“It’s been fun to see, if you give something a try and start small but stick with it… things can generate from there.”

-Dr. Rick Ostrander, Michigan Christian Study Center, at a recent gathering for OSU faculty

Our first, full academic year is in the books. However small a start it may be, Carmen House is on the journey of fulfilling our mission: to welcome the OSU community to explore the wisdom of Jesus Christ for academic life and human flourishing. From month to month, dozens of students and faculty (as well as folks from the broader community) attended our programs aimed at filling the gap in our fragmented university culture between Christian faith and academic life.

I recently asked one of our OSU undergrad student attendees to comment on his experience at an event featuring New Testament scholar, Dr. Jonathan Pennington:

“I loved the Speaker Series event… Pennington’s talk on Jesus as a philosopher was eye-opening. I loved how he implored the audience to ask big questions, to be inquisitive and find answers in the Bible. I love how Carmen House gives students and non-students a place to be inquisitive, to ask questions and challenge beliefs, which end up strengthening them.” - Caleb, OSU student

At a university like OSU, both students and faculty can tend to feel isolated and lonely; academic life often feels disconnected from a life of faith. We envision Carmen House increasingly being a place for face-to-face connection, where the OSU community encounters a Jesus who has wisdom for all of life’s biggest questions.

Our plans for the ’26-’27 year are already in motion, and we are excited to kick off autumn semester programs on Friday, Sept. 11th by hosting OSU alum and Old Testament scholar Dr. Jason Riley to discuss this question: Is the Bible just an artifact that merely belongs on a library shelf? Or is the Bible still relevant to our public lives today? RSVP at the following link:

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Latest Podcast Episode: Dr. Rick Ostrander

Dr. Rick Ostrander from the Michigan Christian Study Center came to Columbus for a gathering of OSU faculty, to tell the story of their study center up north. So much has happened in Ann Arbor in just a few short years, as they have their own dedicated facility and host hundreds of students weekly in their center. Christian faculty at Michigan play a significant role in their mission. We are excited to explore with Christian faculty at Ohio State how Carmen House can support faculty to live on mission in the university setting.

Christianity Today Article

Marvin Olasky published a thoughtful article on higher-education in the US, and gave a strong endorsement for Christian Study Centers like Carmen House. Check it out here:

CT Article

Learn more about you might support our work here:

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It is not loud, and it may not receive a lot of press, but Carmen House is a part of a larger movement to establish Christian Study Centers at our country’s leading universities. As we have gotten started at Ohio State, leaders have been reaching out to me from other public universities to discuss starting a Christian Study Center.

It has been said that those we consider our rivals, do not tend to be our rivals because they are so different from us, but because they are near and they are similar. In spite of whatever competitive spirit we may bring, the Michigan Christian Study Center has been such a helpful partner.

Dr. Rick Ostrander, executive director of the MCSC will be visiting us here in Columbus next Thursday, April 23rd. We are hosting an event specifically for Ohio State faculty to help them explore how connection with a Christian Study Center like Carmen House can help benefit their life and work on campus.

• Thursday, April 23rd

• 4-5pm

• COhatch Gateway (1581 N. High St.)

Faculty RSVP

Hungry to expand our view of Jesus

Last month we hosted our largest ever Speaker Series event, featuring New Testament scholar Dr. Jonathan Pennington.

Dr. Pennington has done extensive research and writing, advocating that Jesus Christ transcends the limited category of “religious teacher” in our modern sense, and should also be consider a philosopher. After all, the teachings of Jesus address the big questions about how to live a good life. It was wonderful to have OSU undergrads, grad students, faculty, community members present for this truly captivating talk. You can listen in through our Carmen House podcast.

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You can help

Carmen House is made possible by the generosity of donors who care about our mission to welcome the OSU community to explore the wisdom of Jesus Christ for academic life and human flourishing. Thank you to those already helping to make our ministry possible. Please consider joining our team of ambassadors and sharing our work with those that may not know about the Christian Study Center movement.

