Academic Authors Faculty Community House
Academic Authors Community provides a welcoming home for global, faculty-level scholars who have research fellowships or visiting teaching appointments in Washington, DC. The house is collective, and uses its not-for-profit 501c3 status with the goal of keeping costs lower for the scholars whenever possible. Although Catholic in origin and spiritual center, its practice is contemplative and interfaith, facilitating dialogue across boundaries through shared living next to the Georgetown University campus.
Carole Sargent modeled it (quite loosely) on traditional "House of Studies" examples she found connected to some of the older congregations worldwide, but with the variation that this is for faculty-level scholars, not students. There is abundant quiet time for research and writing, but the energy is lively, and everyone also shares occasional structured times together such as semiweekly meals, morning prayer, and meditation. Because of our interfaith nature, prayer is often in the form of music.
Carole Sargent modeled it (quite loosely) on traditional "House of Studies" examples she found connected to some of the older congregations worldwide, but with the variation that this is for faculty-level scholars, not students. There is abundant quiet time for research and writing, but the energy is lively, and everyone also shares occasional structured times together such as semiweekly meals, morning prayer, and meditation. Because of our interfaith nature, prayer is often in the form of music.
Sargent was inspired by several places, including the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas in Rome (http://www.laycentre.org/); the New Camaldoli Hermitage on Big Sur (https://contemplation.com/); and Pendle Hill, the Philadelphia-area home of Quaker "radical hospitality" (https://pendlehill.org/). Read a story about Sargent's experience at the Lay Centre: http://www.laycentre.org/schede-336-vpi_in_depth_an_interview_with_professor_carole_sargent
Here are just some of the people who have been in the house since it opened in May of 2019.
FULL-TIME, 2019-2020
1. A theologian in the department of Theology and Religious Studies. Her research focuses on forms of conflict, negotiation, and reconciliation between the spirituality of Christian individuals — particularly the vulnerable and excluded — and the public and institutional representation of religion and theology.
2. A visiting fellow in Georgetown University's Department of Art and Art History, studying Buddhist art (she is a faculty member at Peking University) until February 2020. Her husband has an Asian art history fellowship at UC Berkeley, so he will be here sometimes, and she will be there sometimes. The house facilitates interfaith engagement between Buddhism and Catholicism, especially through music and meditation.
3. Dr. Carole Sargent, the founder, an Associate of the Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) (see "About" above for her bio).
GUESTS
Plus so many others who came for dinner (eventually a list will come).
Everybody cooks! Academic Authors House subscribes to a vegetarian California service from the slow-food movement called Sun Basket that provides fresh, healthy, prepped-and-ready-to-cook ingredients. This allows everyone to cook no matter what their experience level, but members of the house are also welcomed to cook from their cultural cuisines, or anything else they would like to make for the group. The amount the university or fellowship pays for them to stay includes food, so besides sharing the Sun Basket they can order weekly from online grocery delivery service. Each person cooks for the house about twice a month.
So far it has been amazing. The scholars all think together about what the house can and should be, so it is a dynamic place in ever-refreshing calibration.
The house still does not have an official name (its nickname is the Mothers and Fathers of the Incremental Transformation), so feel free to recommend one. The WiFi does have a name: Dorothy Day.
Here are just some of the people who have been in the house since it opened in May of 2019.
FULL-TIME, 2019-2020
1. A theologian in the department of Theology and Religious Studies. Her research focuses on forms of conflict, negotiation, and reconciliation between the spirituality of Christian individuals — particularly the vulnerable and excluded — and the public and institutional representation of religion and theology.
2. A visiting fellow in Georgetown University's Department of Art and Art History, studying Buddhist art (she is a faculty member at Peking University) until February 2020. Her husband has an Asian art history fellowship at UC Berkeley, so he will be here sometimes, and she will be there sometimes. The house facilitates interfaith engagement between Buddhism and Catholicism, especially through music and meditation.
3. Dr. Carole Sargent, the founder, an Associate of the Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) (see "About" above for her bio).
GUESTS
- Three guests for "Thomas Berry and the Great Work," a conference co-hosted by Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and the Yale University Forum on Religion and Ecology. https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/events/thomas-berry-and-the-great-work. (1) The Dominican sister (OP) who founded Homecoming Farm (with a group) on the grounds of the Dominican motherhouse in Amityville, New York. She is also a peaceful antinuclear activist. (2) A member of the board of Homecoming Farm, and of the American Teilhard Association. (3) A Holy Child sister (SHCJ) and antinuclear activist who has been profiled in The New Yorker, by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, and in many other media outlets for her peaceful but radical activism.
- An expert in not-for-profit and global service organizations. He is also active in his Muslim faith as a peace leader, bringing dialogue with Islam to our community.
- Two founders of L'Arche DC to meet with all the members of the house and discuss the meaning of true community.
- Two guests, a faculty member and a research scholar, from the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium. They were research fellows at Dumbarton Oaks, August 2019, continuing their work on ancient translations of the Apostolic Fathers with work in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Slavonic, Middle Persian, Ethiopic and Arabic, along with other studies of Late Antique Christianity.
- A skateboard artist who builds community in Puerto Rico. His work is in the Phillips Collection and the Whitney Museum of Art. He is supported by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, among other venues, and visits the Department of Art and Art History, just completed a week, and will return for one week at a time, approximately four times per year. http://bit.ly/Chemi-Rosado-Seijo
- A professor in public policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT Austin, focusing on healthcare and aging. Summer 2019.
- A Yale University environmental scholar and summer fellow at a DC-based environmental think tank, now working for Pete for America, June 2019.
Plus so many others who came for dinner (eventually a list will come).
Everybody cooks! Academic Authors House subscribes to a vegetarian California service from the slow-food movement called Sun Basket that provides fresh, healthy, prepped-and-ready-to-cook ingredients. This allows everyone to cook no matter what their experience level, but members of the house are also welcomed to cook from their cultural cuisines, or anything else they would like to make for the group. The amount the university or fellowship pays for them to stay includes food, so besides sharing the Sun Basket they can order weekly from online grocery delivery service. Each person cooks for the house about twice a month.
So far it has been amazing. The scholars all think together about what the house can and should be, so it is a dynamic place in ever-refreshing calibration.
The house still does not have an official name (its nickname is the Mothers and Fathers of the Incremental Transformation), so feel free to recommend one. The WiFi does have a name: Dorothy Day.