Welcome to Chesterton House

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Chesterton House, a Center for Christian Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

As many of you surely know, Cornell is one of the finest universities in the world. Cornell's ambitious mission, succinctly captured by the motto "any person, any study," is a marvelous ideal, and the university impressively approximates that ideal. Indeed, the student body is more diverse than many of Cornell's peer institutions. And the course catalogue includes everything from art to agriculture, and management to mushrooms.

Nevertheless, as even Cornell presidents are known to admit, the ideal of "any person, any study" is always aspirational, and will never be completely fulfilled. Indeed, there are topics that are not easily studied at Cornell. First, research universities by their very nature specialize, making it harder to find forums in which to discuss "the big questions"--Who are we? and How can we all get along? Second, in contrast to many of its peer institutions, Cornell was founded as an intentionally "non-sectarian" institution. That is not a bad thing, but the absence of even a residual seminary or divinity school limits the opportunity for theological training and education. Third, the secular culture at a place like Cornell tends to marginalize religiously-grounded reflections in any and all disciplines by ruling them out of bounds on procedural gounds.

All of which is why we started Chesterton House--to provide forums for "thick" theological thinking and reflection where academic learning and spiritual formation are not segregated off into separate silos. These forums include many visiting lectures, as well as small group discussions held in professors' homes. Soon we hope to offer classes in theology in cooperation with a seminary.

As members of the body of Christ, we seek to be a community of Christian students and scholars learning and growing in the knowledge of God and the world that He has made. As members of the Cornell community, we seek to enrich religious dialogue on campus, and to serve the university by helping it to more nearly fulfill the ideal of "any person, any study." We consider these consistent goals.

We invite you to browse the website or, better still, to attend one of our many public lectures. Our resource room, located in the comfortable Crossroads Life Center, is open all day every day except Monday. Pick up some coffee at the Carriage House Cafe and come next door for some leisurely reading or fireside conversation.

Finally, if you would like to keep up with ministry events and developments, we invite you to sign up for our electronic newsletter. If you have any questions about Chesterton House, please feel free to contact me at any time. We look forward to serving you.

Karl E. Johnson, Director