Thought and Culture

Christian Think Tanks

Christian think tanks research and shape public ideas, on economics, ethics, politics, and culture, from a faith perspective. This is one of the places where it is most important to be honest: they range across the political spectrum, and a free-market institute and a progressive one both claim the same Lord while reaching very different conclusions. Understanding a think tank means understanding not just that it is Christian but which convictions, and which politics, it brings to the public square.

What a Christian think tank does

A think tank studies public questions and offers ideas, research, essays, events, and policy proposals, to leaders and the public. A Christian think tank does this from an explicitly faith-informed standpoint, asking how the Gospel bears on economics, work, family, justice, and the common good.

Real organizations, across the spectrum

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.

These institutions do not agree with one another, and it would be dishonest to imply they do:

• The Acton Institute studies religion and liberty and is generally associated with free-market economics and a conservative or libertarian-leaning outlook.
• The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is a conservative institute applying the Judeo-Christian tradition to public policy.
• The Center for Public Justice works from a Reformed idea of principled pluralism and is less easily placed on the usual left-right line.
• Sojourners, associated with Jim Wallis, approaches faith and public life from a progressive, social-justice standpoint, and reaches conclusions quite different from Acton or EPPC.
• The Trinity Forum cultivates thoughtful reflection among leaders and is less oriented to a single political program.

Naming them together is not to flatten them. It is to show honestly that Christians of deep conviction study the same questions and land in different places.

How this connects to Christ

Christians are called to have their minds renewed rather than simply absorbing the assumptions of their side. That is the quiet challenge these institutions pose to their own audiences: to test ideas against the will of God and not only against a party. The disagreements are real, and they are held, at their best, under a Lord who is over every faction and owned by none of them.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Christian think tank?

A research and policy institute that studies public questions, economics, ethics, politics, and culture, from an explicitly Christian standpoint, publishing research and ideas for leaders and the public.

Are Christian think tanks conservative or progressive?

Both. They span the political spectrum. The Acton Institute and EPPC lean conservative or free-market, Sojourners is progressive, and the Center for Public Justice works from principled pluralism. Christians of real conviction study the same questions and reach different conclusions.

Why do Christian think tanks disagree so much?

Because the Bible does not hand down a single detailed political program, faithful Christians weigh economics, justice, and the common good differently. Naming these differences honestly is part of understanding the landscape rather than a flaw in it.