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“It remains yet to be proved why a student may consult Plato and not Paul; why Confucius and not Jesus.”1

These words were spoken a century ago by none other than William Oxley Thompson, who after a stint as president of Miami University in Oxford, served as president of The Ohio State University for 25 years. You can find his statue, towering over the Oval at OSU.

In a university setting like Ohio State, the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament tend to be either criticized as unreliable, or relegated as relevant only to people’s private faith. We have intuitively placed a label on Jesus as a “religious teacher.” Even many sincere Christians tend to conceive of Jesus as relevant to their Sundays, but struggle to connect his teaching to Mondays.

But what if Jesus is more than a “religious teacher?” What if his life and teaching is relevant beyond religious matters to big questions about the good life? What if Jesus is better understood as a philosopher in an ancient sense, a lover of wisdom? What if the teachings of Jesus are as relevant as ever to the university’s mission to purse true knowledge for the common good of society?

New Testament scholar and historian Dr. Jonathan Pennington, author of Jesus the Great Philosopher, is coming to join Carmen House to address these very questions. This is a hallmark event for Carmen House, exemplifying the kinds of conversations we intend to host on the doorstep of OSU for decades to come.

Friday, March 27th at 6:30pm.

COhatch Gateway.

Seating is limited, so be sure to RSVP.

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February Recordings

In February we were grateful to hear from an OSU alum and Christian physician, Dr. Joy Walton, as she discussed her own attempt to integrate her faith with her life and work in the fragmented field of healthcare.

Faith in the Field

We were also grateful to host a philosopher named Dr. Steven Garber, author of Visions of Vocation, as we discussed what it might mean to have a more robust view of having a calling in God’s world. Dr. Garber then spoke at our Winter Symposium and Faculty Roundtables event in the OSU Faculty Club on the topic of the integrated life.

What is Vocation?

Carmen House is just getting started with hosting conversations like these, serving undergrad students, graduate students, faculty, and beyond. To partner with our work you can learn more here.

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Have you ever felt pressure to compartmentalize your life?

After raising this question to our audience at our recent Winter Symposium event in the OSU Faculty Club, I let the question hang in the air for a moment. The resonance felt palpable.

So many of us, perhaps even regardless of our religious or non-religious point of view, have lived experiences where we have sensed the need to separate parts of who we are or what we do from other areas of our lives. In many ways this compartmentalization is understandable. Our home is not the same kind of place as a supermarket. A public university classroom is not the exactly the same as a church sanctuary.

And yet, the more distinct and distant these places and experiences are from one another, it is easy for our lives to feel fragmented. One can argue that work as a healthcare professional today can be one of the more difficult contexts for an integrated life.

But this raises a question: Is it possible that following in the way of Jesus can be a pathway to a more integrated, coherent life?

Join us this Friday evening as we hear from OSU alum and former professor in the OSU College of Medicine, Dr. Joy Walton, as she presents a talk entitled, “Faith in the Field: Seeking an integrated life in a compartmentalized world.”

When. Friday, Feb. 20th at 6:30pm

Where. 1581 N. High St (COhatch Gateway)

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We live in a world that tends toward fragmentation. We tend to separate the secular from the sacred. Our public lives and our private lives can often feel disjointed. Within the university, academic disciplines and various areas of study can seem disconnected from other fields. Even within ourselves, what we believe and what we feel, or what we know to be true and how we actually live, can feel out of sync.

As we explore the “Integrated Life,” we will consider questions like this: how could a life of faith in Jesus Christ overcome such fragmentation?

This Friday in our Winter Symposium, we will feature special guest Dr. Steven Garber, author of such books as The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work.

We’ll start this Friday with an informal pre-event for OSU students and faculty with Dr. Garber, as we discuss what it means to have a “vocation.”

Afternoon Tea. Friday, Feb. 6th at 3 p.m. in COhatch Gateway.

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Our main event will be a Faculty Roundtables event in the OSU Faculty Club featuring presentations from Dr. Garber and an OSU horticulture and crop scientist named Dr. Joshua Blakeslee.

Faculty Roundtables. Friday, Feb. 6th from 5-8 p.m. in the OSU Faculty Club.

