Seminars & Reading Groups
Seminars at the Study Center offer opportunities for weekly thought-provoking, small group discussion about topics relevant to faith, life in the university, and beyond. All are led by NCSC staff, sometimes in partnership with campus ministries, visiting teachers, and/or UNC faculty members.
Spring 2024
ACTS of Jesus Christ - Part Two
The ministry of Paul - From zealous prosecutor to committed follower of Christ
C. K. Barrett once said of Paul’s missionary journeys, “they were not mere travels; rather they were the outworking of a profound theological conviction. His conversion turned him into a tireless ambassador for the Gospel, demonstrating the dynamic impact of encountering the risen Lord."
How did the gospel spread to the strategic cities of the Roman world and eventually to the ends of the Earth?
Join us as we explore Jesus’ continued works in history and the fulfilment of his purposes and promises through the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
This semester we will have the following groups:
Mondays at 3:30-4:45pm
Men’s and Women’s group (Starting January 22)
Thursdays at 3:45-5pm
Co-Ed and Women’s group (Starting January 18)
Connect with Philipa for more information at philipa@ncstudycenter.org
Angels & Demons
Study Center Short Course
Cherubim, Seraphim, Nephilim, O my! Spiritual beings are all over the pages of Scripture, but we rarely talk about them. What do we know about these mysterious creatures? Do humans have guardian angels? Can demons repent? What are powers and principalities? Join us for a four-week short course on the unseen realm: angels & demons. We’ll discuss all these questions and more.
Rather than a reading group, this seminar will be an interactive class with a mix of teaching and group discussion. We’ll meet on Thursdays in February at 12:30 pm in the dining room. Fill out the registration form below to sign up. Rumor has it a few angels already have…
John Milton's Paradise Lost
A Six- week guided reading group
John Milton wrote Paradise Lost to change your understanding of Pride, Sin, Temptation . . . and your own heart. For more than 200 years after its publication in 1667, Paradise Lost was the most influential work for Christian formation in the English-speaking world, after the Bible and Pilgrim’s Progress. Sadly, this magisterial work is not taught as widely as it once was or should be, but the work remains, and you can understand it.
This six-week series will provide a guided tour through selected portions of the lengthy epic, reading it as Milton intended it to be read—as an emotional and intellectual odyssey to bring your heart closer to God. Along the journey, you are very likely to fall in love with Milton’s magnificent poetry.
Seminar Leader: Roger Brooks is an attorney with graduate degrees in law, history, and theology, and experience in the close reading of texts from each of those perspectives. He is also the father of five, and in that capacity has searched for sources of wisdom for the craft of spiritual formation.
Meeting On: Wednesdays from 4:00 - 5:00pm (January 24 - February 28)
Fall 2023
Technology & Faith
We live in a technological world. Our lives are saturated with computers, smart phones, and televisions, not to mention self-driving cars, robots, and A.I. These devices and developments have made our lives easier in many ways. We can do more, see more, and enjoy more; we are more “connected” than ever before. Yet we often feel a disconnect: the same technologies that help us communicate and accomplish tasks efficiently can also leave us feeling isolated, lonely, and anxious. Technology is a wonderful gift (who doesn’t like Netflix?), but it can also shape our habits and our hearts in unhealthy ways.
Join us for a 6-week seminar on Fridays at 1:30 pm to talk about how we can engage with technology wisely as Christians.
Questions? Email Andrew.
Augustine’s Confessions
Join us for a reading group of Augustine’s Confessions, the gripping spiritual autobiography of the greatest post-biblical Christian thinker of the Church’s first thousand years. Over eight weeks, we will journey alongside Augustine through his youthful spiritual wanderings, his insatiable quest for love and for truth, his grief over death and loss, and to the heart-rest he ultimately discovered in the good news of the Gospel. Augustine has been called ‘our post-modern patron saint’ and though written 1,600 years ago, you’ll be amazed at how relatable Confessions is to our questions and our questing still today.
“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you…you called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” -Augustine
ACTS of Jesus Christ - Part One
(How to Read Biblical Narrative)
Acts is a fascinating and challenging book that makes a compelling case that Jesus Christ reigns. As part two in doctor, Luke’s two volume work (Luke-Acts) it tells the story of Jesus’ continued reign on Earth through the Holy Spirit and the Apostles to establish and expand His Church ethnically as well as geographically. Join us as we unpack this book in small groups, being equipped with tools to approach, handle and interpret Biblical narrative along the way.
This semester we will have the following groups:
Mondays at 3:30-4:45pm
Men’s and Women’s group (Starting September 11)
Thursdays at 3:45-5pm
Co-Ed and Women’s group (Starting September 14)
Please indicate which group you would love to join.
