Two Tasks Institute

May 2019 

Two Tasks Institute 

“Two Tasks Institute.” The Two Tasks Institute, https://twotasksinstitute.org/.

The common perception of Christianity in North America is one of intolerance, republican conservatism and a sort of militant insistence on being right. The way that the church goes about apologetics and evangelism was making the issue worse in the opinion of Paul Gould, founder of the Two Tasks Institute. Instead of despairing and becoming overly critical of the North American Church, Gould decided that he should identify a better way forward and set about paving the way for a new type of outreach. The “two tasks” that he sees as essential are to show that Christianity is reasonable, and that Christianity is desirable. His strategy for doing this is “re-enchanting” the world through the creation of brilliant, beautiful and welcoming spaces, artifacts, and communities. His work with Two Tasks Institute is an attempt to change the current mindsets and strategies of the Christian culture, so that the perception of Christianity can be changed. At this point it is clear that he sees art, beauty and imagination as absolutely central to that paradigm shift, along with an understanding of philosophy and the cultural relevance of Christianity he calls “cultural apologetics.” 

While the Two Tasks Institute has beautiful dreams, it is at the very beginning stages of development. The website is beautiful and offers a few resources for people, but it is clearly the beginning of what this small team is hoping to accomplish. I find it a very exciting idea, and if the Two Tasks Institute is able to accomplish even a small amount of what they are setting out to, the world will be a more beautiful, and more enchanting place.