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Finally, we will continue our Carmen House Speaker Series the evening of Friday, Feb. 20th featuring a physician and OSU College of Medicine alum named Dr. Joy Walton with a talk entitled…

“Faith in the Field: Seeking an integrated life in a compartmentalized world.” on Feb. 20th.

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There is still room to RSVP for any of these events, and we invite you to explore an “Integrated Life” together.

This January, Carmen House is hosting two opportunities to pull back the curtain and dive into these conversations with honesty and curiosity.

1. What’s Not Said in the Classroom: A Conversation with Dr. Brian Raison

Ever wonder what a Christian professor is thinking behind the lectern? Dr. Brian Raison, a leadership specialist and professor at OSU with nearly 30 years of experience, is pulling back the veil.

This isn’t just about teaching philosophy; it’s about how Biblical concepts like grace, justice, and intellectual humility actually play out in a public university classroom. Dr. Raison will share the things he doesn’t say out loud during class and how his faith informs his work as a mentor and educator.

When: Friday, Jan. 16 | 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Where: COhatch Gateway (1581 N. High St.)

RSVP: Includes light refreshments. Claim your spot here:

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2. Reading Group: “The Skeptical Believer”

If you’re honest, do you ever struggle with doubt? You are not alone. College is often a time of transition where patterns of life and faith get put under a microscope.

Our upcoming Reading Group will be working through “The Skeptical Believer,” a book that reframes faith as not merely a list of beliefs, but as a story we live out. This isn’t a “convince you” session—it’s a place to gather around food and talk honestly about where skepticism and belief meet.

Who: OSU undergrads and graduate/professional students.

When: Bi-weekly on Thursdays (Jan 22, Feb 5, Feb 19, March 5) | 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM.

Where: COhatch Gateway.

Cost: Free. We provide the book and the food.

Sign Up: Register for the Reading Group here by Monday, Jan. 19th:

Reading Group

Why show up?

Whether you’re a firm believer, a curious skeptic, or somewhere in the messy middle, you’re invited to explore the deep questions that don’t always make it onto the syllabus.

See you at COhatch Gateway.

For more, visit carmenhouse.org.

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2-Minute Read

2025 represents a monumental year for Carmen House.

• We launched our website (carmenhouse.org)

• We inaugurated our annual Symposium by welcoming Curt Thompson, MD to campus

• We initiated our Speaker Series, platforming Christian academics, hosting OSU students and faculty

• We published our first Podcast episodes

None of this would be possible without our ministry partners and donors. Thank you.

We are so excited to see how God will continue to be at work in 2026 and beyond.

And may God use Carmen House to welcome the OSU community to explore the wisdom of Jesus Christ for academic life and human flourishing.

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As 2025 comes to a close we invite you to take a moment to watch our video about why Carmen House exists, and to consider us in your year-end giving.

God becoming human, coming near in Jesus, has changed everything. As we continue to ponder the meaning of Christmas, we are also so grateful for all who help make our mission with Carmen House possible.

Carmen House is imagining a new kind of Christian presence at Ohio State, integrating faith and academics, grounded in place, with face-to-face relationships. We invite you to help us.

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This is not new. Followers of Jesus in antiquity likewise lived in a cultural context that exhibited retribution rather than forgiveness. And yet, these early Christians discovered and embodied a new and distinct way of life.

Would you consider joining us this Friday evening?

Dr. Timothy Norman will explore how the early church experienced and extended forgiveness in ways that transformed the world as they knew it, while pondering the implications of the New Testament’s teaching on forgiveness for the 21st century.

• Friday, Dec. 12th, 6:30-8pm

• COhatch Gateway (High St across from the OSU Bookstore)

Learn More

Light refreshments will be provided, and there will be time for audience Q&A. Please RSVP by Dec. 11th.

Reading Group | Beginning January 2026

The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories to Your Inner Atheist

“The Skeptical Believer” contends with skepticism and belief, and finds a place for them to coexist. The book reframes faith from merely a set of propositions to believe, into an understanding of your life as a story within God’s bigger story.

The Details

The group will be facilitated by Abigail Tamkin (PhD, Ecological Engineering at OSU) and Carmen House Executive Director Aaron Badenhop (DMin, George Fox)

• When? The meetings will take place bi-weekly on Thursday afternoons from 3:15-4:30pm. (Jan 22nd, Feb 5th, Feb. 19th, March 5th).

