Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a religious organization?
No; we are a New Jersey non-profit research institution granted 501(c)(3) tax status by the IRS. Our work concerns the academic study and impact of Theology, and we are not a confessional body. We engage with multiple different publics; these include churches and faith communities but also non-religious stakeholders (such as in our recent work NASA and the International Bar Association).
What is Theology?
Theology is an academic discourse which involves scholarly reflection on God, human existence, and all things in relation to God. This can involve everything from the historical and linguistic study of ancient biblical or religious texts, a consideration of the role of faith in anthropology, philosophical questioning about the existence of God, and understanding the role of faith in public life, to the rigorous and systematic investigation into faith claims which communities have. A little like philosophy, Theology seeks from its work to generate insights that address themes like hope, freedom, and contemporary societal and ethical challenges. Theology, however, in keeping with the deep instincts of most of humanity, takes the spiritual and transcendent as a key feature in understanding how we might need to consider these insights, taking into critical account the role of faith as key to such investigations.
Why would Theology matter?
Scientists (including scientists who have worked at and been shaped by CTI’s research) have shown that from the earliest hominid species there has been an awareness of the transcendent. Spirituality is, therefore, a foundational aspect of human origins, and a key feature of what it has meant to be human over the 250,000 years of our existence. Even now, around 85% of the global population identifies as religious; and of the 15% who do not identify with a religion, around 8% nevertheless believes in God. Whether we are interested in the role of faith within the human condition, the importance of faith in post-colonial academic research, or the role of faith at a personal or societal level, Theology matters.
Esteemed novelist and public intellectual Marilynne Robinson has said of CTI’s approach to Theology: “Theology, of all modes of thought, integrates all the elements of human experience more exhaustively than any of them. Its purpose is to integrate at every level and that in itself means that meaning becomes pervasive rather than isolated in narrow interest or narrow purposes and so on. It’s very beautiful for that reason.”
What is the difference between Theology and Religion or Religious Studies?
While there is some overlap between these two terms and areas of study, in general Religious Studies observes and records religion from an outsider perspective, studying religions and religious people as one might observe cells under a microscope or human behaviors in other arenas of life. Theology, on the other hand, understands that communities of faith are living, evolving, and creative as they respond to the ever-changing nature of the world. Theology seeks to have a dynamic engagement with issues to do with religion or faith, asking not only what these faiths are and say, but what they might, could, or even should be and say. Theology does not just observe faith or religion, but enters into critical and constructive dialogue with faith on personal, communal, and societal levels. In that way, Theology might be considered similar to economics or political science as academic disciplines which don’t just observe movements in society and the markets, but also offer advice and thought on how to shape them for the good.
Is Theology really an academic field of study or just a matter of opinion?
Understood until the Enlightenment as the “Queen of the Sciences,” Theology has a long history as an academic subject area focused on unpacking issues relating to faith through the use of reason and experience. In Europe, Theology is still a subject taught in entirely secular universities in the same way and to the same academic standards as any other subject area. Theologians are academics, trained with the same academic rigor as any other professor in any field. But, just as a professor in economics might subscribe to a particular economic theory, many (but not all) theologians might also have commitments relating to the theological and ethical. Nevertheless, first and foremost, theologians are academic researchers working in a particular area of humane inquiry in relation to the living faith people in the world have and practice. Our intellectual work has led Jeremy Waldron (Professor of Law and University Professor, New York University, and formerly Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, University of Oxford, and former Co-Principal Research Lead at CTI) to describe CTI as a “Center which has presence, solidity, massive scholarly credentials, a great deal of credibility, not just in the theological world, but in the intellectual world generally.’
Indeed, our own director was elected on the basis of his research as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland’s Academy of Arts and Sciences). His own education took place entirely in secular university settings. Having studied Theology at the University of Oxford, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge in Systematic Theology. He additionally holds the higher Doctor of Letters degree for significant and original contribution to humane learning, and was the Head of Divinity at the secular University of Aberdeen, where he served as a Deputy Head of the University’s School, which covered humanities more generally, and as a key member of the University’s central research committee.
What issues has CTI engaged with recently?
CTI’s recent investigations have included interdisciplinary theological investigations into Artificial Intelligence; The Built Environment; Astro-Biology; Violence; Migration; Human Thriving; and Law and Religious Freedom. We have convened the very best theologians in the world to work alongside world leaders in other academic disciplines to try to cast light on these issues where Theology matters. Our current and future projects are focused on “Hope in a World of Despair,” considering what it might mean to build social capital around hope as a salient human attribute in areas that include Civic Society, Health, Education, Entrepreneurship, and Technology.
Do you just sit around “thinking,” then?
