The Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice

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Bryan College is committed to helping students develop a biblical worldview; and as part of a Christ-centered education, offers several programs through the Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice and its entities and affiliates.

Central to the Center’s work and mission is the development of exciting academic seminars in which Christian scholars who compete at the highest levels of scholarly inquiry address topics which are at the crux of critical national issues. Topics include natural law, the federal judiciary system, education, taxation, science, athletics, the fine arts, and a wide range of other critical cultural concerns. Two to three times annually, the Center presents seminars that enable our academic departments to discuss in depth a relevant cultural issue of significance stemming from their own disciplines.

The Bryan Center's  first symposium on essential ideas and issues was April 17-19, 2005. For information on upcoming seminars and other Bryan Center information, click here.

Listed below are several affiliate programs within the academic structure of the college that assist in the development of the seminars and that the Center in turn assists in coordinating and promoting.

  • The Center for Origins Research (CORE) seeks to raise the awareness and scholarship of the study of origins. Created at Bryan College in 1989, the CORE staff engage in primary research, present at professional meetings, and publish in professional journals.
  • The Worldview Teams are committed to teaching high school and junior high students how to understand and engage American culture through building a strong, biblical worldview
  • International Development Center (IDC) is an international Christian outreach program designed to provide expertise and assistance in response to learning and educational needs in nations experiencing economic, political, social, cultural, or spiritual transition.
  • The Center for International Leadership  (CIL) encompasses Commoner Hall, as well as a wide range of discipline-oriented forums that are integral to a student’s critical thinking related to international relations and leadership studies.
  • Summit at Bryan College is an intensive two-week leadership training program for high school and college students, designed to equip them to understand the dominant non-Biblical worldviews at work in our world and help them to offer a reasoned answer for biblical Christianity which so often is attacked in secular academic settings. Students will learn why they believe what they believe, as well as strategies for leading and making a difference in the world around them.  In addition, Bryan College hosts an adult Summit conference for parents, grandparents, youth leaders, and pastors.
  • Passing the Baton exists to equip adults to train the next generation of leaders. Dr. Jeff Myers “trains the trainers” by empowering adults to influence and move young people into positions of significant impact. Dr. Myers and the Myers Institute have trained more than two million adults and teens in the past 15 years. Strategically partnered with Bryan College and Passing the Baton International, its goal is to equip one million leadership coaches by 2015. If you feel called to train young leaders to transform culture, we would like to hear from you.

Dr. Paul Boling, Professor of Christian Thought and Philosophy and Acting Director of the Bryan Center

Dr. Boling has served at Bryan College since 1995. He is the chairman of the Christian Studies division and head of the  department of Christian Thought and Philosophy. Dr. Boling also teaches in the adult degree completion and MBA programs. He is a member of and contributor to several professional societies and he also serves as the medical ethics consultant at a local hospital. Dr. Boling speaks frequently at conferences and retreats in the area of philosophy, ethics, and biblical truth.

Dr. Boling has published numerous book reviews in academic and popular journals, and he is a published musician. He and a colleague are currently working on a book on humor and culture. Contact Dr. Boling at 423.775.7242 or by e-mail.