• Where? COhatch Gateway across from the OSU Barnes and Noble Bookstore (1581 N. High St).

• Who is this for? Any OSU undergraduate or graduate/professional student.

• Cost? It’s free! Thanks to the Michigan Christian Study Center for providing us the books and food for our first-ever Carmen House Reading Group.

• How do you sign up? This Google form

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Momento Mori: Remembering Our Mortality

Featuring Dr. Marlena Graves

Podcast

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After grabbing a bite to eat together, we’ll hear from Dr. Graves as she shares about a historic Christian practice called Momento Mori, which means “remembering our mortality.”

Why think about death? We live in a society that sanitizes death and suffering. So many of us in the university context are subtly influenced to live with a sense of being almost invincible. But until Jesus reappears to make all things new, death and suffering are realities that we cannot avoid.

Come join us to consider how remembering our mortality can be used by God to guide us to a more meaningful and flourishing life.

• Friday, November 14 - 6:30 PM 8:00 PM

• COhatch Gateway - 1581 North High St.

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We invite you to join our Carmen House Speaker Series for a special evening with Marlena Graves, PhD as she explores the profound practice of “Momento Mori: Remembering our Mortality for a Meaningful Life.”

In a culture that often ignores or sanitizes death, and in a broken world where death can feel like a weighty shadow, Dr. Graves will explore how this Christian spiritual practice can lead to a meaningful life.

Event Details:

• Speaker: Dr. Marlena Graves

• Date: Friday, November 14, 2025

• Time: 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

• Location: COhatch Gateway (1581 N. High St)

Light refreshments will be provided. Audience Q&A to follow.

RSVP Here

This should be powerful discussion, and we hope you and a friend can join us.

Miss our last Speaker Series event?

Tune in to the latest Carmen House Podcast featuring Dr. Ingrid Faro from her talk, “Is There Evil? Retrieving the Language of Evil in the Public University for the Common Good.”

Dr. Faro, Professor of Old Testament at Northern Seminary, explored how the severity of the world’s brokenness can leave us confused, and how Christian Scripture provides essential resources to name what is wrong, while empowering us to be agents for good.

Don’t miss this powerful discussion that offers clarity and a vision for serving the common good.

Podcast

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Many of us wonder: “what exactly is wrong with the world?” This Friday evening at 6:30 at our current Carmen House venue, we will be hearing from Bible scholar Ingrid Faro for a talk entitled “Is There Evil?: Retrieving the Language of Evil in the Public University for the Common Good.”

Our event is open to anyone in the OSU campus community, as well as life-long learners beyond the campus. Come grab a bite to eat and join us for a fascinating presentation with audience Q and A.

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Tailgate Inaugurated

On Saturday, Sept. 13th we held our first-ever tailgate before the OSU football game against Ohio U, across from the OSU Longaberger alumni house. We were glad to connect with some students, as well as some alumni coming to campus for the game.

We are grateful for all our donors and sponsors that make our work possible.

But in our polarized society, we have competing stories about what’s actually wrong. How did the world become so broken? The severity of all that is wrong can leave us feeling confused, or even despairing.

Our next Carmen House Speaker Series event: “Is There Evil? Retrieving the Language of Evil in the Public University for the Common Good,” is an exploration of those very questions. Bible scholar Ingrid Faro, PhD, will look to Christian Scripture to see how it might provide resources to name what is wrong with the world.

And importantly, we’ll seek a vision for how we might become agents for good in God’s world. This is a vital conversation for anyone confused by the brokenness of the world, or anyone that desires to make the world a better place. Join us Fri. Oct. 17th at 6:30pm at 1581 N. High St.

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Carmen House Podcast

We were grateful to host former OSU business law professor and founder of Vineyard Columbus, Rich Nathan, JD for his talk entitled: “Love of Neighbor in an Age of Fear: What the Bible teaches us about Immigrants.”

Catch this message on our Carmen House podcast:

Podcast

We are grateful for the OSU students, graduate students, faculty, and community members in attendance!

