About Us

Our Philosophy

The Andreas Center is a group of people exploring Christian thoughtfulness, foolishness, industry, repose, outrage, wisdom, community, solitude, and soup. Thoughtfulness, because there is something in the Bible about loving God with all your mind. Foolishness, because there is also something in there about becoming a fool in order to become wise. Industry and repose, because spiritual health is nourished by both labor and rest. Outrage and wisdom, because one drives us toward justice and the other helps us attain it. Community, because we need to be interdependent with other people. Solitude, because we also need to be alone. And soup, because we like soup, and it does not make us feel stuffed when we want to think and talk.

What We Do

Imagine a big, creaky, rambling house, stuffed full of books and periodicals and furniture to sprawl on and lamps to read by and tables to gather at and an espresso machine that costs about two thousand dollars and people thinking and talking about everything under the sun. In a perfect world, that is what the Andreas Center would be. (And there would be places like it everywhere.) But it isn’t a perfect world. Therefore we do what we can without having everything we imagine.

We host public evenings, normally on a Friday, which we call Andreas Forums. We serve a delicious soup, and people arrive from work or school and eat together. Then we engage in thought and conversation about some idea or topic. The calendar page on this site lists the topics for the current term, and the articles section contains some of our past events.

Our evenings take place at Niggle’s Parish, Amherst, Massachusetts. This is a residence with a love of hospitality, with lots of room for people to gather, and with a ton of furniture none of which is too good to sit on. Niggle’s Parish is also the location of another, similar, venture, the Amherst Center for Christian Studies.

Who We Are

Stephen Broyles and Sharon Messer developed the initial idea and conducted the first meetings in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Hilja Terry helped write the statement of philosophy given above and is responsible for the varied nature of the events. Stephanie Shiman has prepared soup and provided recipes. Others have given their ideas and presence and moral support.

Stephen is now one of the residents of Niggle’s Parish in Amherst and leads the Andreas Forums there. Chris and Laurel Peltier and their children form the anchor family of Niggle’s Parish, a Christian intentional community.

Who Is Andreas?

Andreas was the archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia who in the sixth or seventh century wrote a commentary in Greek on the Book of Revelation. One of Stephen’s particular interests is Jewish and Christian apocalypticism, so he chose this name to honor that interest.