A New Season for the Resident Scholars Program

The Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research (CI) announces the 2027–2028 application process for its Resident Scholars Program, with a focus on global and intercultural spiritualities, collective healing, and ecological transformation. 

Nearly sixty years ago, Father Kilian McDonnell, OSB, founded CI to gather diverse Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox scholars into one residential community of study, dialogue, and prayer. As he put it, “ecumenism must be tasted and seen.” We carry on that legacy and now include scholars from across spiritual and religious traditions across a wide range of interdisciplinary questions, curating uncommon encounters and creative renewal for our world.  

Our renewed program moves beyond institutional church concerns into the wider terrain where faith actually lives. Ecology and the climate crisis. Justice and the cry of the poor. Conversion of life as a daily practice. Peacebuilding across divided communities. Nature healing and traditional medicine. Ecological consciousness as a spiritual practice. Integral transformation that holds body, place, time, and community together as one fabric.  

We are seeking a smaller, theme-based cohort, from ten to fifteen scholars a year, gathered with intention. We welcome theologians, philosophers, sociologists, healers, ecologists, artists, and community leaders. We especially welcome scholars from the Global South, from underrepresented communities, and from across spiritual and religious traditions (including those with none but are concerned with moral and ethical questions in pursuing their work). Global spirituality cannot be studied from one continent or one religious tradition alone. 

Scholars will gather for time periods from two weeks up to two semesters, set within the Benedictine rhythm of worship, work, and community at Saint John’s Abbey and University and in close connection to Saint Benedict’s Monastery and the College of Saint Benedict. Regular rhythms of the program include seminars, times of shared spiritual practice, and common meals, structured to bring people into a greater relationship that no library can give on its own.  

To evaluate applications, we will look across six dimensions: Animate, Civic, Public, Community Impact, Private, and Contemplative. Each dimension asks a different question. How do you care for the land? How do you build common life? How do you share knowledge as a public good? How does your work reach beyond the academy alone? How do you sustain the life of this Institute? How deep does your interior life run?  

CI does not want scholars who only think about these things. We want scholars who live them, and who are ready to be changed by a season of prayer, silence, and honest conversation across differences.  

Applications for the 2027–2028 cohort are now open. We invite candidates across all levels, including dissertation writers, postdoctoral candidates, early-career scholars, mid-career and senior scholars with advanced standing in their field or tradition. Full details and the application form are available here.

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