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Research Centers & Institutes at Calvin College

The Calvin College Centers and Institutes were created to enrich the programs of the college by contributing to the distinctive nature of Calvin College and ensuring the mission and strategic plan of the college by addressing perceived needs and strategic opportunities.

Centers and Institutes

Centers and Institutes Calendar of Events instcal

Short Descriptions (click on title to go directly to center's website)

The Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship:

The Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship is the oldest and best endowed of Calvin College’s research institutes. It was founded in 1976 to be a place where committed Christian thinkers could reflect upon pressing issues of public concern across the academic disciplines. Over the years its support has enabled scholars to produce some three dozen books, several of which have gone into second editions, as well as countless articles, lectures, conferences, and related public presentations. The vision of its founders and the efforts of its participants have made the CCCS a recognized leader in the growing international

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship:

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship aims to promote the scholarly study of the theology, history, and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.

Founded in 1997, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW), located at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center dedicated to both understanding and revitalizing the practice of Christian worship. We are dedicated to using the unique resources of a Christian liberal arts college—with its collegial environment, international faculty and student body, wide interdisciplinary expertise, and culture of ongoing learning—to partner with congregations, denominations, parachurch organizations, professional organizations, and publishers to further our mission.

Center for Excellence in Preaching :

The Center for Excellence in Preaching (CEP) at Calvin Theological Seminary provides continuing education opportunities and numerous online resources designed to help pastors in their vital task of preparing sermons that are biblical, authentic, contextual, and life-changing. The CEP website provides a regularly updated resource for pastors to find out about upcoming preaching seminars, to learn about recommended commentaries and books, to listen to podcasted and audio sermons, to find new material each week on upcoming preaching texts for all of the church's liturgical seasons, and much more. The goal of CEP is to help pastors nourish God's hungry people through the lively and engaged preaching of God's holy Word.

Center for Social Research:

The Center for Social Research (CSR) exists to assist the Calvin community in studying the world of human interactions. The CSR organizes scholarly research projects. At every step the CSR tries to engage students in our work. This website will be a helpful guide to the services, resources, programs and ideas available.

Enterprise Center:

The Enterprise Center at Calvin will foster and commercialize intellectual properties (IP). By various means it will seek to form "partnerships" with business, alumni, investors or other interested parties to commercialize products and services that are generated internally or brought to the college by third parties.

The Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics:

The Henry Institute continues Paul Henry's quest to promote serious reflection on the interplay between Christianity and public life, by becoming a national forum for research, dialogue, and information on their interaction. The Henry Institute fosters the study of Christianity and politics by providing resources for scholarship, structuring opportunities to disseminate scholarly work, seeking avenues to communicate and promote such efforts to the larger public, and motivating and training future scholars to engage in such study. The Institute is particularly dedicated to creating a new generation of scholars and public servants who are engaged, active and aware of the importance of the interplay between these two fields of inquiry.

Integrated Science Research Institute (ISRI)

In 2008, Calvin College launched a new institute to promote interdisciplinary science research and education. The institute is funded by a $1.1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Calvin's Integrated Science Research Institute (ISRI) was created in recognition of the current trend in the sciences to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning:

Calvin College is now home to an institute devoted to the study and promotion of pedagogy, learning, and educational leadership from an integrally Christian perspective. The Kuyers Institute focuses on teaching and learning from pre-kindergarten through college, and will foster research and professional development. The Kuyers Institute acts as a catalyst to gather interested professionals for workshops, conferences, and research seminars, and will coordinate research projects in a variety of settings.

The H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies:

The Meeter Center is a research center specializing in John Calvin and Calvinism. Among college and university libraries in North America, the Meeter Center's rare book room contains one of the largest collections of sixteenth-century imprints of the works of Calvin and other reformers. The Center’s rare book collection also includes a number of Reformation era editions of the Bible. The Meeter Center fosters interest in and knowledge of John Calvin and Calvinism through lectures, presentations, conferences, summer seminars and courses, and a program of fellowships for faculty and graduate students from other institutions and for pastors in the Reformed tradition.

Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity:

The mission of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity is to accomplish significant work in the following three areas. We intend to promote a deeper understanding of world Christianity, partner with study centers to strengthen Christian intellectual movements in the global south and east, and provoke a reorientation of Christian thought In the North Atlantic region toward the concerns arising from world Christianity.

Seminars in Christian Scholarship:

The seminar program seeks to promote a strong Christian voice in the academy by addressing issues of current debate within various disciplines from the perspective of a deep Christian commitment and encouraging the production of first-order scholarship.

The Van Lunen Center: Executive Management in Christian Schools

The mission of the Van Lunen Center is to provide world-class executive management education essential to the future of schools based on the historic Christian faith. Our vision includes robust, flourishing networks of Christian schools lead by individuals who are dynamic executives and model management from a faith perspective.