Christian study centers strive to help students integrate faith, intellect
The two dozen centers across the country want to cast off the perception that evangelicals are anti-intellectual.
The regulars punch in a code on the front-door lock at any hour of the day or night. Rows of coffeepots greet the students in the hallway. The library has a few desktop computers—and 12,000 books. Three floors of tables, chairs, and couches are available for studying or lounging.
The Center for Christian Study at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville has been beckoning students since 1976 to socialize, listen to a lecture, participate in a book study or a small group, or get mentoring or counseling. Study centers are unambiguously evangelical in their theology, if not in their politics, but they want to cast off the perception that evangelicals are anti-intellectual or antiscience.
Today there are 24 Christian study centers at universities across the country, including ones at the University of California, Berkeley, Cornell, Yale, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
