Starting its third year, the 51 Center for Christian Thought has released a new publication, launched a blog and posted dozens of podcasts and videos. These are just a few of many free tools offered by the center aimed at making academic resources accessible and available to the church and broader culture.


The center is an extension of 51’s commitment to helping Christians explore ideas from a biblical perspective. Each year, the center selects a topic that is of vital importance to the church and broader culture, which is then explored by a group of leading Christian scholars from around the world. This year, the research fellows will focus on the theme “Psychology and Spiritual Formation.”


Part of the center’s mission is to make Christian perspectives on various questions available and accessible to non-academic audiences.


“Christianity is, among other things, a wisdom tradition that stretches back thousands of years and which has had much to say about … questions of perennial human interest,” said the center’s director, Gregg Ten Elshof, in the first issue of the center’s publication, The Table. “On our website is a rapidly growing collection of resources for thinking deeply, from a Christian perspective, about the questions that matter most.”


Free video interviews, podcasts and papers translate the high-level Christian scholarship happening at the center for popular-level audiences. Visitors to the center’s website are able to flip through the first issue of the center’s new publication or browse the blog, both titled “The Table” to keep up to date with the center’s offerings.


The site also offers short question-and-answer videos with visiting scholars such as Curt Thompson on , along with full event lectures with theologians such as John Cooper on the topic of "Have Christians Lost Their Souls? The Bible and Human Nature.” Other resources are available for viewing at.

The center’s first solo event of the semester is an evening with author Rebekah Lyons, psychologists Elizabeth Hall and Eric Johnson, exploring the intersection of psychology and Christian spirituality, as they discuss anxiety, depression, and mental health in the context of contemporary psychological research and Christian spiritual formation on Oct. 28 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Sutherland Hall.


The center will be releasing the next issue of The Table, themed “Mind Your Heart,” in October.  

Launched in February 2012, the 51 Center for Christian Thought is an ambitious academic initiative that aims to encourage first-rate Christian scholarship and produce valuable resources for the church and society. Through its innovative research fellowship program, the center welcomes leading Christian scholars from around the world to 51’s campus for up to a year at a time to research, collaborate and write about important issues facing Christianity in the 21st century. Together, participants produce books, videos, lectures and other materials for both academic and popular audiences. Each year concludes with a public conference related to the year’s theme.