The Mortification of Sin
Reading Group
To mortify means “to put to death”, which we are all called to do with sin. However, it can be difficult to know how to go about this practically. John Owen’s classic “The Mortification of Sin” provides biblical guidance, helpful insights, and practical wisdom to help us put to death the sin in our lives and to pursue lives of holiness. If you need help in this area, join this reading group. You will be among others who are also seeking to conquer sin and grow in their faith.
“I owe more to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, and I owe more to this little book than to anything else he wrote.” J. I. Packer
If you are interested, please get in touch with Pip, pip@ncstudycenter.org
Spring 2023
According to Mark (How to Read a Gospel)
During the persecution of Nero, a time which saw the execution of two significant Church leaders (Peter and Paul) and numerous followers of Jesus burned alive at Nero’s garden parties, a small book (The Gospel According to Mark) began to circulate among the early Christians. The author offers no self-help tips on how to avoid suffering but rather his eyewitness account focuses on the identity, life, and death of Jesus of Nazareth.
Join us this semester as we delve deep into this extraordinary gospel account in a relaxed setting. We’ll explore who Jesus is, what he came to do, and what this means for us today ‘according to Mark.’ It is our hope that each of us will go away equipped with tools to better study the Bible for ourselves and with a much bigger view of who Jesus is.
Meeting Thursdays, 3:45-5:00pm, at the Study Center.
The Historical Case for the Resurrection
That Jesus of Nazareth was a 1st-century Jewish teacher who was put to an early death by the Romans is an incontrovertible fact. Even those scholars who are generally most skeptical about the truthfulness of the four canonical Gospels acknowledge this.
But what of his resurrection? What should we make of the Gospel authors' claim that he was not only put to death on a cross, but miraculously rose again on the third day? Is the bodily resurrection of Jesus an assertion of truth for the public record that is subject to historical investigation? An article of private religious belief that is up to each individual to subjectively embrace or decline? Or rather a fabrication of the early Christian movement that has continued to be perpetuated for 2,000 years?
In other words, how strong is the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus?
This five-week Lenten seminar will explore this question through weekly readings and group discussion. Email matt@ncstudycenter.org for more information.
Design Your Life
How many times in the past month has someone asked you what you intend to do after college, or even more terrifyingly with your life?
This dauntingly big question is both baffling and inescapable, but there are ways of reframing it so that you can truly keep the end in mind even while in college.
Dr. Dave Hofmann (The Hugh L. McColl, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at Kenan-Flagler Business School) will be guiding students through a 6-week curriculum called Design Your Life, based on the best-selling book by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans.
Join this seminar to intentionally reflect on your life direction in light of your priorities and known abilities and joys.
Women’s Study of the Book of Hosea
Join us for a semester-length study of the Book of Hosea led by Ivy Overcash & MK Harrah.
Together, we will read the text closely, exploring the themes of covenant, repentance, and God’s persistent, unfailing love
Email Ivy@ncstudycenter.org to join the groupme and for more information.
Fall 2022
What Does it Mean to be Human?
Identity
Embodiment
Image of God
Sexuality
Vocation
Join us for a six-week seminar as we dive in and discuss together what it means to be a human being! What is the image of God? How are we to understand our bodies, identities, and vocations? Christian thinkers have grappled with these questions for millennia and you're invited to join the conversation. In addition to exploring a biblical vision for humanity, we'll also discuss cultural anthropologies: other answers to the question of what it means to be human. This seminar will begin meeting in mid-September and we'll send out a doodle poll to determine the best time to meet. Fill out the interest form below to sign up!
Email Andrew for more information.
C.S. Lewis Seminar
Join us for a seven-week discussion group as we learn from the 20th century's greatest Christian apologist. Through reading selections from his spiritual autobiography, his fiction, and several of his essays, we will explore the contours of Lewis' mind and see what wisdom he has for us today on the topics of love, friendship, education, the pursuit of truth, and more. Fill out the interest form below to sign up!
The Cultural Context of the Gospels
This weekly reading group grew out of student desire to learn more about the historical context of Jesus's life and ministry. In Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, biblical scholar Kenneth Bailey examines gospel passages through the lens of Middle Eastern culture and tradition.
Jesus was a real human being, born in a particular time and place, so understanding his heritage and context can offer insight into who he was and what his words meant to his audience. Bailey's book explores passages in the gospels, drawing insights from Middle Eastern culture that can help Christians today better understand and appreciate the person of Jesus.
