Five Years of The Carver Project

A Message from Carver Project Executive Director Abram Van engen

Dear TCP Community,

This year we celebrate five years since John Inazu founded The Carver Project at WashU. In our anniversary year, we have been reflecting on Acts 17:16-34, when Paul enters Athens and speaks at the Areopagus. Several elements of this passage strike me as a model for what TCP has done and continues to do at its best. First, the Athenians invite Paul to explain his message more fully. Paul draws their attention by his faithful presence. Without compelling or coercing anyone, Paul intrigues the Athenians into seeking more. Second, when Paul speaks, he begins with shared loves and concerns: the Athenians too, he notes, are not just highly reasonable, but very religious. Reason and worship interweave. Third, Paul quotes Greek poets and philosophers, engaging Athenians on their own terms. Finally, when Paul speaks, he speaks from his own Christian community about the ultimate truth of Christ. Having read and learned what others know and love, he stays true to the love that motivates his life.

These elements of Acts 17 ring true with TCP’s experience. University administrators know about us and want to know more. They are intrigued. Increasingly, TCP faculty find themselves invited into positions of leadership. Moreover, as TCP grows in recognition, we continue to acknowledge our common ground and common good. We share a deep love of each discipline and a desire to see the university flourish. Fully committed to our research and our faculty roles, seven of our twenty Faculty Fellows have earned endowed chairs. And yet, for all of our commitment to the good and the goals of the university, we remain firmly rooted in the love of Christ, witnessing out of the strength of our community to the truth of Christ in all our work. 

This year I was privileged to see these elements on full display when John Hendrix, one of our Faculty Fellows, was installed as the Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art. The audience for this talk included a wide range of WashU faculty, students, and administrators, from the Provost to the Dean of the Art School to a broad community of Christian and non-Christian students and colleagues. John spoke openly of art and faith, thanking The Carver Project and explaining how his love of God and love of drawing go hand-in-hand. Throughout his talk, John opened a vision of the world transformed and redeemed by God. 

Five years since our founding, we continue to offer faithful witness at WashU. But TCP’s influence extends far beyond WashU as well. In free digital classrooms designed for any church or individual across the country, we offer the teaching of Christian professors to individuals and church groups. In the new Legal Vocation Fellowship, we help train a new generation of Christian lawyers across five different cities. And in the first cohort of Newbigin Fellows, we extend the community of Christian faculty from one university to the next.

We have been thrilled to see the work of the Lord in the growth of TCP over the past five years. And you are part of that work, too. Thank you for your support. Your prayers, your presence at events, your counsel, and your contributions continue to make possible this work of faithful witness. We are grateful for all that the past five years have built and look forward to whatever the next five years might bring.

Abram Van Engen
Executive Director, The Carver Project
Chair and Professor of English
Washington University in St. Louis

Our First Five Years

Student Reading Groups:
Law School
Fox School of Design
Graduate Humanities
International Students
School of Medicine
Olin School of Business

Initiatives of the Carver Project:
Carver Conversation
Carver Classrooms
Faculty Dinners
Faculty Retreats
Newbigin Fellows
Legal Vocation Fellowship
Academic Speaker Series
Carver Connections Blog Series
CarverCast Podcast

By the numbers:
25 faculty fellows
75 faculty members involved
3,000+ attendees at Carver Events
10 church partners
160+ students at TCP Reading groups

“Carver helped me understand how my faith could inform my professional practice.”
Meredith Liu
WashU Class of 2020

“The Carver Project is different from other ministries because of the faculty who are the core of the organization.”
Mike Farley
Pastor, Spiritual Formation at Central
Presbyterian Church, TCP church partner

“I’m grateful that we’ve had SO many people join the TCP mission, so many different kinds of faculty and students, so many different staff members and volunteers. It is a rich and diverse crew that has given me a much fuller picture of WashU.”
John Hendrix
Chair, MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture
Kenneth E. Hudson Professor of Art
Washington University in St. Louis