The Details

Since many students and alumni will be on campus for the night game, we decided to join the tailgating fun. Look for a grey Carmen House tent in the parking lot of the Longaberger Alumni House off of Olentangy River Rd.

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Carmen House is hosting a monthly Speaker Series with Christian academics, exploring the possibility of the relevance of the Christian faith for life and learning at OSU.

Our first Speaker Series event will be Friday, Sept. 19th at 6:30pm in the OSU Gateway and will feature a former business law professor at Ohio State, and founding pastor of Vineyard Columbus, Rich Nathan, JD. Rich will examine what the Bible has to say about God’s heart for immigrants. Light refreshments will be provided, and the event is free and open to the OSU campus community. RSVP here:

Love of Neighbor in an Age of Fear

Fall Speaker Series

Mark your calendars for our fall Speaker Series Lineup:

• Sept. 19th. Love of Neighbor in an Age of Fear. Rich Nathan, JD

  Details

• Oct. 17th. Is There Evil?: Retrieving the Language of Evil in the Public University for the Common Good. Ingrid Faro, PhD

  Details

• Nov. 14th. Momento Mori: Remembering our Mortality for a Meaningful Life. Marlena Graves, PhD

  Details

• Dec. 12th. Forgiveness in a World of Hostility. Tim Norman, PhD. Details forthcoming.

Our Speaker Series is just the beginning of all that we hope and dream to create for the OSU campus community. Learn more about Carmen House Christian Study Center.

However, as we host conversations and hear from Christian scholars about how Jesus Christ is relevant to learning and human flourishing at OSU, it is important that we capture some of the content for those that desire to rehash their experience or for those that were unable to join us in-person. This is why we have started the Carmen House Podcast.

Our final Speaker Series event of the Spring Semester featured a PhD candidate (and now graduate!) in musicology at OSU named Dylan Crosson. Dylan utilized his expertise in music to consider ancient and recent trends in Christian worship as it relates to the observance of Good Friday. Dylan pondered what it could look like to retrieve musical worship expressions fitting for contemplation of the suffering and death of Jesus. Subscribe to the Carmen House Podcast here:

Podcast

Fall Speaker Series Schedule

This summer we are working hard to prepare more programs for the ’25-’26 school year. Feel free to check out the latest updates on our fall Speaker Series offerings.

Speaker Series

Interested in helping Carmen House launch?

Learn more about how you can give to our work.

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Poetry doesn’t so much tell us something we never knew as bring into recognition what is latent, forgotten, overlooked, or suppressed. The Psalms text is almost entirely in this kind of language... [in the Psalms we] find the experience of being human before God exposed and sharpened.1

Part 4 of reflections on “Seeking God’s Face”2 by Phillip Reinders will focus on the daily section called “Bible Song.” A central feature of this daily, guided prayer book includes a text from a Psalm; this is of course no accident. God’s people throughout history have utilized the Psalms for public and private worship and prayer. Apart from the Psalms one might wonder how to attempt to describe and understand what it means to pray faithfully. What is a prayer book without the Psalms?

The Psalms seemed to be one of Eugene Peterson’s most cherished sources and inspirations for his writing in spiritual theology. His little book on the Psalms called “Answering God: the Psalms as Tools for Prayer” is so jam-packed with insights on the Psalms and prayer that it could prompt a lifetime of reflections.

I recently re-read “Answering God” after more than a decade. If you’re the note-taking type and have re-read a favorite book you’re likely to notice what you had underlined years before, and just as importantly, what you had not underlined. What follows is a reflection on what stood out in “Answering God” after more than a decade between readings.

To begin a chapter on metaphor, Peterson references John Calvin, attesting that the created world is a theatre of God’s glory.3 “Creation is thunderous with its hallelujahs, but we are not around very long before we also hear considerable groaning.”4 And yet in spite of the groaning the created world is a theater none the less; creation is not “a junk yard of cosmic garbage.” And then came one of the sentences that this time around nearly jumped off the page:

Eugene plays on Calvin’s own metaphor. The theater of God’s glory in creation is the context and the content of the Psalms, in the form of metaphor.