No; our work is genuinely collaborative and interdisciplinary— rare today in university research. Collaboration and interdisciplinarity rely on finding ways to communicate across different assumptions and different approaches to knowledge. We expose theologians to other disciplines so theologians can learn from and speak with confidence to leading scholars in other areas about the big themes and questions facing them today. In our resident program, we also meet weekly in person for a colloquium to assess and improve the collaborative research in progress.
Furthermore, we address “Big Questions” and “Big Issues” which confront humanity, seeking to find avenues through which to impact church, culture and society. This involves serious engagement with stakeholders and finding ways to communicate our advanced research to multiple publics. With our new building and its state-of-the-art digital capacities, we are committed to “going public,” showing how our advanced research is crucial for the world today. We convene workshops and events both digitally and in person for people, communities, churches, and organizations for whom our research is highly important in the public domain. Our podcasts and magazine have broad appeal for people of faith and others who wish to understand the big issues we research more fully.
Are you a Think Tank?
No; we are an institute of advanced studies, focused on the highest levels of academic inquiry. We were modelled on the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (then a research institute in physics, mathematics and economics), albeit on a more modest scale; this is the élite institution at which the likes of Einstein and Oppenheimer were based.
Think tanks focus on responding to immediate questions and needs, knowing precisely who the user group of the research will be in advance. We seek to engage at the highest standards of research in a way which does not presume that we might know the answers or interlocutors in advance. Sometimes we even have to learn the questions we need to ask in dialogue with other disciplines and stakeholders. We believe that the most creative thought and the biggest impact come when we do deep dives into the best that the intellectual life has to offer in order to create new research and fresh insights. While our fellows and members are all expected to have stakeholders they work with, we do not put the cart before the horse in the outcomes of our research: advanced research inquiry is what comes first.
Our process is to train our fellows in skills and intellectual disciplines which will be new and transformative for them and their thinking; to have them engage in deep, academic and rigorous research in order to come to new perspectives and understandings; to support them in creating outputs from this work at the highest quality publishing houses or in international journals; to help them to articulate these insights in outcomes that can be communicated broadly and clearly to publics beyond the academic community (through our public and global digital floor); and to support them in making their groundwork count on the ground through impact in society and culture.
So, what do your fellows and scholars actually do?
We follow a tried-and-tested sequence of virtual, residential, and public programming that provides valued-added benefits for research. We provide (1) a program of education in interdisciplinary cognate fields of inquiry to enrich and transform Theology so that it is fit to address the big issues the world faces; and (2) a catalytic period of intensive writing and research away from the competing pressures of academic life which prevent true research progress from happening and research advances from being discovered.
We bring together for a period of time the very best minds wishing toward on our topic of investigation to explore the topic together and create a measurable difference in the world. Our model gives opportunity for collaborative and critical engagement within a community of deep learning and trust. In our Center-initiated programs, we address significant questions which cannot be answered by individuals working in isolation from each other. Research becomes a corporate endeavor, a common undertaking, where similar methods and standards are applied to diverse topics, engendered from a deep feeling of shared investigations and struggles over time. Such a stimulating environment could not be attained in isolation. From this intensive research, we seek to find ways that the new insights we have can become meaningful and transformative in the world today through our public phase.
Our multidisciplinary theological setting attracts talented individuals and creates an atmosphere where ideas are debated, differences of opinion are encouraged, and theological discussions serve as the daily bread for all. Strong bonds are forged, with fellows exchanging insights, wisdom, and scholarship. Peer criticism and a collegial forum for study are spawned. A critical mass of intellectual material is assembled for exploring new areas of inquiry, while enlarging and renewing existing fields.
Genuine relationships are as central to researcher effectiveness as openness to collaboration and the inclusion of new ideas. Sustained collaborative inquiry even beyond the residential period stems from knowing one’s colleagues as people first. As such, we prioritize relationship development through informal lunches with colleagues working at CTI or at Princeton University or the Institute of Advanced Study through the week, concluding with drinks on Thursday evening. We focus our public engagement to close each week ensuring we are building on the weeks’ momentum, clarity, and preparation. Workshops, podcast recordings, webinars, and public events tend to take place on Fridays, with public events sometimes running into the weekend. The remainder of the week, beyond their independent research and collaboration, is used by fellows for writing a piece for an edited collection for the Center and drafting their book manuscripts. This working practice and social protocol, honed over decades at CTI, have proven to be highly conducive to fostering collaboration in advanced research through daily formal and informal exchanges in a diverse community of inquiry, marked by growing trust and mutual understanding across academic disciplines and faith traditions. This working week also gives uninterrupted time in an ideal environment for individual study, freed from the normal interruptions of teaching and administration.
What happens in the virtual phase of your work?
