About Us
Our Philosophy
The Andreas Center is a group of people exploring Christian
thoughtfulness, foolishness, industry, repose, outrage, wisdom,
community, solitude, and soup. Thoughtfulness, because there is
something in the Bible about loving God with all your mind. Foolishness,
because there is also something in there about becoming a fool in order
to become wise. Industry and repose, because spiritual health is
nourished by both labor and rest. Outrage and wisdom, because one drives
us toward justice and the other helps us attain it. Community, because
we need to be interdependent with other people. Solitude, because we
also need to be alone. And soup, because we like soup, and it does not
make us feel stuffed when we want to think and talk.
What We Do
Imagine a big, creaky, rambling house, stuffed full of books and
periodicals and furniture to sprawl on and lamps to read by and tables
to gather at and a powerful and expensive espresso machine and people thinking and talking about everything under the sun.
In a perfect world, that is what the Andreas Center would be. (And there
would be places like it everywhere.)
But it isn’t a perfect world.
Therefore we did what we could without having everything we could imagine.
We hosted public evenings, normally on a Friday. We served a nice soup, and people arrived
from work or school and ate together. Then we engaged in thought and conversation about some
idea or topic, or read a play or a short story. Most of the articles on
this Web site originated as Friday events.
Stephen Broyles and Sharon Messer developed the
initial idea and conducted the first meetings in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Hilja Terry helped write the statement of philosophy given above
and is responsible for the varied nature of the events.
Stephanie Shiman prepared soup and provided recipes. Others gave their ideas and presence and moral support.
Will there be more Friday evenings? Who knows. Things change. Perhaps
there will be. But for now the Andreas Center is an idea again, until
the future unfolds.
Who Is Andreas?
Andreas was the archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia who in the
seventh century wrote a commentary in Greek on the Book of
Revelation. The center was named in his honor.
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