Eugene is adamant that the Psalms reinforce an earthy spirituality. They constantly employ metaphors using the material world because “matter is real” and “flesh is good.” As beings made of flesh and blood in a material world, we need at our fingertips and on our lips metaphors that address a transcendent God as “rock” and “fortress”. We need metaphor grounded in the material world to be able to name what it feels like to be human. Do we not sometimes feel caught like a bird caught in a trap, like we’re sinking in rushing waters?6

We borrow the language of the Psalmists when we pray for more reasons than one can count, including this reason: earthy metaphors contained in the Psalms help us catch a glimpse of a real and personal God we might otherwise miss. They help us avoid hiding, even from ourselves, what desperation can feel like in a fallen world. The Psalms are the language we need as we seek God’s face.

Good Friday is a day in the church calendar that beckons us not to look away. The torture and crucifixion of the Son of God on our behalf merits our heart’s prolonged attention before quickly jumping to the joy of resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Dylan Crosson, a PhD candidate in musicology at OSU, will be offering a talk on the possibility of retrieving how Christians have historically worshipped God on this Friday that we have called Good. This speaker series event has been placed in the late afternoon so that attendees might also considering attending a Good Friday worship service at a local Christian church of their choice later that evening.

4:30pm on Good Friday, April 18th.

If you plan to join us at our current venue in the OSU Gateway, please RSVP here:

RSVP

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“Why Does Virtue Still Matter in a Secular Age?” with Dr. Ben Burkholder

Our Inaugural Speaker Series event hosted an audience made up of OSU undergrad students, graduate students, faculty, and community members. We are so grateful that a cornerstone program of our Christian Study Center is now set in motion!

Listen

Winter Symposium: A Conversation featuring Curt Thompson, MD.

Our event in partnership with the Veritas Forum was recorded, and the video footage is now available here:

Watch

“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Pet. 1:5-8 (NASB)

It seems that for many of us, including those in the Church, pragmatism has begun to supersede the importance of character. In a broken world with real pain and understandable fear, it is far too easy to focus on desired outcomes rather than integrity. Should we question whether the ends justify the means? When we care about attaining success, money, power, etc. more than we care about character and integrity, it tends eventually to result in harming people and our world.

A recently released Pew Research study shows: “Compared with 2014, Americans now express less positive views of churches and other religious organizations.” It should make us pause and reflect when substantially fewer adults in our society can agree that a religion like Christianity does more good than harm. Should we reject faith in Christ all together? Do alternative philosophies like secularism have superior resources for a life of character and integrity?

Theologian Ben Burkholder (PhD, Duquesne) will be delivering a talk at our inaugural Carmen House speaker series event entitled “Why Does Virtue Still Matter in a Secular Age?”. He will be exploring how the Christian tradition might have overlooked or under-appreciated resources for a life of virtue. The event will be free for the OSU community and wider public, held in our current COhatch event venue. Please let us know if you plan to attend, here:

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“We Call This Friday Good”

Save the Date for Good Friday, April 18th at 4:30pm as musicologist Dylan Crosson explores how Christians in the past have observed Good Friday in their music, pondering what is lost when we have less space for communal grief and sadness.

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Does character matter? What are virtues and are they relevant today? How might faith help or hinder one’s character formation?

Topic: Why Does Virtue Still Matter in a Secular Age?: Reflections on Aristotle and Aquinas for the 21st Century

Theologian Dr. Ben Burkholder (PhD, Duquesne) will be speaking on the topic of the relevancy of virtue ethics for today, followed by audience Q&A. Free and open to the OSU campus community and wider public. Please RSVP by March 20th.

Event details:

• Date: Friday, March 21st

• Time: 6:30-8pm

• Location: COhatch Gateway

• Light refreshments will be provided

RSVP

Winter Symposium

Our 2025 Winter Symposium featuring Curt Thompson, MD was a fruitful time, with hundreds of students attending our large gathering in partnership with local partners and Veritas Forum, and events for graduate students and faculty as well.

To learn more about how you can help Carmen House Christian Study Center in it’s launch on the doorstep of Ohio State, visit:

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