About the Rivendell Institute
Mission
To examine and advance the contribution of a Christian vision of life to human flourishing and the common good within Yale, academia, and contemporary culture.
Values
Cultivating Thoughtful Engagement
We take up our mission in a variety of ways. Through our research, writing, and teaching we aim to cultivate an intellectually engaged and socially responsible Christian faith that will stimulate others in their scholarly and professional work. Through our lectures, forums, and colloquia, we seek to enrich the environment on campus by providing opportunities for thoughtful engagement with the issues of the age from a faith perspective, and to do so in the spirit of public conversation. Through spiritual formation and mentoring we aim to cultivate the faith of Christian students and faculty as they undertake the challenge of living out their convictions in their professional lives.
Curating Intellectual Hospitality
In an era when polarization and vitriol dominate our public discourses within and beyond academia, our ambition to “speak the truth in love” requires a different way of engaging people. To cultivate our faithful presence at Yale and in the university, we promote intellectual honesty and integrity, but also intellectual hospitality. Our desire is to season the Yale campus and all of our programs with this combination of scholarly vigor and charity.
Commitment to Service and Excellence
We understand our role within the Yale community as both servants of Christ and servants of the university. Accordingly, our central commitment to hold forth a Christian vision of life at Yale includes a concern for the welfare of the campus and affirms the mission of higher education in its pursuit of truth.
With those of Christian faith, we are committed to helping them deepen their understanding of how their convictions intersect vitally with their scholarship and profession. For all members of the Yale community, we seek to create conversations that provide interdisciplinary opportunities for critical reflection on the great questions and issues of the age, and how faith illuminates these matters.
Our commitment to academic excellence includes the work we produce in our various fields and the work we promote by others. Believing that the Christian tradition commends the highest levels of intellectual engagement, we find common cause with any who share a commitment to exploring questions of vital importance in a spirit of honest inquiry.
History
Over 25 years ago we began a conversation about Christian faith in the Academy. From those early deliberations came a vision to renew the presence of thoughtful Christian faith in academic discourse and university life.
Becoming Rivendell
We chose the name Rivendell from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien because of its many resonances with our mission and values. In those works, Rivendell is a place animated by a love of wisdom and learning, and warmed by community and hospitality. Tolkien’s Rivendell expresses exactly the atmosphere we hope to provide for members of the Yale community and the broader culture as we cultivate thoughtful engagement for the common good.
The Rivendell Institute in full spring bloom as seen from Edwards Street.
The Rivendell Institute is not licensed or endorsed by, and has no business associations with the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate and/or The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises (SZC).
Establishment at Yale in 1995
Because of Yale’s historic commitment to academic excellence and cultural influence, and our own longstanding presence here, we founded the Rivendell Institute as an affiliate ministry with the Yale Chaplain’s Office in 1995. Since that time, we have pursued our mission to explore the intersection of Christian faith and contemporary scholarship as a research institute and study center to serve the spiritual and intellectual interests of Yale students and faculty. By being a part of the Yale community as an affiliate organization we can better nurture our commitment to institutional flourishing.
Building a Place of ‘Light and Truth’
When we founded Rivendell over 25 years ago a Yale professor and dear friend told us, “You need to have a place.” Vital to our presence at Yale is a physical location, and over the years we have been blessed with two places. The first was on Lynwood Place near Yale College, generously provided by one of our alumni. Then in 2015 another friend directed us to the stately property at 291 Edwards St., still nestled near the Yale campus but also more centrally located for our work with graduate students and faculty.
In addition to providing office space for our directors and staff as well as spacious rooms for our events, having a home has helped to fulfill our calling at Yale as we are able to provide hospitality to everyone we serve. Far more than a building, in keeping with Yale’s motto it has become a place of ‘light and truth’.
Staff
Program Directors
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Anita Hinkson
Director, Student Fellows
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Jon Hinkson
Director, Student Fellows
Associate Fellow
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Karen Mahan
Director, Spiritual Formation
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Soozie Schneider
Director, Faculty Roundtable
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Sue Smedley
Director, Spiritual Formation
Center Directors & Fellows
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David Mahan
Director, RCTA
Senior Fellow
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Tanya Walker
Director, RCTA
Senior Fellow
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C. Donald Smedley
Director, CT2D&RF
Senior Fellow
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John Hartley
Director, CT2DRF
Senior Fellow
Philosopher in Residence
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John Hare
Philosopher in Residence
Administration
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David Mahan
Executive Director
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Rob Satterberg
Director of Administration
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Naomi Hoffman
Administrative Assistant
Board of Directors
David Baugham, Population Health Director, Oak Street Health
Sam Choi, Principal, Organization Strategy, Korn Ferry
James F. Clark, (Board Chairperson) CCO, Putnam Investments, LLC and The Putnam Funds
Gregory Ganssle, Ph.D.; Professor of Philosophy, Biola University, Talbot School of Theology
Anita Hinkson, Co-Director of Student Fellows, Rivendell Institute
David Mahan, Ph.D., (President); Senior Fellow, Rivendell Institute; Lecturer in Religion and Literature, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Yale Divinity School
C. Donald Smedley, (Vice-President); Senior Fellow, Rivendell Institute
Christopher Stroup, Ph.D.; Chief Operations Officer, Joy to the World Foundation; Pastor of Adult Discipleship, Holy Trinity Anglican Church
Cornelia “Burch” Sise Valldejuli, Ed.M, Co-founder, mActivity
Xiao Wang, Consultant, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP