Christianity Among Other Religions: Why Follow Jesus?
Spring 2025
In an age in which we can be anything, why be a Christian? Are all religions just different paths to the same destination or different ways of expressing the same truth? Does Jesus’ story teach us anything unique about our nature, that of the world we live in, and that of the cosmos? Join us for this reading and discussion group about the place of the Christian faith in a pluralist world. We will strive to understand Christianity on its own, as well as in conversation with the other “Big Six” faiths: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. All are welcome.
The Case for Christ
Spring 2025
Is there strong historical evidence for Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection? Are the New Testament documents reliable? How can we know whether he really rose from the dead? Weigh the evidence with investigative journalist Lee Strobel, who interviews top researchers and evaluates their findings in The Case for Christ.
Screwtape Letters Reading Group
Fall 2024
Eavesdrop on demons with C. S. Lewis to learn how souls get ensnared in sin. This devil’s-eye view of human behavior hilariously skewers our follies and offers indirect wisdom about how to grow as a Christian.
#Deconstruction: Understanding Why Evangelicals Are Leaving the Church
Summer 2024
Over the past 50 years, Christians have declined from 90% of the population of the United States to 65%. About 40 million Americans (16% of all American adults) used to attend church but no longer do. #deconstruction, #exvangelical, and #churchhurt are trending terms to describe a massive movement of people disillusioned by experiences within evangelical churches.
Whether you are questioning your own faith, have a loved one who is struggling with or has rejected Christianity, or are simply wondering why evangelicals keep talking about an obscure branch of literary theory, this reading group will demystify #deconstruction and offer a space for honest conversation about why so many people are leaving American churches. We’ll dig into recent surveys and statistics as well as personal narratives representing a variety of outcomes for deconstruction: becoming an atheist or agnostic, finding a different kind of Christianity, or returning to evangelicalism with a vision for reform.
We'll meet six times, from the week of June 3 to the week of July 8
Mansfield Park Reading Group
Summer 2024
You know Jane Austen as one of the world's most beloved novelists, a sharp-eyed satirist of social follies, and a writer of iconic romances. You might not know her as a faithful, thoughtful Christian. Join us this summer in reading Mansfield Park, Austen's most religious novel, and learning from her Christian wisdom on wealth, poverty, sexuality, superficiality, deception, people-pleasing, novelty-chasing, education, parenting, how to choose a job or a spouse, how to stick to your principles when everyone hates you for it, and more.
We'll meet eight times on Thursday evenings 7:30-8:30 pm from June 6 to August 1, skipping the Fourth of July
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.