Christopher Parr is a builder, though not of the normal sort. In his work at The Witherspoon Institute, he helps construct institutions that call citizens to remain faithful to America’s founding principles.
Christopher serves as Special Projects Manager for Prof. Robert P. George, an inimitable luminary in the conservative movement. Christopher considers this opportunity a tremendous privilege. He assists Prof. George’s efforts to recall higher education institutions to their original purposes of seeking truth and speaking truth. Moreover, Christopher works on initiatives like Fidelity Month that point citizens back to the nation’s foundational ideas. He seeks to promote an appreciation for both America’s constitutional system of government and institutions of civil society such as religious communities, the family, and local associations.
In higher education, the tide is changing. Christopher notes the need for faithful academic leaders in this moment. “In my work, we see every day the need for more truth-seeking academics,” he explains. “We need teachers and scholars who are committed to educating the kind of citizens that our system of government requires: what John Adams called ‘a moral and religious people.’”
Christopher cites his experience as a Shaftesbury Fellow in 2022 as formative to this end. He is especially appreciative of the Fellowship’s emphasis on mentorship and “incorporation of faith, church history, and liturgy into the intellectual life.”
Since his participation in the Shaftesbury Fellowship, Christopher has pursued further intellectual formation. Before beginning work at The Witherspoon Institute in January of 2025, Christopher completed his MDiv and ThM at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife, Kara Beth, who is a teacher at a classical school. He enjoys playing tennis as well as playing and listening to classical music.
First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy seeks to invest in future leaders to build and maintain institutions that will lead to the long-term flourishing of our nation. Christopher’s life and work exemplify the soundness of this investment.
Now is a time to build, and Christopher is hard at work. As he puts it, “In the future, I hope to keep building institutions that, through truth-seeking scholarship, recall us to the founding principles that have and can still serve as the foundation of our democracy.”