Iona Study Center

Toledo, OH

Our Christian study center offers the leisure to grow in intellect and virtue. As students feel isolated at the university and tradesmen feel like cogs in the machine, we offer a space for rest and learning.We train men to think, to write, to sing, and to remember under the Lordship of Christ. Both our public events and our courses of study are designed for Toledoans to love Holy Scripture, the Western tradition, and the great thinkers of today.Our mission is to offer a third space for Toledo, to offer course of study for men, and to give students and faculty from the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University a place to grow and rest.

For more information, follow us on social media or email us at [email protected].

IONA

What is IONA?

We are a Christian study center that offers public lectures, hymn sings, and courses for men. We hold our events in downtown Toledo and her surrounding environs. We also have a residential program for those interested in our courses of study.Today’s universities have left a gap. Even though students are required to take humanities courses at universities, they still leave having learned little of how to read, write, or think. Instead, students are expected to memorize information and attain the highest scores on tests.Our institution is dedicated to leisure. IONA is for those who want to learn to love learning, to think clearly, to write clearly, and to sing well. Students who go through our courses of study or attend our public events will be better equipped to live fruitful lives of obedience to Christ.

Distinctives

- We are a Christian Study Center holding to the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and The Westminster Confession of Faith. Yet, all are welcome at our study center. Whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or something else, all are welcome to apply for our courses of study and all are welcome to our public events.
- Our post-secondary courses of study are for men, but women are welcome to all our lectures, hymns sings, and other events that we host for the public. IONA’s mission is to equip men to live fruitfully with their minds and actions. Accredited universities are filling up with women, while the men are leaving. We are offering a place for those men to grow.
- We are located in Toledo, OH, a city in the Rust Belt, a few miles below Michigan.
- We offer courses in music, literature, history, philosophy, and theology.
- We require music courses for those in our residents program. Students are not required to play an instrument. The music courses cover light theory, music history, and vocals. (Even if residents are tone deaf, they are required to take the music courses.)
- Our courses are in-person with small class sizes, close to the Oxford model.

Professors

Ryan Baechle, MA
Ryan Baechle earned a bachelors degrees in English and French from Kent State Univerisity. He then went on to earn his Masters of Arts in Literature from the University of Toledo. After teaching writing and literature at Lourdes University, Adrian College, and the University of Toledo, he went on to teach writing and rhetoric at the Reformed Evangelical Pastors College and to work as an editor for Accenture.Nathanael Filippelli, DMA
Dr. Filippelli earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Evangel University where he studied piano with Linda Ligate, and later a Master's Degree at Missouri State University studying with Peter Collins. He completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Iowa, where he held a piano Teaching Assistantship and a choral accompanist Teaching Assistantship in the School of Music. After completing his doctoral studies, he earned the Kodály Music Education Certificate, Levels I–III from the New Saint Andrew’s College Conservatory of Music.Noah Wing, MFA
Noah Wing earned his Bachelors in English literature at the University of Toledo before he went on to earn his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The Camperdown Writer’s Kiln at New Saint Andrews College. Along with work at IONA, he is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.

• Courses of Study

Contact

For further information about our courses of study, events, auditing opportunities, or publications email us at [email protected].
If you wish to apply for our residency program, email us at [email protected] so we can send you more application details.

Toledo, OH(567)-806-7350
[email protected]