Dedicated to the scholars and students at VCU and the surrounding community, Scholé House is a gathering place for seeking goodness, truth and beauty and for exploring a Christian vision for human flourishing—in order to renew our restless and splintered lives.
Our Mission
Based on the riches of Christian Tradition, we seek to uphold and contribute to the various values and mission of VCU itself:
- We uphold the value of interdisciplinary collaborations and the commitment to intellectual rigor in order to examine and address society’s most complex challenges.
- We believe that a robust understanding of human flourishing is informed by global considerations and the contributions of thought across millennia accompanied by real world applications.
- As VCU is a uniquely urban campus, we believe in exploring innovative and thoughtful approaches to supporting the flourishing of the city.
- As a supporter of the arts, we believe in the inherent value of and thoughtful pursuit of beauty and the creative process.
- As VCU/MCV is a leader in healthcare, healthcare research and training, we want to support the ideas, research and the people seeking to improve the quality of human life.
- In all fields of endeavor, we want to support the life of the mind and the scholars, academics and practitioners faithfully pursuing these ends.
Who We Are: Our Faith Informs Us
- We believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and Renewer of our life in its entirety and therefore of our intellectual life.
- We believe that we are called to love God with our entire being, including our mind, and that thinking well glorifies God.
- We affirm the essential doctrines of the Christian faith as revealed in the Old and New Testament Scriptures and as set forth in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed.
- We believe that humility is essential in scholarly endeavors, especially in interacting with persons who do not share our Christian beliefs and perspectives.
- We affirm that thinking Christianity is not a substitute for but rather should go hand-in-hand with living out our faithfulness to Christ in every aspect of our lives.
- We are committed to complementing rather than duplicating the work of Christian churches and campus ministries.
(Our thanks to the Duke Center for Christianity and Scholarship, from whom we have borrowed liberally, for their thoughtful writing on this and specifically to Robert Byrd, who penned much of it before they opened as a center. We are most grateful.)
What We Do
In light of these shared values, Scholé House exists to extend the light and beauty of the Christian Faith and the life of Jesus by offering lectures, usually by academics speaking on issues related to their fields, small and interactive reading groups, personal meetings and shared hospitality.