Thought and Culture

Christian Research Institutes

Christian research institutes carry out scholarship at the meeting of faith and a field, most visibly faith and science. Here the honest thing to say up front is that they hold openly different positions, especially on the age of the earth and evolution. Sincere Christians run institutes that affirm mainstream evolutionary science, others that hold to an old earth without evolution, and others that hold to a young earth. Knowing which position an institute takes is the first thing to understand about it.

What these institutes do

They fund and publish research, hold conferences, and produce resources exploring how Christian faith relates to the sciences, history, and other disciplines. The largest share of attention falls on the question of creation, where the differences are real and worth naming plainly.

Real organizations, and where they stand

The organizations below are named for information, not endorsement. The Living Bread is not affiliated with them, does not vouch for every view they hold, and encourages you to verify anything that matters directly with the source.

• BioLogos, founded by the geneticist Francis Collins, holds evolutionary creation, that is, it accepts mainstream evolutionary science as God's means of creation.
• Reasons to Believe (Hugh Ross) holds an old-earth creation view that accepts an ancient universe while rejecting full evolutionary common descent.
• Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research hold to young-earth creationism, reading the Genesis days as ordinary days and the earth as thousands of years old.
• The Discovery Institute promotes intelligent design; it should be understood as a broader policy institute, and intelligent design is contested within the mainstream scientific community.
• The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a fellowship of scientists who are Christians that deliberately takes no official position on origins, giving members room to disagree.

These are genuinely different views, not shades of one. This page names them side by side so you can see the landscape clearly rather than mistaking one voice for the whole church.

How this connects to Christ

Underneath the disagreement lies a shared confidence: that all truth is God's truth, and that honest inquiry, done humbly, cannot finally threaten the One in whom all the treasures of wisdom are hidden. Christians can study the world fearlessly because they trust the One who made it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Christian research institute?

A scholarly organization that carries out and publishes research at the meeting of Christian faith and a field, most visibly faith and science. They fund studies, hold conferences, and produce resources on questions like creation, cosmology, and history.

Do Christian research institutes agree on evolution?

No. They hold openly different views. BioLogos affirms evolutionary creation, Reasons to Believe holds old-earth creation without full evolution, Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research hold young-earth creation, and the ASA takes no official position. These differences are real and named explicitly.

Is intelligent design accepted by scientists?

Intelligent design, promoted by the Discovery Institute, is contested and is not accepted within the mainstream scientific community. It is included here to describe the landscape accurately, not to endorse or dismiss it.