Our Mission
The Augustine Fellowship facilities dialogue between the rich theological and philosophical traditions of the Christian faith and the moment of modern academia. It gathers students, faculty, and community members to fellowship with one another as they engage in intellectual and spiritual discussions about the human experience.
THE Problem
In our society, the cultural influencers and the universities that produce them rarely come into contact with a dense network of Christian thinkers. During the university years, staggering numbers of young people depart from the faith. This produces negative spiritual and practical effects on the whole society. Our modern research universities aim to be a neutral space for the pursuit of free inquiry. In reality, this pursuit is stunted because a harmful doctrine questioning the existence of transcendent good infects much of academia. A hopelessness has settled in because theology has been banished, and the vision of a university as a place of pursuing wholeness has been lost.
The Solution
For the good of the church and the academy, society requires interrogative dialogue between the claims of the Christian faith and the various disciplines of the university. The Christian faith benefits from the research university to help discover the breadth of truth, and academia needs Christianity to posit transcendent questions of truth, goodness, and beauty. The Christian Study Center model essentially bridges this gap. The Augustine Fellowship facilitates dialogue between the rich theological and philosophical traditions of the Christian faith and the current moment of modern academia. It gathers students, faculty, and community members to fellowship with one another as they engage in intellectual and spiritual discussions about the human experience. TAF provides a hospitable environment for students and faculty to connect and have their spirits refreshed and strengthened and for churches and campus ministry groups to augment the spiritual formation and pastoral care provided to those engaged in scholarly pursuits.
The Rationale
We celebrate the university as a place to discover, conserve, and cultivate God’s good creation and to form us for our fundamental vocation as divine image-bearers and stewards of the earth. We believe God is at work to reconcile and renew all things through Jesus Christ. For centuries, Christians have devoted themselves wholeheartedly to academic inquiry and professional practice in light of this ultimate hope, seeking both to reorder their own loves and to contribute to peace, justice, and human flourishing. The Augustine Fellowship aims to continue this rich tradition in the context of Georgetown University, serving the academic community, the church, and the society more broadly
