What Others are Saying

John Jay was both a committed Christian and a national leader. He served not only as President of the Continental Congress, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Chief Justice of the United States; he served in the vestry of his local church and in national religious organizations. Jay did not see religion and politics as isolated: he used religious rhetoric in his political papers and employed political skills in religious arenas. Jay would, I believe, be very pleased to see a new John Jay Institute formed, to raise up a new generation of leaders, grounded in the Christian faith and our American legal and political system."

The John Jay Institute is further evidence of an intellectual renaissance in constitutional studies. America's first Chief Justice is well-honored by an organization committed to perpetuating virtue, public spirit, and intelligence in the future leaders of the republic. My expectations for its alumni are high."

John Jay has been called the "father of American conservatism" and rightly so. His commitment to the rule of law and American constitutionalism was fundamentally informed by the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures as well as classical and medieval thought and the British system of law. As a man of the bar and bench he ranks high in the pantheon of in Anglo-American jurisprudence. Author (with Madison and Hamilton) of The Federalist Papers, Jay was President Washington's first choice for Chief Justice of the United States as well as President Adams's. I delightfully applaud the vision and work of the John Jay Institute for Faith, Society & Law in perpetuating the high constitutional principles and lasting legacy of their namesake among the future leaders of our great county."

Alan Crippen has had long experience educating young scholars in the political principles and spiritual values of our Founding Fathers, helping them to translate those principles and values into effective action in the public square. Because young people are immersed in a popular culture that is, in many ways, opposed to such ideals, the importance of this work cannot be overstated. The seriousness and professionalism of his former Witherspoon Fellows speaks well of Mr. Crippen's work. I have been fortunate to have a number of former Witherspoon Fellows on my staff and working in my Washington, DC office as interns. I have been consistently impressed-not only by the quality of their work but also by their solid understanding of our nation's founding doctrines and principles. The John Jay Institute will, I am certain, continue to form young minds and souls in the same impressive manner.

John Jay was one of the great architects of American liberty. As an author of the Federalist Papers, he played a critical role in winning ratification of the Constitution. As a leading diplomat, he helped to secure the place of the United States in the community of nations. As the first Chief Justice of the United States, he set an example of judicial probity. I'm delighted that Alan Crippen has named his new institute in honor of this exemplary American statesman. In his devotion to our nation's founding ideals, and to their propagation today, Crippen himself is a worthy heir to the tradition of Chief Justice Jay. I have no doubt that the John Jay Institute will help many of our most gifted young people more fully to understand and appreciate "the blessings of liberty" bequeathed to us by America's founding fathers."

Secularist ideology is so entrenched in the policy-making and opinion-forming strata that it comes close to being the Established Religion of American public life. Thoughtful Christian young people who are interested in public affairs have few models of what it might mean to approach public affairs with a distinctively Christian point of view. Alan Crippen is one of those few models. He has been helping to form the minds of young Christians for years, and I celebrate the formation of the John Jay Institute."

Founder John Jay was a serious Christian. He was also a firm supporter of the idea that all men are created equal, and that there is a law of nature that is the source of our equal natural rights. It is good and right that Alan Crippen and the John Jay Institute seek to revive the alliance between reason and revelation that prevailed in earlier American history, by teaching young Christians that it is a worthy thing to be politically active on behalf of the Founders' ideals."

Alan Crippen's many years of faithful and fruitful labor as the head of the Witherspoon Fellowship equip him magnificently for the visionary work of the John Jay Institute. This ambitious and imaginative undertaking has the potential to impart, as has no program before it, the light and salt of the Christian faith, and the full measure of the Christian intellectual heritage, to a generation of prospective leaders, thereby bringing great benefits to all the American people. I heartily endorse his vision, and look forward to watching its development into a force for good in our culture.

I am delighted to see The John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law take form. Far too little attention has been paid to the statesmanship, values, and example of this American Founding Father. Moreover, it is encouraging to see that the Institute will have its home in Colorado Springs, a Heartland American city of growing importance that is far from the moral ambiguities of contemporary Washington, DC. Finally, I am heartened by the leadership of Alan Crippen II in this endeavor. His background and track record reveal a man uniquely qualified 'to prepare Christians for principled leadership in public life.'"

Political engagement, or serious thinking about politics, requires reflection about the nature of the world, history, good and evil, power, law, mercy, and justice. The classical disciplines of political theology and philosophy touch on these themes in terms of prudence or statesmanship. I heartily endorse the John Jay Institute under Alan Crippen's leadership. His reputation for guiding students in apprehending the eternal verities as they apply to the earthly business of politics is well established. It is my expectation that Institute alumni will well bear the name of John Jay for their qualities of statesmanship."

