Center of Theological Inquiry
nonprofit organization in Princeton, United States
The Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) is an independent nonprofit research institution in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1978, CTI fosters research on interdisciplinary dialogue between religion and science and about matters of global concern.
History
The Center of Theological Inquiry was founded in 1978. Former Princeton Seminary president, James I. McCord served as its first chancellor. "Dr. McCord's vision for CTI was that it should become the premier North American research institution of its kind, an ecumenical institute devoted to interdisciplinary research in the field of religion."
In 1984 CTI completed construction of its headquarters at 50 Stockton Street on the site of the demolished Borough Hall in the Princeton Historic District. Funded by the Luce Foundation and named after the philanthropist Henry R. Luce, the Georgian Revival building was constructed to house up to a dozen residential scholars. Francis Otto Schmidt, a biologist at MIT, recalled his visit to CTI two years after its opening: "There we found a handsome two-story brick building which provided ample space for the chancellor, Dr. McCord, and his administrative staff plus conference rooms, a large library, and a private study room for each of the 12 fellows, who were free to study and investigate any theological subject that concerned them."
McCord served as chancellor for five years before retiring in 1989. The Trustees of CTI reorganized its leadership structure after McCord stepped down, creating the post of director in place of chancellor.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Center of Theological Inquiry” is nonprofit organization in Princeton, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Center, Theological and Inquiry, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “nonprofit organization in Princeton, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q41568373. VIAF identifies the subject as 143590644. The Library of Congress control number is n88135611. Authority coordinates are 40.347, -74.666. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1984 and 1989.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Center of Theological Inquiry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.