Spring 2022
Wrestling with the New Testament
Primarily For Undergraduate Students
This seminar will provide a forum for students to wrestle with questions raised about the New Testament by modern critical scholarship. Topics for discussion include the relationship between the four respective Gospels, the formation of the New Testament canon, the Church’s doctrine of Scripture, etc. We will also explore the various ways that some of the Church’s best thinkers have historically approached these same questions. There will be short assigned readings (15-20 pages/week) that serve as a launching point for our weekly discussions.
This seminar is taught from a perspective that acknowledges that modern critical scholarship raises interesting and challenging questions of various sorts, while maintaining that Scripture is nonetheless God’s inspired word, is fully truthful, and is canonically coherent. Above all, this seminar is a space for honest questions and frank discussion - open to all!
Email Matt (matt@ncstudycenter.org) for more information.
Email Andrew (andrew@ncstudycenter.org) for more information.
The Intellectual Life by A. G. Sertillanges
For graduate & Undergraduate Students
In 1920, a French Dominican monk named A. G. Sertillanges wrote what would become an influential book on cultivating the life of the mind. He was convinced that even with limited time, those who wanted to pursue an intellectual life could do so. This book contains a wealth of theoretical and practical insights, identifying some of the obstacles to deep study and outlining some of the virtues and patterns of life we need to cultivate in order to become good thinkers and learners. His advice is an antidote to the ‘do more, work harder, maximize output’ approach that we often encounter and instead focuses on slow, steady patterns which, over time, produce deep knowledge and wisdom.
This reading group will meet once a month over the course of the semester to reflect on our experiences of life, work and study, and to think through the practical implications of what we have read. Our hope is that, through stimulating conversation, we will each be able to identify ways of working and thinking which will sustain us through a lifetime of intellectual pursuits.
Praise for The Intellectual Life
"Fr. Sertillanges's teachings are as timeless as any truths which describe the genuine nature of things. . . . This book is highly recommended not only for intellectuals, but also for students and those discerning their vocation in life."―New Oxford Review
"[This] is above all a practical book. It discusses with a wealth of illustration and insight such subjects as the organization of the intellectual worker's time, materials, and his life; the integration of knowledge and the relation of one's specialty to general knowledge; the choice and use of reading; the discipline of memory; the taking of notes, their classification and use; and the preparation and organization of the final production."―The Sign
Fall 2021
After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
For graduate & Undergraduate Students
Why are contemporary debates about moral issues such as abortion, euthanasia, just war, and the administering of healthcare so heated and seemingly irresolvable? In his influential 1981 book, After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre analyzes the state of our ethical discourse and laments that “there seems to be no rational way of securing moral agreement in our culture.” MacIntyre offers a historical account of why he thinks our moral discourse has deteriorated, as well as a constructive argument for how it might be restored by a return to tradition and the virtues. The Study Center will be co-hosting a seven-week reading group on After Virtue this fall, in partnership with Intervarsity Graduate Fellowship.
If you're interested in joining us, please fill out this form.
Email Andrew (andrew@ncstudycenter.org) or Jacob Thielman (jacob.thielman@intervarsity.org) for more information.
Called to Hope: A Women’s Study of 1 Peter
Co-led by MaryMac Hoehn (Volunteer) and Ivy Overcash (Intern, UNC Class of 2022)
Join us for the next eight weeks as we study the book of 1 Peter together! Peter’s letter of encouragement to 1st-century Christians facing various trials in Asia Minor reads almost as if it might have equally been addressed to Christians today navigating the numerous challenges of 2020-2021. Throughout this letter, Peter exhorts his friends to look to Christ and his example, and that is exactly what we’ll do this fall!
Meeting Wednesdays at 8 AM. Email MaryMac (marymact@gmail.com) or Ivy (ivyover@live.unc.edu) for more information.
Spring 2021
James KA Smith Reading Group
Co-sponsored by NCSC & RUF
James KA Smith is one of the leading Christian thinkers of our day. His work is notable for its astute diagnosis of today's cultural idols, its emphasis on the formative impact of our habits and daily liturgies, and for acquainting a new generation of Christians with St. Augustine's insights into the human heart.
Join us over the course of six sessions this spring as we read and discuss three of Smith's most important works: Awaiting the King, How (Not) to be Secular, and Desiring the Kingdom.
To join in, email matt@ncstudycenter.org.