This is a period of intensive interdisciplinary learning before the fellows arrive at CTI in person. The intention is to present fellows with world-leading research insights to their research from other disciplinary areas as relevant to the research they are undertaking. Each group of fellows meets virtually in a weekly seminar for 16 weeks to discuss research in academic disciplines relevant to the chosen interdisciplinary theme, becoming conversant in new research literatures and approaches, and broadening intellectual horizons.
The 16 weeks are divided into two even periods. The first eight weeks are devoted to reading curated texts to be discussed by the group from a range of relevant disciplinary fields. The second eight weeks are devoted to talks, lectures or workshops by inter-disciplinary collaborators and CTI staff. Fellows will, thus, be exposed to a series of critical readings on the relevant topic from a range of disciplinary perspectives with the group of which they are a part and a range of workshops and lectures by those from other disciplines. The virtual nature of this phase means that, beyond the group of fellows, the very best people in each relevant field outside of Theology can be drawn on to learn from, converse with, and be engaged in collaboration. Each fellow is paired with a scholar from another field as a colleague with whom to converse and consult. These two academics then produce an open access Conversazione piece together about how their research collaboration has been mutually transformative for their research.
Is this just about Theology being shaped by other disciplines?
No; we focus on a mode of interdisciplinarity which involves mutual transformation. We hope not only that Theology can learn how to converse with other disciplines, but also that other disciplines will be influenced by the resources, research, and wisdom Theology has to offer and be transformed in their insights. All too often, academic subject areas are regarded as if they were in silos separate from each other, when in fact separate disciplines are often addressing the same issues from different perspectives and have much to learn from each other. Certainly, such interdisciplinarity is needed for the major issues the world faces today, but it is also our contention that Theology as a discipline itself demands interdisciplinarity. As our founder, James McCord, put it: “We believe this kind of integration [of knowledge] is not only possible, but, in fact, already exists in the very nature of truth. Because every truth, regardless of its source and purpose, proceeds from God, who is the God of all light and truth.”
More broadly, we hope to capture the imagination of culture generally on what theological reflection can offer, harkening back to the kind of serious and wise Christian intellectual voices that were evident in the 1950s—C. S.Lewis, T. S. Eliot, Hannah Arendt, and others. Such traditions of deep and creative thought, engaged across the human and physical sciences, culture, and society, are needed now more than ever.
What does your “Going Public” agenda mean?
Throughout their research cycle of virtual and residential phases of inquiry, fellows have the opportunity to build upon work already done with stakeholders and to share their work in progress and collaborative research with wider publics. But a final four months of inquiry focus on how to disseminate and communicate the research findings acquired to multiple publics. During this public phase, the Center focuses on recording fellows as part of our podcast series called Theology Matters, in which researchers in our program discuss their work on the Center’s investigative themes. The public phase is also the period when digital recordings from public lecture and workshop events are edited by CTI’s Senior Research Officer and uploaded to the Center’s website as well as on a Youtube Channel. All podcasting and recordings, as well as relevant work in progress, is edited and uploaded to our digital publishing platform so as to publish the state of the conversation in progress. Our Fresh Thinking magazine is published and disseminated on the work which has been undertaken at the Center. Follow-up work with journalists and public intellectual magazines, etc., is undertaken by the Senior Research Officer.
While these practices offer knowledge transfer, it is also essential to move from knowledge transfer to impact in order to build social and spiritual capital. During the public phase, fellows work and report on the planned activities from their research agendas in which they are required to identify stakeholders and avenues to impact. There is focused work in utilizing and enhancing networks and public contexts in which the research can be applied and create impact.
Don’t other institutions do this?
We don’t believe they do so in the same way or to the same extent. We are unique as we are neither a university department (with all the constraints of public universities) or a seminary (with all the constraints of confessional and cultural identities). No other theological institution exists in the institute of advanced study model.
The following quotation came from a brochure when our building was first built in 1983 and expresses why we need the kind of institution CTI is. We believe the reality it describes is truer now than ever:
Research in the physical and natural sciences, as well as the humanities, is growing at an astounding rate. On the industrial front, the business sector recognizes that it must invest a substantial portion of its income in technological research and experimentation. To meet their particular needs, these groups have established centers for research, at the most advanced levels, where scholars have special resources to conduct investigations that they would be unable otherwise to undertake. Theology also requires research, especially of it is to grow in the right direction, to reach new and expanding communities, and to meet the challenges of rapidly changing world events. Unfortunately, has not kept pace with its research requirements. There are two reasons for this. First, adequate funding has not been provided. Second, the little research that is done remains tied to academic centers that are hampered by limited staffs and multiplying responsibilities.
For the past two decades, an attitude of anti-intellectualism existed against doing research into theological matters. It was thought that such research was futile and had little to say to the contemporary world. Funds were rarely forthcoming for theological investigations. These opinions are now undergoing dramatic change. A real theological renaissance is at hand.
