HOW TO BE CHRISTIAN IN COLLEGE RETREAT

facilitated by Professor Steven Justice and Professor Lara Buchak

A lot of people think it should be hard to be a Christian and a college student. Is it? Should it be? And in any case, how can you do both well?

The How to Be Christian in College Retreat is a two-day program hosted by the Berkeley Institute for local undergraduate students to discuss the relationship between Christian commitments and academic commitments. Professors Lara Buchak and Steven Justice will offer both intellectual and practical perspectives on Christians’ relationships with ideas and arguments, with professors and peers, with churches and pastors, and with the choices they face in their own lives. This retreat is an opportunity for students to reflect together on what it means to be faithful to the choices we've already made.

This program is free and open to students who have a desire to learn and discuss these topics from a Christian framework. Participants are required to attend the retreat in its entirety, which will take place at the Berkeley Institute. See below for the general schedule of events.

To learn more about the Berkeley Institute and this program, attend one of our info sessions on July 10 and July 26. For questions, email info@binst.org.

Apply by August 7. Space is limited.

  • Professor Steven Justice

    Professor Emeritus in the English Department at UC Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Institute

  • Professor Lara Buchak

    Professor in the Philosophy Department at Princeton University and Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Institute

  • Thursday, August 29

    5.30 - 7 PM | FALL 2024 OPENING RECEPTION

    The Berkeley Institute hosts an Opening Reception at the start of each semester for students. This is our back-to-school social hour where we will announce our semester theme and upcoming programming. We encourage retreat participants to drop-in during the Opening Reception when it most suits their schedule.

  • Friday, August 30

    12 - 12.45 PM | KICK-OFF LUNCH

    1 - 2 PM | 1ST SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation to Ideas

    2 - 2.30 PM | BREAK

    2.30 - 3.30 PM | 2ND SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation to Professors

    3.30 - 4.30 PM | ALMARE GELATO ITALIANO 

    4.30 - 5.30 PM | 3RD SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation Disagreement with Other Christians

    5.35 - 7.30 PM | HTBCIC STUDENT DINNER

  • Saturday, August 31

    9.30 - 10 AM | BREAKFAST

    10 - 11 AM | 4TH SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation to Those ‘Back Home’

    11 - 11.30 AM | BREAK

    11.30 - 12.30 PM | 5TH SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation to Choices

    12.30 - 1.45 PM | LUNCH

    2 - 4.30 PM | OUTING

    4.30 - 5.30 PM | 6TH SESSION
    Being a Christian in Relation to Larger Values and Goals

    6- 8 PM | BI COMMUNITY DINNER

FAQ

  • To be eligible to participate in this retreat, students must be committed to learning how to think and act according to grounding Christian frameworks. Eligibility is not dependent on one's knowledge, one's certainty, or one's experience with Christianity. We welcome students who earnestly seek to learn, to work out challenging questions, and to discuss the retreat's topics with generosity and openness.

  • The Berkeley Institute has no official religious affiliation, but grows out of a Christian tradition of intellectual openness to the wisdom of the past anchored by the firmness of present commitment. We are grounded in the belief that intellectual inquiry and religious commitments can be mutually enriching — and that the university and the lives of its students are mutually strengthened when there is space to work out the relationship between one’s deepest commitments and one’s academic work. For undergraduate students interested in thinking about this relationship, this particular program — How to be Christian in College — is an opportunity to do just that.

  • The professors facilitating this retreat are Senior Fellows of the Berkeley Institute.  Senior Fellows are central to the BI’s work of creating a model of intellectual community that can inspire rigorous and morally-reflective thinking. This retreat is one of many programs led by our Senior Fellows that attend to the pursuits of the soul and the intellect.

    On the question of how to be Christian in college: this retreat is informed by the particular insights, tools, and frameworks professors are equipped to give — and it is meant to complement the particular  guidance one’s own Christian tradition might provide.

  • The How to be Christian in College Retreat is not affiliated with a particular denomination or church. While this is, as the title suggests, a retreat guided and influenced by tenets of the Christian faith, it is not limited to any one organizational facet of the Christian church.

  • This retreat will provide students with frameworks, tools, and advice on how to think and act according to Christian principles in the work one does and with the people one encounters as a college student. We also hope that this serves as an opportunity for participants to meet other like-minded peers and to experience the BI community.

  • Unless otherwise noted, all scheduled events will take place at the Berkeley Institute (2134 Allston Way, 2nd Floor).