"Academic Initiative is seeking to forge a connection between the scholarship that marks the university and the mission that bears witness to the coming of the kingdom of God. This dual commitment is unusual among evangelicals today. Those who are mission-minded tend not to see the strategic nature of engaging the ideas of the age in an academically sound manner. Those who enter the world of ideas with appropriate care tend not to do so with gospel categories or with gospel witness in mind. Academic Initiative is one of the few places where one can pursue both of these vital commitments.

Great movements in the church have always been led by scholars who are witnesses and witnesses who are scholars. This tradition runs from Augustine and Aquinas to Luther and Calvin to Jonathan Edwards and Charles Hodge. Academic Initiative is all about producing such scholar-activists for the Kingdom. I would highly recommend anyone who is concerned about both the life of the mind and the mission of the gospel to the university to pursue the many opportunities available through Academic Initiative."

Dr. Gregory E. Ganssle
Rivendell Institute
Lecturer, Dept. of Philosophy
Yale University

"For too long, Christians in and out of the academy have identified discipleship unto Jesus as a set of privatized activities in the spiritual compartment of one's life. Left out is the wholistic call of God to live and think Christianly throughout one's life, including one's academic life. Faculty Commons' Academic Initiative is an idea whose time is long overdue. With maturity and vision, this initiative seeks to call and equip academics to integrate a Christian world view within the very fabric of their university vocation. I wish them great success in this most important mission."

Dr. J.P. Moreland
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University

"Research within the academy can be one of the most effective strategies for influencing not only one's discipline, but indeed the culture.  Faculty Commons' Academic Initiative assists and promotes the work of Christian scholars from diverse disciplines on a myriad of thoughtful topics relevant to our time.  I have no doubt that such scholarship can benefit and ultimately transform society—renewing a sense of public morality and civility."

Dr. Byron R. Johnson
Professor of Sociology and Director
Center for Religious Inquiry Across the Disciplines
Baylor University
Senior Fellow, The Witherspoon Institute
Princeton, NJ

"Academic Initiative's conferences have stimulated good thought and discussion among  my colleagues and I. After I attended the conference On Christian Scholarship in 1999, I inaugurated a series of discussions with Christian graduate students in my department on Christian scholarship in philosophy...We had several sessions exploring ways in which a Christian orientation is relevant to work in various areas of philosophy. I have also been motivated to participate in panel discussions on the topic with colleagues at other conferences."

Dr. William P. Alston
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
Syracuse University

"In recent years we have placed nearly one hundred of our graduates in doctoral programs in philosophy around the country. All of them know of the discouraging scarcity of teaching positions at America's Universities. They know the fear of being side-lined after years of disciplined and costly preparation. But with the inauguration of Academic Initiative, I see an additional fresh and exciting way for these and other talented Christian intellectuals to ply their skills in service of the greatest Cause the world has known. I especially encourage Christians with advanced training in philosophy to give serious consideration to this unprecedented opportunity, where the highest level of academic excellence and achievement is not only appreciated but vitally needed and put to full and worthy use."

Dr. R. Douglas Geivett
Professor of Philosophy
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University