Research Projects

NEWLY ANNOUNCED: Visiting Scholar, Dr. Steven Meyer (National Defense University) to lead project on World Affairs and International Governance.

Currently in progress: The Wisdom Project, a three-year effort conducted by Charles Strohmer, on the biblical wisdom tradition and modern diplomacy and foreign policy, with special attention to the Middle East.

We are always on the lookout for sabbatical-funded or foundation-funded projects that qualified professionals would like to bring to the Center. If you have an idea and want to explore it, contact the president, Jim Skillen (jim@cpjustice.org).

The Center's research on subjects other than specific policy issues (see Policy and Advocacy) have three major foci:

CIVIC EDUCATION: such as the Saints and Citizens project that led to the publication At a Political Crossroads: Christian Civic Education and the Future of the American Polity.

FOUNDATIONS OF GOVERNMENT: searching out the historical, philosophic, and religious roots of civic culture and political institutions and practices. Examples include Jim Skillen's research that led to The Scattered Voice: Christians at Odds in the Public Square, and With or Against the World: America's Role Among the Nations.

THE BIBLE AND JUSTICE: given the Center's orienting Christian perspective, we want to learn as much as possible about the biblical worldview and the meaning of justice in the experience of Israel and the early Christian community. One fruit of this kind of research is Skillen's A Covenant to Keep: Meditations on the Biblical Theme of Justice.

GOAL: our aim is to develop a research and education center for people from all over the world who want to study and contribute to a Christian-democratic, principled pluralist perspective on government and political community.

The implications of this perspective for public policy are illustrated in the Center's Guidelines for Government and Citizenship and in James Skillen's recent book In Pursuit of Justice: Christian-Democratic Explorations.