God's Philanthropist examines the worldview and philanthropic aspirations of the investor turned philanthropist, Sir John Templeton (1912–2008). Drawing on his books, essays, interviews, and occasional works, it reconstructs what Templeton believed people's lives, and the societies in which they lived, should look like, and investigates the philanthropic means by which he hoped to turn those ideals into reality. God's Philanthropist focuses on three key areas--religion, political economy, and modern science--upon which Templeton reflected at length and from which he repeatedly drew to construct his views of the nature of reality, the well-lived life, the well-ordered society, and history. The wide-ranging worldview that he developed directly informed the instructions he bequeathed to his philanthropic organizations. These instructions represent the institutionalization of Templeton's ideas for achieving material and spiritual progress and reflect his understanding of the domains in which he thought progress most needs to be made, the methods by which it will be made, the people most likely to make it, the political and economic conditions likely to best facilitate it, the theological convictions that frame and justify it, and the incentives that will encourage such progress to continue being made long into the future.

Providing the first comprehensive account of the main strands of his thought, God's Philanthropist enables readers to identify which of the complex array of forces shaping our world are consistent with, and potentially attributable to, Templeton and his philanthropic organizations. Equipped with this knowledge, readers will be better positioned to decide whether the directions in which Templeton wants to take us are those in which society should go.