The Institute for Orthodox Thought and Culture created in US

Eastern University and a group of Orthodox clergy, laity, and academics propose an Institute for Orthodox Thought and Culture. The Institute will serve as an intellectual and spiritual home for Orthodox students and scholars, exploring the Greek, Arabic, and Slavic Orthodox traditions through their literature, thought, philosophy, theology, history, art, and music.

The Institute will offer a minor in Orthodox thought and culture, taught within the broader context of a Christ-centered education in the arts and sciences. A program unlike anything else in the country, the Institute will work with Eastern University's existing academic structures, providing students a vibrant university experience at an accredited and stable institution with a strong Orthodox component, an interdisciplinary program with broad appeal to all Eastern Christians.

"Orthodox Christian students will flourish at Eastern University, especially were we to launch this Institute," Dr. Jenkins said. "The minor in Orthodox thought and culture, along with a vibrant Orthodox community of learners, joined with the liberal arts education of an established Christian university, will provide students with the habits and virtues of mind and heart needed for leadership in whatever vocation they choose", noted Dr. Gary Jenkins, a member of St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, PA, who has been teaching history at Eastern University in the greater Philadelphia area, for 20 years.