The mission of the Henry Institute is to promote serious reflection on the interplay between Christianity and public life.
That means several things:
We have big horizons. After all, the tremendous impacts of Christianity in public life extend from the local to the global. At the Henry Institute, we are just as interested in why local churches mobilize citizens, how religious faith influences regional and national elections, and what it takes for believers to intervene in international affairs, among myriad other topics. What’s more, we want to understand the role of faith in public life across time, from the earliest efforts of ancient peoples to organize their laws and institutions to present-day tensions between religion and the modern state.
We seek out the very best scholarship and public thinking. To say that we promote serious reflection means we step back from a lot of day-to-day political chatter and bring excellent scholars and other public thinkers into public conversation.
We wish to engage citizens, scholars, and the church. The Institute is uniquely positioned at a Christian liberal arts college with a supportive community that is both deep and increasingly wide. We work within and for that community, but also alongside a host of other stakeholders, including a large network of fellow researchers all around the world. We are particularly dedicated to shaping a new generation of scholars and public servants who understand their work as a Christian calling.
We are inspired in what we do by the life and legacy of Paul B. Henry, a teacher, public administrator, and elected legislator who was a model of humble, thoughtful, and faithful service.