It's hard to name an American statesman who applied his Christian faith to the great political questions of the day with more wisdom, energy, and effectiveness than John Jay. As first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Jay upheld the vital link between law and religion as a distinguishing feature of the world's most successful democracy. That link has been severed-with dire consequences for the moral health of American politics and culture. Under the leadership of Alan Crippen, the John Jay Institute is well poised to repair the damage. John Jay once called education "the soul of the Republic." I can think of no organization better equipped to help the republic recover its soul in the present hour of crisis."

Aristotle once said that 'statecraft is soulcraft.' What he meant by that is that the principles, practices, and institutions of any government contribute to shaping the character and moral infrastructure of its citizenry, whether it intends to or not. The John Jay Institute for Faith, Society, and Law is the sort of place in which Christians who agree with Aristotle and seek to advance the principles of good government will be brought into contact with the great minds and ideas that provide intellectual sustenance for their task. They will also have the benefit of practical guidance imparted to them by good teachers and experienced mentors from a variety of fields and government service."

The success of John Jay Institute's ambitious vision depends on its leadership. Alan Crippen has demonstrated remarkable skill and creativity as a leader and educator here in Washington. I am convinced that his ability to combine rigorous academic expectations with practical political applications and a call to authentic Christian discipleship will make the Institute's graduates a strong, positive force in the renewal of American public life."

The level of interest in religion and American public life is at an all time high. Yet, this interest has often produced more partisanship that careful reflection on the good society. The John Jay Institute promises to provide an important alternative to the all too common approaches that make faith either the cure or disease of American society. Alan Crippen's leadership insures that the Institute's students will be well versed in the Christian intellectual tradition and its wisdom for civil society."

Alan Crippen's work over the past decade in Washington has been a blessing to our country. Before we act, we must first understand: that is a basic truth which is too often forgotten in the hectic world "inside the Beltway." Alan's educational initiatives and mentoring have cultivated a generation of young Christian leaders with a deep and genuinely critical grasp of America's founding principles. I am confident that we will see a still greater contribution with the new John Jay Institute, and I look forward to working closely with Alan and with his students."

The answer to all of the riddles and conflicts of our time is to simply appreciate anew the wisdom of the founders and the genius of their plan for self-governance. The John Jay Institute is endeavoring to conserve this genius by inculcating in future leaders the ancient and biblical presuppositions about the nature of man and the appropriate roles of civil society, religion, and state in a well ordered republic. The founders assumed that each generation would keep alive the virtues and habits necessary for limited government. Like its namesake, the John Jay Institute is committed to this perpetual task."

I am excited about the development of the John Jay Institute, which by its focus, mission, vision, and leadership, will help prepare a new generation of principled leaders and statesmen for service across our country. The Institute is a much needed and much welcomed undertaking in this age of cultural transformation. I am confident that the John Jay Institute will enable students, who often feel ill-equipped for engaging the complex issues of the public square, to make a difference in the world for the cause of Christ."

The John Jay Institute has the two essential ingredients for success: an important, well-defined vision and outstanding leadership. The Institute recognizes that it doesn't take but a few people to alter the trajectory of a society. The John Jay Institute's focus on equipping Christians for principle leadership in public life will have an incredibly positive impact. The tract record of the leadership ensures that the John Jay Institute will be influential right away and for years to come."

The John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law says it all - and in the right order. Faith - vital Christian faith - provides the character indispensable for the moral authority and power to initiate and sustain the activity necessary to translate intention into reality. Society - family and neighbor and nation - provides not only the context for the joys and responsibilities of life together but also the culture so desperately needing transformation. Law - eternal and natural and human - provides the indispensable craft to create a good and just society. The John Jay Institute - a residential, academic, Christian community - will be by God's grace a highly favored means in nurturing the next generation of leaders."

The greatness of America is directly related to the greatness of its leaders. The John Jay Institute fills a critical need, developing principled leaders for public service. Alan Crippen provides the experience and expertise to shape a rising generation of such leaders so I expect to see the John Jay Institute exert a wholesome influence on the public sector in the future as aspiring, visionary young leaders gravitate to it."

Like its famous namesake, the John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law is rooted in the wise conviction that life must be lived as a whole, and as a whole person. Jay lived his faith in public service-in law, statesmanship and his daily life, both public and private. In the same way the John Jay Institute has dedicated itself to helping leaders and future leaders integrate their faith with reason, knowledge, and the moral imagination in every aspect of their lives, the better to know and serve God and the common good. I expect much good to come from this unique and important effort."