Meeting on the following dates:
December 17: Awaiting the King, pgs. 1-130
January 7: Awaiting the King, pgs. 131-224
January 21: How [Not] to be Secular, pgs. 1-78
February 4: How [Not] to be Secular, pgs. 79-139
February 18: Desiring the Kingdom, pgs. 1-130
March 4: Desiring the Kingdom, pgs. 131-230
Fall 2020
Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley
In-Person with MAtt Hoehn • Fridays 2:30 pM
Following the recent national launch for Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by New Testament scholar Dr. Esau McCaulley, we will be hosting a four-week reading group on this book during the month of October, gathering on 10/16, 10/23, 10/30, 11/6.
We'll explore the principles that Dr. McCaulley lays out for thoughtful, careful biblical interpretation, as well as the way that the social location of the readerimpacts how one reads and interprets the text.
Week 1: Methods for Biblical Interpretation / Black ecclesial interpretation
Week 2: Tired Feet, Rested Souls: The New Testament and the Political Witness of the Church
Week 3: Black and Proud: The Bible and Black Identity
Week 4: The Freedom of The Slaves: What Does the Bible Say about Slavery?
Political Theology Graduate Student Seminar
In-Person with Andrew Borror
Following Jesus requires more than simply believing the right things-- it also involves living in certain ways. If Christians are to faithfully live out the gospel in their public lives, they cannot escape deliberation about how to act in society--that is, how to act politically. At its most basic level, politics is action in time with others. It encompasses much more than government institutions and hot-button issues, however important such institutions and issues may be for shaping society.
As Christians engage with contemporary politics, a variety of complicated questions emerge: What is the proper relationship between the Church and the State? What is the nature of authority or freedom? How should Christians live in relation to those with whom they disagree about moral issues? These questions do not have easy answers, and Christians frequently disagree about how to best address them.
Join us this election season for a 6-week graduate student seminar on faith and politics, where we will examine a variety of historic approaches to political theology and discuss how to thoughtfully love our neighbors while faithfully witnessing to the truth about Jesus Christ in a polarized political climate.
Summer 2020
Great Texts | Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Online with MAtt Hoehn
Why Join? National Review selected it as number seven on their "100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century." Also, it's only 81 pages!
Number of Meetings: 3
In 1943, amid the throes of another global crisis (World War II), C.S. Lewis feared that this conflict underscored a threat even greater than the toll of warfare. If the Western allies were to prove capable of rebuilding society out of the ruins of global war, Lewis argues in the The Abolition of Man, they must urgently recover a moral foundation for the social order rooted in humanistic education. In this work, Lewis makes the famous and controversial claim that only a recovery of universal values rooted in the givenness of man’s rational nature could preserve human dignity and prevent a world of “men without chests.”
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Online with MaryRAchel Bulkeley
Why Join? This group will feature easier-to-read contemporary books that discuss education.
Number of Meetings: 3
Educated was ranked #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe Bestseller, and one of the Ten Best Books by New York Times Book Review. In this widely-acclaimed book, Westover recounts her journey as a young girl, born into a survivalist family, who never stepped foot in a formal classroom until age 17 before going on to attend Harvard and to receive a PhD from Cambridge. Westover’s memoir explores essential questions about family, community and belonging, and the relationship of faith to education.
Spring 2020
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
April 2020 (Online) with Kari West
Four children, wrenched from their ordinary lives—first by a war, then by a wardrobe—find themselves in a wondrous and perilous land. They must grapple with the true nature of this new world, must learn to trust in the right power far beyond themselves, and must fight to grow into their deepest human selves as kings and queens of Cair Paravel.
Join us during the month of April as we explore the beloved story, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Discover how this well-known tale may impart fresh insights into your present hardship, re-awaken you to the wonder and importance of your daily life, and re-affirm your truest and enduring inheritance in the face of an uncertain future.
Augustine’s Confessions
9 weeks • with matt hoehn
Join us for a study of Augustine’s Confessions, the gripping spiritual journey of the greatest post-biblical Christian thinker of the Church’s first thousand years. We will walk alongside Augustine through his youthful spiritual wanderings, his insatiable quest for love and for truth, his grief over death and loss, and to the heart-rest he ultimately discovered in the good news of the Gospel. Augustine has been called ‘our post-modern patron saint’ and though written 1,600 years ago, you’ll be amazed at how relatable Confessions is to our questions and our questing still today.
Mondays, 4:30 - 5:30 PM
Wednesdays, 12:15-1:15 PM
Get in touch with Matt Hoehn (matt@ncstudycenter.org) if you have any questions.
Called By God: A Study on Calling, Discernment, and Vocation
6 weeks • With NCSC Staff with Visiting professionals
What does it mean to be ‘called’ by God?
How can we ‘hear’ God’s voice?
What does Scripture have to say about selecting a major, identifying a career path or deciding who to marry?
