Discovery can open a text anew
Scientific discoveries can make familiar words and ancient questions newly intelligible. We study whether developments in physics and cosmology open coherent readings of biblical passages and classical commentaries, attentive to language, context, and the argument of the text as a whole.
The inquiry also moves in the other direction. Jewish sources raise questions about unity, existence, purpose, and human freedom that invite us to examine the wider meaning of scientific explanations.
Understand nature on its own terms
Understanding natural processes is part of our study of creation. We are especially interested in how an ordered, varied world can emerge through simple underlying principles, and in the theological significance of that possibility.
Our work distinguishes a scientific explanation from the philosophical conclusions drawn from it. An interpretation must be examined for its fidelity to both the sources and the science. Connections are arguments to develop and assess.
Take human dignity seriously
Our accounts of consciousness and freedom shape how we understand responsibility and the value of a person. The Torah’s teaching of the divine image is central to our exploration of these questions, including the ethical challenges raised by artificial intelligence and changing conceptions of human life.
Make depth accessible
We aim to make demanding ideas accessible without losing their substance. Through research, writing, public lectures, and regular study, we invite readers and participants to follow an argument, examine its sources, and ask their own questions.