Augustine Confessions
Spring 2024
Read one of the indispensable classics of Western literature, get to know one of the greatest theologians of the Christian tradition, and join him and us on the timeless quest to find truth amid confusion and controversy and rest for the soul in a restless world. Rereaders and first-time readers equally welcome. Cosponsored by the Center for Christianity and Scholarship and Fons Vitae.
Mere Christianity
Spring 2024
In 1952 C.S. Lewis, perhaps the most influential Christian intellectual of the 20th century, penned what would come to be a Christian classic with his book Mere Christianity. In it, he casts a compelling vision for how we might live as Christians even with our questions and doubts. Join CCS once a week on West Campus to discuss Lewis’ book among friends.
Reach out to Jeff Bennett for more information at Richard.j.bennett@duke.edu.
The Case for Christ
Spring 2024
This group will read through The Case for Christ by former Chicago Tribue journalist Lee Strobel. The book chronicles Strobel’s journey from atheism to belief after investigating the claims of Christianity. Join us to experience his journey and his encounters with university professors in conversations about the veracity of Christianity.
Contact Edward at edward.dixon@duke.edu for more information.
Women in Business
Spring 2024
Are you interested in one day embarking on a business venture? We’re starting a reading group geared towards women interested in business. This group will focus on nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset, and discovering how the Christian faith can influence our purpose in entrepreneurship and business. We’ll explore texts by Christian leaders in business, attend events, and foster a community around our common interest of making an impact on the world with our ideas. Join me this semester as we navigate exploring the field of business as Christian women.
Contact Elizabeth at elizabethmstew@gmail.com for more information.
C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man
Fall 2023
In this classic work, C. S. Lewis argues that moral values are not subjective or relative, but broadly shared across diverse cultures, necessary for human life, and ultimately given by God. Lewis’s incisive critique of modern misguided education, self-serving relativism, and reductive scientism is a prophetic witness that remains relevant today.
Women's Reading Group
Fall 2023
When men are treated as the default sex, women pose challenging intellectual problems: Does difference imply inferiority? How much do our bodies shape our vocations? What does the entanglement of mother and child reveal about what it means to be human? This group explores a wide range of Christian women's reflections on women's experiences of God, the church, and political and intellectual life. Readings may include excerpts from Edith Stein ("The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace"), Pauli Murray ("Sermon on the Ordination of Women"), Sarah Coakley (God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay on the Trinity), Erika Bachiochi (The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision), and more. Bring your own suggested readings to share with the group! Every other Thursday from 7:30-9 pm at the CCS House. Email kathryn.wagner@duke.edu to join.
Augustine and His Influence
Summer 2023
St. Augustine of Hippo is an intellectual giant. A church father whose influence on the Christian tradition is incalculable, he has also impacted many disciplines beyond theology—he's a major early thinker in political philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and more. In this eight-week summer reading group, we'll sample Augustine's greatest works in a way that's both accessible for beginners and offers something new for those who have read him before. Each week, we'll pair a classic excerpt from one of Augustine's major works with an optional secondary reading that reflects on his continuing relevance for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Readings will include selections from Confessions, City of God, On Christian Teaching, and On the Trinity. Week of June 5 through week of July 24, Mondays 5-6, meetings at the CCS House.
The Brothers Karamazov
Spring 2023
Join us to read and discuss one of the world’s great classics: a profound philosophical novel about God, evil, and freedom that’s also a gripping murder mystery and psychologically complex family drama.