Dr. Jeremy Purvis (UNC Associate Professor, Genetics), Joy Purvis, and Matt Hoehn will be co-designing and co-leading this seminar on the theology of calling, discernment and vocation. In addition to readings and discussion that will establish a biblical framework for the notion of calling, the seminar will feature a series of guests from different professional fields who will share about how the topic being explored that week concretely maps onto their life and work.
Meeting Wednesdays at 4:30 PM (January 22 - February 26)
Meat with Local Business Leaders
6 weeks • with Dan Copeland & Benton Moss
You may be thinking about a job at a big company — or a small family company — or even starting your own thing. Join this group of local businessmen from Chapel Hill, Carolina students, and recent graduates as we talk about WORK and how to make it fulfilling. We will work our way through the Praxis Business Course and will 'meat' 6 times throughout January, February, March and April. And yes, this is a 'meating' — smoked sausage, ribs, baked potatoes. Come out and feed your mind, body, and spirit as we talk about Christ in the workplace.
Meeting every other Sunday evening, 7:30-9:00 PM (January 26 - April 13)
Fall 2019
The Mind of C.S. Lewis: Life, Essays + Fiction
Mondays, 4:30 - 5:30 pm • The Battle House
Starting Monday, Sept. 16th, join us in exploring the thought, imagination, and writings of C.S. Lewis. All are welcome!
For updates or questions, get in touch with Matt Hoehn at matt@ncstudycenter.org.
Words of Worship: Creative Writing for Communal + Personal Devotion
Wednesdays • 5:00-6:30 PM • The Battle House
UNC senior, poet, and spoken word artist Hanna Watson will be leading this 8-week seminar. First meeting will Wednesday, Sept. 11th.
For updates or questions, contact Hanna at hannaeli@live.unc.edu .
Spring 2019
Devil’s Advocate: Evil, Suffering & the Goodness of God
Fridays • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM • The Battle House
How could an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God create a world that contains evil and suffering? For many, this question is at once both philosophically puzzling and personally troubling. In fact, this question is considered by many to be the single greatest challenge to the credibility of the Christian faith.
Starting Friday, Jan. 25th, this 5-week seminar addressed the hard questions head-on and will introduce students both to the ‘problem of evil’ in its most compelling formulation, and to several of the most thoughtful responses offered by Christian thinkers. The group will be co-led by Matt Hoehn (Study Center staff) and Sam Schmitt (UNC PhD Student), with Sam taking on the role of ‘devil’s advocate’ some weeks to present counter- arguments. Students of all levels and backgrounds are welcome!
Led by Matt Hoehn and Sam Schmitt, UNC PhD student in Political Theory
For updates or questions, send an email to matt@ncstudycenter.org.
One Nation Under God?: Christian Identity and American Politics
Thursdays • 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM • The Battle house
Democrat. Republican. Progressive Liberal. Traditional Conservative. Tea-Partier. Antifa.
Our political discourse is filled with these types of labels that Americans invoke both to identify themselves and to dismiss others. For those who see Christian as their most fundamental identity, how should we think about politics, partisanship, justice, and participating in our democratic processes?
Starting Thursday, Jan. 24th, this 6-week seminar explored the intellectual history underlying our notions of ‘politics’ and ‘justice’ and challenge you to reflect on how these concepts properly apply to real issues being discussed and debated today. It will also introduce you to the biblical and theological frameworks that Christians have used throughout the years for thinking about and engaging with politics.
Led by Study Center staff and visiting faculty.
For the Love: A Biblical Approach to Singleness, Dating and Marriage
Wednesdays • 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM • The Battle house
“Not everybody is called to romantic relationship, not everyone is called to marriage… But everybody’s called to relationships — that what it means to be human.”
—Kerry Cronin, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College
Human beings are inherently relational. We live our lives not primarily as lone individuals (as Jim or Sally), but more fundamentally through a web of relationships (as son, granddaughter, roommate, friend). To be in relationships, to love and to be loved, is fundamental to our humanity.
At the same time, many of us experience severe confusion and frustration with regards to relationships, especially during college: What qualities should I look for in a friend? Should I date during college? If so, who should I date and how seriously should I date? Is hookup culture a liberating norm to be embraced, or rather a problematic status quo to questioned?
Starting Wednesday, Jan. 30th, this 6-week seminar explored what Scripture and the wisdom of the Christian tradition have to say about singleness, dating, sex and marriage, in dialogue with contemporary culture. Discussion material will range from the Bible to The Atlantic and from C.S. Lewis to documentaries about online dating.
Led by Study Center staff and visiting teachers.
Fall 2018
Summer 2018
Spring 2017
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