About CSART

The Center for the Study of Ancient Religious Texts (CSART) at Abilene Christian University fosters the study of ancient religious documents through research, teaching, and academic mentoring. CSART seeks not only to encourage research and publication but also to equip students with the capacities needed to study ancient texts, engage academic dialogue, and contribute to the scholarly enterprise.

In keeping with ACU’s mission to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world, CSART emphasizes learning and mentoring. The acquisition of skills, cultivation of academic virtues, and practices of collaborative inquiry are fundamental to the Center’s mission. Faculty Fellows conduct research that impacts their teaching, but they also supervise and collaborate with graduate and undergraduate students in various projects. CSART seeks to coordinate and support these efforts. The Center advances the dissemination of research through print and online publications, participation in academic conferences, and sponsored lecture series. CSART expands the knowledge of ancient religious texts by engaging conversation with the general public in addition to scholarly audiences.

Digital humanities projects around the world supply a rapidly expanding body of materials on which CSART draws and to which it adds. Partnering with others in external projects, the Center brings the students and faculty of ACU into collaborative relationships with global scholarship. The Center seeks to draw attention to global news of discoveries and noteworthy developments in the study of ancient religious texts.