Living a Tech-Wise Life with Andy and Amy Crouch

We are in the second full week of UNC's winter break, and our staff has been talking a lot about technology, screen time, and exploring questions together like the ones below...

• Is your weekly screen time at a reasonable number? Or is it higher than you’d like it to be?

• Is social media playing a healthy role in your life — keeping you connected to friends? Or is it playing an unhealthy role in your life — serving as a constant distraction, eating up valuable segments of your day, and leading you down the spiral of comparison and envy?

• Are you ‘in control’ of your devices? Or are your devices 'controlling’ your life, in a sense?

• Does the Bible, written ~2,000 years before the iPhone was invented, have substantive wisdom to help us navigate our tech-saturated world?

On Thursday, Dec. 10 our team was able to have a rich, honest conversation about technology, discernment, and living the good life with best-selling author Andy Crouch (author of The Tech-Wise Family) and his daughter Amy Crouch (current college student and author of My Tech-Wise Life: Growing Up and Making Choices in a World of Devices).

We can barely imagine our lives without technology. Tech gives us tools to connect with our friends, listen to our music, document our lives, share our opinions, and keep up with what's going on in the world. Yet it also tempts us to procrastinate, avoid deeper conversations, compare ourselves with others, and filter reality. Sometimes, it feels like our devices have a lot more control over us than we have over them. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Joined by student and young alumni co-moderators Kristina Chapple (‘22) and Peter Andringa (‘20), staff member Matt Hoehn guided discussion.

Our Fall Banquet: For Such a Time

Our virtual fall banquet on Thursday, Nov. 19 was a joyful occasion to celebrate the Lord’s work here at UNC through the Study Center this past year. Along with board members, community supporters, and UNC students we were able to tell the story of the North Carolina Study Center’s past, present, and look forward to its future.

We were thrilled to announce the public phase of our capital campaign that includes a thorough renovation of the cherished Battle House, growing the space for future generations of students and faculty at UNC.

Please watch and enjoy it with us!

Politics and the Common Life: A Conversation about Faithful Political Engagement

On Oct. 7, we partnered with other Study Centers and the AEI Initiative on Faith and Public Life to ask, "Is it possible to love one’s neighbors through political action and advocacy? Can we cultivate a common life across lines of partisan affiliation?"

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, we’re seeking to cultivate a fruitful dialogue about the nature and possibility of Christian faithfulness in public life and politics. A conversation like that begins with a basic understanding that people of faith need not — and, indeed should not — strive to separate Christian life from political engagement. But how we engage matters. Christians are called to love neighbors and enemies in all spheres of life. During this event, we explored a realistic but hopeful vision of Christian discipleship and witness in the midst of our fragmented and polarized political culture.

This event was sponsored by: Anselm House, AEI Initiative on Faith and Public Life, The Center for Christian Study at UVA, Upper House, and the North Carolina Study Center.

National Book Launch for 'Reading While Black' by New Testament Scholar Dr. Esau McCaulley

During this live webcast on Wednesday, Sept. 23, New Testament scholar Dr. Esau McCaulley shared about the inspiration for his newly released book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, the timeliness of its release, and his hopes for its impact on readers. In the book, Dr. McCaulley expresses that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition can help us connect with a rich faith history and address the urgent issues of our times. Demonstrating an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, Dr. McCaulley shares a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.

Purchase a copy of Dr. McCaulley's book: www.ivpress.com/reading-while-black

Learn more about this event: www.ncstudycenter.org/rwblaunch

Robert P. George and Cornel West in Conversation

On Sept. 10, in partnership with the UNC Program for Public Discourse, we hosted a discussion between Drs. George and West on fostering dialogue and friendships across the political aisle. The event was moderated by Thomas Chatterton Williams, with an introduction from Dr. Terry Rhodes, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and we’re thrilled to be able to share the recording now here!

Dr. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is also frequently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.

Dr. West is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of ‘Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race and Losing My Cool’ and a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, the London Review of Books, and many other places. He is a 2019 New America Fellow and the recipient of a Berlin Prize.

Study Center Community Serves Students in Quarantine & Isolation

After last week, numerous community members expressed concern for the students impacted by COVID-19. They generously offered to fund meals and/or care packages for those in quarantine and isolation. 🤍

Thank you to everyone making it possible for us to demonstrate the love of Christ together in this way to students at UNC. We are eager to serve and humbled by your support. 🤍

Interested in funding a meal for a student in quarantine or isolation? Learn more here.

Are you a student in quarantine or isolation in Chapel Hill? Submit a meal request here! Let our staff drop off food for you or send you a meal.🍴

John, Sanha, and Parker ('24)

Kristina ('22)

Adam, Jakob, and William ('21)