Existent universities and seminaries are not equipped to undertake the type of advanced theological research that is now needed.
Who founded you?
CTI was founded in 1978 by James McCord, then President of Princeton Theological Seminary. Its first building was opened in 1984. McCord was deeply impressed by the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the institution which was directed by Robert Oppenheimer, with Albert Einstein a member of its first faculty. McCord’s desire was to create on a smaller scale a comparable institution which worked at the same level of research excellence in the field of Theology and in which the world’s leading theologians could engage with the world’s leading scientists and social scientists. Our founding board included David Lilienthal, who chaired public bodies for Presidents Roosevelt and Truman; Robert Meyner, a Governor of the State of New Jersey; and Henry Luce III of Time Inc. For his work in founding CTI, James McCord was awarded the prestigiousTempleton Prize, Theology’s version of a Nobel.
Where are you located?
Our building is perfectly situated between three world-leading centers of learning: Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Institute for Advanced Study. But also important to our purpose and vision, we are located on what might be claimed to be the main street of American history. CTI was built on the very site where Generals Washington and Rochambeau encamped their armies en route to victory at Yorktown. Our building is situated opposite Morven, the 18th-Century home of Richard Stockton, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence who entertained George Washington and James Madison there when the Congress met in Princeton in 1783. The Washington Memorial is located across the road from our building, as is Princeton’s famous bust of Albert Einstein. We are a place, therefore, where Theology meets science and the world. It is also notable to our purposes that in the 20th Century, Thomas Mann lived and wrote in exile from Nazi Germany in a house across the road from where the Center now stands. The conversations in Mann’s émigré circle in Princeton on the future of civilization amid world war remind our scholars on Stockton Street that ideas matter in the cause of truth.
Who leads the Center?
Our Center is governed by an international board of trustees who span the worlds of business, politics, the law, and the church. We are led by our director, Professor Tom Greggs. Tom Greggs is a world-renowned theologian who graduated at the top of his class at Oxford University and completed his Ph.D. at Cambridge University with no corrections in just three years, He was also awarded the Doctor of Letters degree operis causa for his significant contributions to humane learning. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national learned academic society, and is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He serves on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and is committed to articulating Theology in our complex, secular, and pluralistic society. As the author of numerous academic and popular books and articles, he is a sought-after speaker, preacher, and broadcaster. Professor Greggs is enthusiastic about continuing CTI's foundational mission to foster a theological renaissance through advanced interdisciplinary research where Theology truly matters.
Is there anyone I might have heard of who has been associated with CTI?
Many famous scholars have worked as fellows or partners with us. From the theological world, T. F. Torrance was a key person in helping to imagine and cultivate CTI in its beginnings. Other scholars who have worked with or at CTI include N. T. Wright, Jürgen Moltmann, David Ford, Sarah Coakley, Beverly Gaventa, Will Willimon, Robin Lovin, J. Kameron Carter, Peter Ochs, and Janet Martin Soskice. Beyond the field of Theology, we have worked with Angus Deaton, Nobel Laureate in Economics; Marilynne Robinson, who has won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Humanities Medal, and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction; and sociologist, Robert Bellah, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and winner of the National Humanities Medal. Demonstrating the difference CTI can make to disciplines outside of Theology, the work of Agustín Fuentes appears prominently in the documentary Unknown: Cave of Bones. Fuentes, an evolutionary anthropologist from Princeton University and former CTI Fellow, notes that “CTI changed my life as an anthropologist. My residence gave me a deep and lasting appreciation for theology as a fruitful dialogue partner with the sciences.” This change is strongly evident in the documentary.
Where does your funding come from?
Having just invested $15mil. from our funds in order to create our state-of-the-art building, we operate from a small endowment of around $11 mil. and rely heavily on the generous giving of our board and benefactors. In recent years, we have secured grants from major research-funding bodies. We are currently working towards securing an endowment of $50mil. by our 50th Anniversary. Our previous building was named for Henry Luce (founder of Time Magazine). We are seeking a new benefactor after whom to name our outstanding new Michael Graves building, as well as a benefactor to endow our directorship. There are no comparably high-profile opportunities for naming in any Ivy League town.
How can I give if I wish to support CTI?
If you wish to become part of our important circles of benefactors, you can do this here: https://www.ctinquiry.org/give. If you wish to discuss this further or have avenues for giving you think we should explore, please contact our Center at cti@ctinquiry.org.
How can I find out more?
Our website offers many details of our work over the last 20 years, including a news feed and some videos. To gain a sense of the work we have been doing most recently, please link to our magazine Fresh Thinking, available here: https://www.ctinquiry.org/magazine. And our regular podcast, Theology Matters, can be found here: https://www.ctinquiry.org/podcast.