COME LEARN WITH US.
In our educational program we seek to explore the resources of the Christian Tradition and draw on critical scholarship in order to understand contemporary cultural change and address shared human questions in ways that enrich and challenge the university community. Our educational initiatives cover a broad range of issues, but we focus on several areas of inquiry that play a crucial role in modern culture.
TECHNOLOGY & THE HUMAN
CREATION CARE & SUSTAINABILITY
CREATIVITY & THE ARTS
SELF & SOCIETY
FAITH & VOCATION
HIGHER EDUCATION & THE UNIVERSITY
In addition to our lectures, classes, reading groups, publications, and podcast, the Study Center hosts Pascal’s Coffeehouse, an expression of Christian hospitality and an embodiment of the Christian understanding we seek to explore as a Study Center.
LECTURES
Fall 2022
Tuesday, March 7th | Reception 7:00 p.m | Lecture 7:30 p.m. | CSC Classroom
THE PROBLEM OF LONELINESS
Dr. Myles Werntz, Abilene Christian University
Join us as theologian and ethicist Myles Werntz helps us think about the problem of loneliness and isolation. The evening begins with a reception at 6:45 followed by Dr. Werntz talk at 7:00.
Friday/Saturday, March 31st & April 1st | CSC Classroom
FRIENDSHIP AND THE VIRTUES
Dr. Samuel Kimbriel, The Aspen Institute
This two-day symposium will be led by Dr. Samuel Kimbriel. The three sessions will feature shared meals and focused conversation around a set of classic readings on friendship and the virtues. The symposium will begin with dinner on Friday, March 31st and will continue over breakfast and lunch on Saturday, April 1st.
Dr. Samuel Kimbriel is a political philosopher, author, and founding director of Aspen’s Philosophy & Society Initiative. Author of Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation, he is also Contributing Editor at Wisdom of Crowds and writes widely on topics of solidarity, ideology, democracy, power, and trust for outlets including the Washington Post and BBC. He lives in Washington, D.C. and holds MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge.
There is no cost to attend but seats are limited. If you would like to reserve a seat, please email us at office@christianstudycenter.org.
Thursday, April 13th at 7:00 p.m.| Creekside Community Church
BEYOND BORING ROBOTS: FINDING THE PATH TO FLOURISHING IN A TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD
Andy Crouch
Every new advance in technology — this spring the headlines are about ChatGPT — is heralded as a magical new dawn in the human story. Yet more than one hundred years into the modern technological era, in spite of our unprecedented affluence and control over the natural world, we find a surprising amount of distress and dis-ease. As currently designed, technology will continue to both initially amaze us and ultimately disappoint us — delivering, at best, a world of more and more "boring robots." But a different design is possible. This talk will explore how individuals, families, and communities — as well as professions, corporations, and nations — can pursue a better path.
Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His writing explores faith, culture, and the image of God in the domains of technology, power, leadership, and the arts. He is the author of five books (plus another with his daughter, Amy Crouch), most recently The Life We're Looking For. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time.
CLASSES
Spring 2023
Wednesdays starting January 25th at 11:45 a.m. | CSC Classroom
THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM: READING GENESIS 1-5
Director's Class — Michael Sacasas
Genesis is a book of beginnings. It is the first book of the Torah and the first book of the Christian Bible. It tells the story of creation, and thus of the beginning of all things. Within the first five chapters, we read about the beginning of the human race as well as the beginning of sin and strife and the beginning of human civilization.
These stories about God, the world, and our place in relation to both are also the beginning of wisdom, sorely needed wisdom in our disorienting age. In this class, we will read these chapters with care and with the help of commentators ancient and modern. Join us as we turn to some of the most influential words ever written, seeking wisdom and understanding about what it means to be a human being, made of dust and in the image of God.
Lunch is provided to all who attend.
READING GROUPS
Fall 2022
Beginning Tuesday, January 31st | 8:30 a.m.
THE LIFE WE'RE LOOKING FOR
Michael Sacasas | CSC Classroom
Andy Crouch is a respected Christian writer whose work explores faith, culture, and the image of God in the domains of technology, power, leadership, and the arts. This latest book, The Life We're Looking For, is "a deeply reflective primer on creating meaningful connections, rebuilding abundant communities, and living in a way that engages our full humanity in an age of unprecedented anxiety and loneliness." Crouch will also be one of our guests this semester at the Study Center on April 14th.
The group will meet on January 31st, February 14th and 28th, March 21st, and April 4th from 8:30 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. Coffee provided.
Beginning Monday, January 30th | 11:45-12:35
DEEP LEARNING: IS A MORE MEANINGFUL EDUCATION POSSIBLE?
Todd Best | CSC Classroom
Is education merely about acquiring facts and information about the world, or is there more to it than that? In this reading group, UF Academic Advisor and Instructor Todd Best leads an exploration of learning as a formative and spiritual journey using Parker Palmer's To Know as we are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey. Palmer will be read along with selected poems, related articles, and other media to help us consider a more contemplative approach to learning.
The group will meet on January 30th, February 13th and 27th, March 20th, and April 3rd from 11:45 to 12:35 in the Study Center classroom. Feel free to bring your lunch. Coffee will be provided.
Beginning Thursday, February 2nd | 9:35 a.m.
NARRATIVE, VIRTUE, AND THE CHURCH: READING STANLEY HAUERWAS
Joshua Perlin | CSC Classroom
In 2001, Stanley Hauerwas was named “America’s Best Theologian” by Time Magazine. A Duke Divinity professor best known for his critiques of modernity and his work on narrative and the virtues, Hauerwas is hard to pin down: a Protestant theologian who speaks highly of the Catholic tradition; an avowed pacifist who believes Christians are engaged in a war against war; a philosopher who cares more about writing sermons than systematics. Who is this strange Christian thinker that defies categorization? And what value can his work have for how we understand what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century? In the hope of answering these questions, this reading group will consider a selection of Hauerwas’s theological essays, sermons, and published prayers.
The group will meet on February 2nd and 16th, March 2nd and 23rd, and April 6th at 9:35 a.m. in the Study Center Classroom. Coffee provided.
PODCAST
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
A PODCAST OF THE CHRISTIAN
STUDY CENTER
Staff
If you've not done so already, take a moment and subscribe to our podcast here. You can peruse past installments here. We use the podcast to post audio from program content and also occasional interviews with guest scholars and writers.
The podcast is also available on the following podcast listening apps:
GRADUATE ROUNDTABLE
Fall 2022
TBD
GRADUATE ROUNDTABLE
Brent Henderson | Henderson's home
A reading group for graduate students led by Brent Henderson, Associate Professor of Linguistics at UF. The group is hosted by the Hendersons at their home and gathers around food and conversation.
Please email the Study Center for details.