Institute for Christian Studies

Institute for Christian Studies This page is meant to give alumni, students & supporters of ICS info about events, news & courses.

ICS is an accredited, member-supported graduate school with a biblically-rooted mandate to advance Christian Scholarship. Founded to pursue philosophy, the humanities and social sciences, ICS offers students Masters and Ph.D degree programs in several different areas of concentration.

ICS PhD student, Joel Erhardt, argues that in a "post-truth era," the easy diagnosis is that we don't have enough facts....
05/22/2026

ICS PhD student, Joel Erhardt, argues that in a "post-truth era," the easy diagnosis is that we don't have enough facts. But Thomas Merton identified the real problem decades ago: it's not a shortage of information, it's an overload of noise. And Simone Weil adds that the answer isn't to try harder.

In this week's piece, Joel reflects on what it looks like to quiet the noise without performing it.

Read Joel's full article on Substack: https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/when-distractions-arent-enough



What if spirituality isn't an escape from the material world but a way of living more deeply within it?The Institute for...
05/19/2026

What if spirituality isn't an escape from the material world but a way of living more deeply within it?

The Institute for Christian Studies is delighted to invite you to the launch of Material Spirituality: A Transcendental Phenomenology of Religion, the new book by Dr. Neal DeRoo.

Drawing on Husserl's notion of "material spiritual" conditions, DeRoo offers a fresh theory of religion. He challenges monotheistic and cognitive assumptions and asks how religion, as both concept and practice, is generated, lived, and shared.

Join us for an evening of conversation, conviviality, and the launch of a book years in the making.

Thursday, May 28, 2026
6:30 PM Eastern
Knox College, 59 St George Street, Toronto

All are welcome. RSVP at https://icscanada.edu/deroo-launch

ICS MA student Alayna Erickson finally cracked open Orwell's classic and found that the post-truth era isn't really a fi...
05/15/2026

ICS MA student Alayna Erickson finally cracked open Orwell's classic and found that the post-truth era isn't really a fight over facts. It's a fight over loves.

The path through the post-truth impasse, she argues, isn't to strip emotion out of truth. It's to pay attention to what is shaping the loves we already have.

Read the full article, here.

https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/all-is-not-fair-in-love-and-war

#1984

Should research have to make sense to your wallet to deserve a place in Canadian public life?In the latest article in ou...
05/08/2026

Should research have to make sense to your wallet to deserve a place in Canadian public life?

In the latest article in our Facts and Faithfulness series, ICS doctoral candidate Timothy deVries asks the harder question: what *is* the public interest, who gets to define it, and why should the market have the final word?

Read the full article:

https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/should-research-make-sense

We keep arguing about facts. But what if the real problem isn't misinformation?ICS Senior Member Neal DeRoo traces our ...
05/01/2026

We keep arguing about facts. But what if the real problem isn't misinformation?

ICS Senior Member Neal DeRoo traces our post-truth crisis back to a broken link between truth and troth, the old English word for covenant, loyalty, and trust. When truth lost its relational roots, it became something nobody could agree on.

The antidote isn't better algorithms or more fact-checkers. It's the people who show up locally, build trust across difference, and live their convictions in throughout their everyday lives.

Read Neal's entire article on our Substack: https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/harolds-of-the-truth

Fr. Joash P. Thomas asks: But what about the Canadian Empire? The one that helped kidnap Haiti's elected president in 20...
04/24/2026

Fr. Joash P. Thomas asks: But what about the Canadian Empire? The one that helped kidnap Haiti's elected president in 2004. The one whose economy runs on foreign workers the UN calls "contemporary slavery." The one cutting $2.7 billion in aid while adding $81 billion to the military.

Empires divide to conquer. The ancient way of Jesus unites to heal.

Read the full article by Thomas: https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/dont-be-distracted-by-the-american



04/20/2026

ICS is proud to announce that John A. Olthuis, C.M., will receive an honorary doctorate at Convocation 2026.

From helping build ICS in its earliest days to spending decades advancing Indigenous rights, treaty rights, and reconciliation in Canada, John Olthuis’s life reflects the kind of public justice ICS has long sought to nurture.

Read the full announcement and join us in honouring him: https://icscanada.edu/honouring-jo

This Saturday in Burlington.Please join us for the book launch celebration of Cultivating Learning Communities of Belong...
04/16/2026

This Saturday in Burlington.

Please join us for the book launch celebration of Cultivating Learning Communities of Belonging, the new book by Dr. Edith van der Boom, Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education at ICS.

The morning will feature an endorsement from incoming ICS President Beth Green, with responses from:

▸ Lisa Devall-Martin, Associate Professor, School of Education, Redeemer University
▸ Jason Schouten, Executive Director, Christian Schools Canada
▸ Traver Carlson, ICS PhD Candidate

A relaxed morning of conversation, connection, and community. Light refreshments provided. Edith will be on hand to sign copies.

Saturday, April 18
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Burlington, ON

RSVP at icscanada.edu/evdb-launch

What does it look like to lead, speak, and act faithfully in a time of deep polarization?On May 13 and 14, 2026, join us...
04/10/2026

What does it look like to lead, speak, and act faithfully in a time of deep polarization?

On May 13 and 14, 2026, join us in Toronto for Courageous Faith in a Time of Fear, a two-day public conference exploring pastoral leadership, public responsibility, and the risk of taking a stand.

We're honoured to welcome two extraordinary voices:

✦ Kristin Kobes Du Mez, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus and John Wayne and professor of history at Calvin University, opens the conference on Wednesday evening at Knox Presbyterian Church.

✦ Rev. Joash P. Thomas, author of The Justice of Jesus and instructor in public theology at St. Stephen's University, leads Thursday's plenary at Knox College.

The day continues with roundtable discussions, workshops on pastoral and community tracks, and a closing panel of pastors and leaders reflecting on what it takes to build communities capable of sustained courage.

Whether you're a pastor, lay leader, or someone simply wrestling with what faithfulness requires of us right now, this gathering is for you. Full conference, single day, and livestream tickets are all available.

Register now and we hope to see you in Toronto.

https://f2bf.icscanada.edu/conference-may13

Presented by Knox College's Ministry Forum and the Institute for Christian Studies' Free to Be Faithful initiative.

"It is a frightening thing to watch a militant movement commandeer a religion for the purposes of violent destruction, c...
04/07/2026

"It is a frightening thing to watch a militant movement commandeer a religion for the purposes of violent destruction, claiming its hot and horrifying theological take to be the only truly “biblical” version of Christianity."

In this short, sharp article, Ron Kuipers traces how the evangelical fringe "became the carpet," and asks: what happened to the faith that trusted God enough to let go?

Read the full piece.

https://instituteforchristianstudies.substack.com/p/whatever-happened-to-letting-go

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