I have sent some of my best students to Alan Crippen and his Witherspoon program. They have all returned with rave reviews. Crippen recognizes a void in Christian education, particularly as it relates to politics, to philosophy, to law, and to faith and reason. He understands where the battle needs to be fought, and how. His work with undergraduates has been such a success that he is now, naturally and necessarily, taking his talents to graduate students, where he will continue to change lives and thus the country. The John Jay Institute is much needed, and Alan Crippen is just the man to lead the cause."

American evangelicals have too often been single-issue Lone Rangers. There is a desperate need for the sort of historically-grounded Christian reflection on public affairs envisaged by the John Jay Institute. I can think of few individuals better suited to direct such a program than Alan Crippen."

The mission and goals of the John Jay Institute could not fill a more timely and important need in our society and culture today-particularly where the education and development of young, talented leaders are concerned. The great G.K. Chesterton once quipped, in the context of commenting upon and responding to the vacuous and two-dimensional educational jargon that had been creeping into the public and professional discourse even in his day about a century ago, that education is, at heart, "truth in transmission." Chesterton stressed, in contrast to the trends which he prophetically lamented, the content of truth in education-that education is passing down, to the next generation, what is best in our culture and tradition. It is passing down the true, the good, and the beautiful. Under the superb leadership of President Alan Crippen at the John Jay Institute, future leaders will learn (with, we expect, quite practical and notable results over the long term) that only when these eternal things are identified, upheld, and communicated with clarity, sincerity, and vigor, can our culture be defended, sustained, and joyfully developed. And they will learn that all of this can and must be done in a way that will honor God and foster the true Christian humanism which, in our Western tradition, has been the foundation of justice, freedom, and right."

We are in great need of the hope and renewal that stem from a thoughtful, Christian engagement of the public square. The John Jay Institute seeks to prepare recent college graduates who have a passion for such civic engagement with the habits of heart and mind necessary for sustained impact in their chosen vocations. I had the great fortune to study under John Jay Insitute President Alan Crippen prior to my entrance into the University of Virginia School of Law's Joint-Degree Program in Legal History. The time I spent under his tutelage had an ongoing, transformational impact on both my education at Virginia and my vocational calling after graduation. I can think of no greater formative opportunity for Christian men and women who aspire to vocations in law, divinity, or public policy."

Our nation-indeed our world-stands in need of leaders who possess a coherent and fully integrated understanding of politics rooted in the truths and traditions of the Christian faith. The John Jay Institute will help to fill this void. The program is rooted in the conviction that leadership involves the whole person and is therefore not reducible to a set of skills. The JJI is predicated on the belief that engaging the whole person is best accomplished in the context of an intentional spiritual and intellectual community where the good, the true, and the beautiful are pursued with seriousness of purpose, steadfastness of conviction, and seasoned with grace. I could not agree more. I am confident that the John Jay Institute for Faith, Society, and Law will become a vibrant center of Christian thought and leadership development."

A founding father who was deeply admired and respected by the leaders of the American revolution, John Jay was a model of principled leadership. His words and actions spoke with a compelling eloquence to the pressing concerns of his own time--they speak no less powerfully to our own. His achievements--and the principles that informed them--flowed from his faith commitment. He is, along with his friend and fellow philanthropist William Wilberforce, representative of the very best elements of the evangelical Anglican tradition. What is more, the life of John Jay reminds us that people of faith have made and continue to make profound and lasting contributions towards the pursuit of the good society. The John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law does well to rightly understand and perpetuate his legacy."

The culture of the day has defined leadership, beyond that they are producing leaders consistent with that definition. The result is the deathspiral of our culture and nation. Christian institutions are then attempting to take these world-leaders and baptize them into leadership positions thinking a few leadership orientation sessions will be sufficient. The strategy must change. Long term leader discipleship must be initiated. Christianity must begin to capture the ground of defining leadership, developing leaders and deploying them not only in to the church but into every sphere of the culture and society. I would recommend the John Jay Institute under Alan Crippen's guidance as a significant movement from the Lord to deal with the need of the day and to contradict the spirit of the age by propagating statesmen-leaders instead of political pragmatists and the leadership virtues of honor and integrity."

The John Jay Institute for Faith, Society and Law has taken a clear stand for a hermeneutic of respect toward our nation's foundational documents and concepts. This is essential to renewing the vision that defines America's greatness. May the Institute prosper in every way."

Alan Crippen has been helping college students understand, embrace and defend our nation's most precious possessions, namely the spiritual and intellectual capital required for a free and prosperous nation. I have met many of the students he has taught and inspired to carry on and lead the American Experiment. It is exciting to see those efforts continue and expand through the John Jay Institute, and I look forward to witnessing the fruit of those labors take their rightful place in leading America into the future."