#20: How Christian Study Centers Minister to University Students

Today I’m concluding my four-episode series on campus ministries. My guest is Karl Johnson, the Executive Director of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, a unique initiative to minister to students on campuses throughout the U.S. In this podcast we discuss: Karl’s struggle to integrate his faith and studies while at Cornell Why and how Karl established a Christian Study Center at Cornell (Chesterton House) “Residential ministry” as a focus of Chesterton House What Christian study centers are and their core ministry to students Where and how to find a Christian study center The history of Christian Study Centers, going back to L’Abri founded by Francis Schaeffer How study centers specifically serve undergraduate students Christian study center Fellows Programs--a form of “intellectual hospitality” How Christian study centers differ from and compliment other campus ministries The Consortium of Christian Study Centers' shared Statement of Faith (The Apostle’s Creed) How the Consortium thinks about labels such as “conservative,” “progressive, ” and “Evangelical” Christianity Some “heros of the Faith” Christian study centers tend to hold up to students Forms of idolatry Christian students (and their parents) often fail to see while in college How students should understand the relationship between their faith and the university Some examples of how Christian study centers have engaged the university redemptively Resources mentioned during our conversation: Consortium of Christian Study Centers Chesterton House at Cornell University Octet Collaborative at MIT Upper House at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Christian Study Center of Gainesville at the University of Florida Cambridge House Christian Study Center at the College of William and Mary Ligoneer Ministries (an example of a non-university-based Study center) Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind George Marsden, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship Charles E. Cotherman, To Think Christianly: A History of L’Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement James Davidson Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World Veritas Forum Hearts & Minds Bookstore