Samford University’s TCIT Project seeks to promote a national conversation about the place of the Christian intellectual tradition in higher education. In particular, we are interested in helping faculty from across the disciplines to develop effective strategies for teaching this tradition, cultivating younger scholars who are still mastering their craft while providing opportunities for more experienced faculty to explore new pedagogies. Under the leadership of the University Fellows Program, and in partnership with local and national organizations, the TCIT Project hosts speakers, seminars, workshops, and consultations, as well as two signature events: a biennial national conference and a biennial residential summer institute. Since its inception in 2014, the project has supported the work of faculty from more than 50 institutions.

TCIT Biennial Conference

These conferences provide an opportunity for scholars from across the disciplines to share ideas about teaching Christianity’s rich intellectual heritage to today’s undergraduates. Samford University is committed to teaching this tradition through its general education curriculum and University Fellows Great Books honors program, and we seek to create a network of universities and scholars devoted to similar ends. Each conference focuses on a different figure or theme and equips undergraduate faculty with effective strategies for teaching in a variety of courses across the curriculum. In addition, participants are invited to submit their papers to our conference proceedings, which are published in cooperation with Religions, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of theology with a global audience.

Teaching Dante - October 25-27, 2018

In a 1921 encyclical celebrating the 600th anniversary of Dante’s death, Pope Benedict XV praised the great Florentine poet as “that noble figure, pride and glory of humanity.” Few writers have shaped the Christian intellectual tradition and imagination more than this noble figure, whose work stands between two worlds, embodying the creative genius of the Middle Ages while anticipating and shaping the Renaissance to come. “Teaching Dante” will bring together more than thirty scholars from across the disciplines to explore effective strategies for introducing a new generation of students to Dante’s achievement and influence.

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For more information on our 2014 and 2016 conferences, please visit “Augustine Across the Curriculum” and “Teaching the Reformations.”

TCIT Biennial Summer Institute

Designed for faculty who often teach outside their disciplines in great books, core curriculum, and general education courses, these week-long seminars provide liberal arts faculty from across the country with a rare opportunity to explore teaching and learning strategies focused on the seminal texts of the Christian Intellectual Tradition. Limited to 15-20 participants and openly seeking non-specialists who are crossing disciplines, these seminars are grounded in close readings of the texts and have as their goal the collegial exchange of ideas focused on how to become better teachers of the tradition.

The partnerships established at these institutes have led to program and curricular innovations at several participating institutions, ranging from revised syllabi and writing assignments to the creation of new study abroad experiences and expanded honors program curricula.

For more information on our 2015 and 2017 institutes, please visit our Summer Institutes page.

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