85 - Notes From the Center

Notes From the Center

AS THE NEW headquarters building for the Center of Theological Inquiry emerges from the ground, so the program of present and future projects goes forward. Luce Hall (named for Henry Robinson Luce, 1898-1967, distinguished philanthropist and founder of Time magazine), located on the site of the old Princeton Borough Hall, opposite the pre-revolutionary mansion of Richard Stockton (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence), will house research studies, conference rooms, and administrative offices. Of Georgian design, the new edifice will blend with its surroundings and contribute to the quiet, academic, residential character of the western section of Princeton.

It may be noted by the way that while building space in Princeton, especially within the Borough itself, has become severely limited, an expansive plan for the central Palmer Square area is already under way, and the so-called "Route I Corridor" from New Brunswick to Trenton is scheduled for a massive development within the next few years. The significance of these physical realities for the more scholarly pursuits of the Center lies in the fact that Princeton will surely continue to expand as an academic research complex of the first order.

During the past several months, three projects on science and religion, sponsored by the Center, are already issuing in tangible results. Roland M. Frye's volume, Is God a Creationist?, has been published by Charles Scribner's Sons, and at the same time the Center has excerpted and distributed Dr. Frye's own contribution as a separate pamphlet under the title The Religious Case Against Creation-Science ("Reports from the Center, No. 1," with a Preface by James I. McCord). Harold Nebelsick, who was a resident member of the Center last year, is finishing a manuscript in the area of theology and the natural sciences, and Thomas F. Torrance, a member of the Center's Advisory Committee, has inaugurated a series of volumes on science and religion, initially through Oxford University Press, and now to be sponsored and published by the Center.

Those currently enrolled as resident members include Robert M. Adams (University of California), Christopher Kaiser (Western Theological Seminary), Paul Ramsey (Princeton University), Stanley Jaki (Seton Hall University), J. S. Rhee of Korea, Edmund Holmes of England, and Milan Opocensky of Czechoslovakia. Reports on research which these and others are undertaking will appear later in these pages.

Future projects involve an inter-faith investigation of time and history, under the supervision of James A. Kritzeck, Director of Middle East Studies, University of Utah. Preliminary discussions are also directed at the possibility of research into the philosophical and theological foundations of economic theory.

Additional information may be obtained by addressing: Center of Theological Inquiry, P. O. Box 146, Princeton, N. J. 08542