Christian Thought and Practice

With the generous support of the Lilly Endowment, the Center continues a program in Christian Thought and Practice. The program entails an integrated cluster of educational activities aimed at examining the intellectual basis for Christian thought and practice in the United States. These activities include postdoctoral fellowships for pre-tenured scholars engaged in research on historical or contemporary aspects of Christianity, congregations, or clergy; internships for Princeton graduate students to gain experience teaching in a seminary or divinity school context; and a public lecture series on topics concerned with the public understanding of religion. This program of activities supports the scholarly mission of Princeton University while also serving the interests of people of faith who wish to think deeply about the historical resources within the Christian tradition and make these accessible to a wider audience. Faculty, students, and religious leaders alike benefit from this dynamic mix of scholarly and normative inquiry.

During 2005-2006 the Center inaugurated a series of lectures in which leading scholars were invited to campus to speak about issues generating new insights and wider debate among faculty, students, and the public about Christian Thought and Practice. Lectures planned to date include (visit Public Events for more information):

• Princeton Lectures in Religion and Global Culture: George Weigel, "The Catholic Church in the Pontificate of Benedict XVI: A Global View," October 13, 2005, and Birgit Meyer, "The Pentecostal Aesthetic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism," April 26
• Princeton Lectures in Religion and History: George Marsden, "How 'Otherworldly' American Fundamentalists Became Political," March 6, 2006, and Ronald Numbers, September 29, 2006
• Princeton Lectures in Religion and Ethics: Martha Minow, "Should Religious Groups Ever Be Exempt From Civil Rights Laws?" May 4, 2006

During 2004-2005, the Center sponsored "A Legacy of Provocation: Augustine Reconsidered," a Lilly-funded interdisciplinary conference, organized by Assistant Professor of Religion Eric Gregory. This conference highlighted new approaches to the life, writings, and influence of Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The conference addressed the current renaissance of Augustine studies and engaged contemporary issues with his thought and influential legacy. In addition to Princeton faculty, speakers included Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Wills, Paula Fredriksen, James J. O'Donnell, and former CSR fellows Charles Mathewes and James Wetzel.For more information, click here.

On December 13, 2004 Omar McRoberts, University of Chicago, spoke on "State 'Regulation' of Religion and the Art of Bonsai: Black Denominations in the New Deal Era." Co-sponsored by the Program in African American Studies.

During 2003-2004, we welcomed Sarah Coakley to the Center as the Visiting Lecturer in Christian Thought. Professor Coakley holds the Ph.D. in theology from the University of Cambridge and is the Mallinckrodt Professor at Harvard Divinity School. Her published work moves between studies of modern theory (Christ Without Absolutes), comparative religion (Religion and the Body), patristic theory (articles on Gregory of Nyssa, especially), and feminist theology (God, Sexuality and the Self: On the Trinity, forthcoming). Her most recent book is Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender. During her time at Princeton, Professor Coakley will teach a 300-level seminar in Princeton’s Department of Religion on theology and ethics.

During 2002-2003, our Visiting Lecturer in Christian Thought was Eugene F. Rogers, Jr. He holds the Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. A specialist in modern Christian thought, he is the author of Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth: Sacred Doctrine and the Natural Knowledge of God (2001) and Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way Into the Triune God (1999), as well as editor of Theology and Sexuality: Classic and Contemporary Readings (2002). He is currently finishing a project titled, After the Spirit: The Eclipse of the Holy Spirit by Nature, Grace, and Law. During his time at Princeton, Professor Rogers taught a 300-level seminar in Princeton's Department of Religion entitled, "Aquinas: Theology and Ethics."

In 2001-2002, our Visiting Lecturer in Christian Thought was James R. Wetzel, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Colgate University. A specialist in medieval philosophy and theology, he is the author of Augustine and the Limits of Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 1992), as well as numerous articles. He is currently working on a project titled,Transgression: Three Studies in a Philosophy of the Heart, an exploration of three kinds of transgression in philosophy: sin (Augustine), error (Descartes), and nonsense (Wittgenstein). While at Princeton, Professor Wetzel taught a 300-level seminar in Princeton's Department of Religion entitled, "From Eros to Sin: Augustine's Transformation of Plato."

Our Fall 2001 Conference sponsored under this grant took place in November 2001. The conference was entitled "What Does It Mean To Be Human? Religion and Bioethics." To learn more about this conference, please go here.