About - The Raised Hand

What is The Raised Hand?

Higher education in the twenty-first century is both beset by an unprecedented number of challenges, and is still one of the most crucial and dynamic institutions in modern societies. The Raised Hand’s editorial board, comprised of leaders and staff in the Christian study center movement, would like to join in the task of helping universities fulfill their missions in these challenging times. Each day dozens of Christian study centers serve the unique, embodied, contextual needs of campus communities across the country.

The Raised Hand is a joint effort of Christian study centers, supported generously by the Consortium of Christian Study Centers, to host a larger conversation that raises questions prompted by our unique vantage point on higher education. These questions, each of which will be the focus for an entire academic year, are ones that either are not being asked or are being answered in ways that need deeper scrutiny.

We recognize the questions we raise are complex, with no easy answers. We seek to begin discussions, not to settle arguments. Nevertheless, our goals are clear: to help form people holistically, to shape thought on academic and societal topics through a Christian lens, and to advocate for a pluralistic ethos in higher education that makes room for Christian thought alongside other traditions.

2025-26 Question: “What is the role of human educators in the age of artificial intelligence?”

The age of AI is upon us. It tops the list of issues in higher education—featured in news coverage, embedded in our devices, and regularly discussed in boardrooms, faculty lounges, and classrooms. Amid the avalanche of words expended on the “how,” “what,” and “when” of AI’s adoption into our institutions of learning, there remains an urgent question of “why” and “for what end?” Through our ongoing conversation this year, The Raised Hand seeks especially to bring attention to these pressing questions of "why" and "to what end" in order to cultivate wisdom for the task of human education in light of the AI revolution.

What to Expect

One Essay per Month. Eight Essays per year. A Variety of Authors. Each month during the academic year we will post one essay relating to a topic that has been set for that year in the form of a question. Some essays may attempt to answer that question directly. Most will speak to a question with a smaller scale, but related to the larger question.

Christian Diversity. Christianity has had a large and diverse influence in our culture, so, while our essays will seek to present Christian ideas, they may accord with other viewpoints as well. Therefore, some of our essayists may not identify as Christians, but their essays will still reflect Christian opinions. Also, our editorial position being a historically orthodox, Christian one, we understand there will be many—Christians and non-Christians alike—who will differ with opinions expressed by our authors. We seek to create a conversation that is for all, regardless of belief, so we encourage comment. Discussion, not proclamation, is what The Raised Hand is about.

No Subscription Fee. We desire to create conversations so we are not charging a subscription fee. However, it is necessary to subscribe in order to interact with the essays on the site. Please subscribe below (It takes almost no time—just your email address—and did I mention? It’s free!) and comment on our essays. We would love to hear from you.

A Variety of Authors. Our contributors have been carefully selected from the large pool of those who are associated with higher education as university faculty, administrators, or relevant observers or are participants in the world of Christian study centers.

People

Editor: Daniel G. Hummel, the Lumen Center (Madison, WI) at Upper House (serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Editorial Committee: Vincent Bacote, Wheaton College; Missy DeRegibus, Scholé House (serving Virginia Commonwealth University), Dan Daugherty, Alcuin Study Center (serving Ball State University); Andrew Hansen, Anselm House (serving the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities); Vivek Matthews, Chesterton House (serving Cornell University); Kathryn Wagner, Center for Christianity and Scholarship (serving Duke University)

Audio Edition Host: Kathryn Wagner, Center for Christianity and Scholarship (serving Duke University)

Audio Edition Editor: Daniel Johnson, Upper House (serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Executive Director, Consortium of Christian Study Centers: Karl E. Johnson

Past Series

2024-25 Question: “What does every university and college student need to learn?” Disagreements about what is essential in a college education reflect deeper fractures in the university. The sheer breadth of majors—one database lists more than 1,800 possible in the United States—is one indicator of the expansive scope of today’s educational landscape. Other markers include the multiplication of institutional types, the reality that many of our universities in fact function as “multiversities,” the democratization of higher education, and the advancement of specialization and expertise. Four-year schools continue to revise “general ed” requirements while others rely on required first year orientation courses which, at their worst, amount to little more than policy information sessions. In light of this reality we seek to explore the essential features of education that should remain universal, foundational, and, in a sense, non-negotiable in today’s college and university curricula.

24 | Bobby Gross, “The Richness of Vocation” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

23 | Johann Neem, “Learning to Grapple with the World” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

22 | Christine Rosen, “Chronology for Character Formation” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

21 | Janet Batzli & Rick Lindroth, “Principles of Science for the Practice of Life” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

20 | L.M. Sacasas, “The Art of Attention” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

19 | Julie Durbin, “A Way of Pilgrimage in the World” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

18 | Brad East, “The Knowledge of God” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

17 | Daniel K. Williams, “Looking beyond Career Skills: What Every University and College Student Needs to Learn” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

2023-24 Question: “What has the university to do with the good life?” Knowledge and practice of the good life, once a preoccupation of university curricula, has been eclipsed but also witnessed a revival in recent years. For example, the University of Notre Dame offers a popular “God and the Good Life” course, while Yale University has developed “Life Worth Living” into a standalone book. As questions swirl around the instrumental, intrinsic, and economic values of higher education, we will hear from a diverse array of educators about the relationship—real and ideal, close and distant—between the university and the good life.

16 | Samuel Goldman, “A Modest Case for the Good Life (Or, A Good Case for the Modest Life)” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

15 | Campbell F. Scribner, “Rediscovering the Transcendent Self with Philip H. Phenix” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

14 | Katherine Jo, “The Pastoral Professor: Leading Students Toward the Good Life in the Countercultural Classroom” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

13 | Michael Kimmage, “Silent Spring: An Old Purpose for the Modern University” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

12 | Janel Curry, “Pursuing the Good Life in Community” | Audio edition (follow-up interview)

11 | Kevin Gary, “Rediscovering Beauty in the Classroom: Going Beyond Educational Standards”

10 | Nadya Williams, “Why Athens and Jerusalem Still Need Each Other, and Why a Healthy Democracy Needs Both”

9 | Chris Gehrz, “The Good Life Beyond the Real World”