For Your Consideration

On Thursday, June 4, 2026, Executive Director, Mike Sacasas, moderated a panel discussion inspired by the most recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence. Mike was joined by an ecumenical panel consisting of Ana Siljak (PhD), Lily Abadal (PhD), and Christoper Hampson (JD, MTS). This audio includes the discussion and the Q&A afterward.

About the Panel

Mike Sacasas (Moderator)

Executive Director, Christian Study Center of Gainesville

Mike Sacasas earned his MA in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary in 2002. He was later a doctoral candidate at the University of Central Florida studying the relationship between technology and society with a focus on the work of Hannah Arendt. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, an Associate Fellow in Ethics and Culture at the Greystone Theological Institute and is a contributing editor for Comment Magazine. His writing on technology and the moral life has appeared in The New Atlantis, Comment, The Point Magazine, and Plough.

Ana Siljak, PhD

Associate Professor of Humanities, University of Florida Hamilton School

Dr. Ana Siljak received her PhD in History from Harvard University and was a professor of history at Queen’s University until 2023. Her most recent publications include her edited volume entitled Religion and Secular Modernity in Russian Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism (Cornell University Press, 2024) and her edition of the translation of the correspondence of Nikolai Berdyaev and Jacques Maritain entitled An Exceptional Dialogue, 1925–1948: Nikolai Berdyaev and Jacques Maritain (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025). She is currently a co-author of the textbook, Visions of the West, to be published by Oxford University Press in 2026. She is currently completing her book on the personalist philosophy of Nikolai Berdiaev.

Lillian King Abadal, PhD

Visiting Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of South Florida

Dr. Lily Abadal completed her doctorate under the mentorship of Thomas Williams at the University of South Florida, focusing on the history of medieval philosophy and virtue ethics. Lily has presented original research at the American Academy of Religion’s annual conference, The New College Conference for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture, and numerous other academic conferences. She maintains an interest in history of medieval philosophy but has also begun developing several ideas in applied virtue ethics, particularly in healthcare and medicine.

Christopher Hampson, JD, MTS

Associate Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law

Professor Hampson is an award-winning scholar of bankruptcy, insolvency, and the ethics of debt. His research focuses on how legal institutions can best serve our shared values during times of financial distress. Professor Hampson earned an A.B. from Harvard College in the comparative study of religion, magna cum laude with highest honors, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, where he was a Dean’s Fellow. During his time at Harvard Law School, he served as Articles Co-Chair of the Harvard Law Review. He has written on a wide range of topics, from social enterprises and small businesses to debtors’ prisons and harsh debt collection practices. His scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in prominent law reviews across the country, including the Harvard Law Review, the Iowa Law Review, the Boston University Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, the American Bankruptcy Law Journal, and the Journal of Free Speech Law.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Thursday, April 9, 2026, Dr. Grace Hamman sat down with us for an interview where she shares about her faith journey, the beginnings of her interests in Medieval literature and art, and how we might reflect on Medieval uses of virtues and vices to reimagine their modern uses.

About the speaker

Grace Hamman (Ph.D, Duke University) is a writer, speaker, and medievalist. Dr. Hamman is the author of the award-winning Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues & Vices for a Whole & Holy Life, (Zondervan Reflective, 2025), the 2025 Christianity Today Book of the Year in Spiritual Formation, and finalist for the Dallas Willard Book of the Year. She also wrote Jesus through Medieval Eyes: Beholding Christ with the Artists, Mystics, and Theologians of the Middle Ages (Zondervan Reflective, 2023). Grace, her husband, and their three delightful children live in Colorado.

Dr. Hamman's visit to the Study Center was made possible by the John Templeton Foundation.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Dr. Antón Barba-Kay gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center. Dr. Barba-Kay is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego, and a Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center at Harvard.

Virtues are forms of habitual excellence. They are coherent responses of character to some stable set of threats, challenges, and temptations. But what becomes of the notion of virtue when we inhabit technological and social circumstances that are changing more quickly than we know what to do with? How should we approach the task of educating children to adulthood and forming human beings within a world that is increasingly unable to imagine the long term? Dr. Barba-Kay ventures some thoughts on these questions based on his experience teaching at Deep Springs College and offers some suggestions for formulating virtues suited to a time of deep disruption and uncertainty.

Speaker bio

Dr. Barba-Kay is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego, and a Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center at Harvard. He received his PhD in 2013 from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago; he has been Associate Professor of Philosophy at Catholic University and Robert Aird Chair of Humanities at Deep Springs College. In addition to his scholarly publications in nineteenth-century German philosophy, his essays about culture and technology have appeared in The New Republic, The Atlantic, The New Atlantis, The Hedgehog Review, and The Point, among other magazines. A Web of Our Own Making–his book about what the internet is and what a difference it makes–was published in 2023 by Cambridge University Press.Dr. Barba-Kay ventures some thoughts on these questions based on his experience teaching at Deep Springs College and offers some suggestions for formulating virtues suited to a time of deep disruption and uncertainty.

This event is made possible by the John Templeton Foundation.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Thursday, February 19, 2026, Dr. Ellen Davis gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center.

Speaker Bio: 

Dr. Davis is an Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School. She is an established author who focuses her research on the effects of biblical interpretation on the life of faith communities and ways they respond to urgent public issues. Her most recent book, Opening Israel's Scriptures (Oxford, 2019), is a comprehensive theological reading of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. She also has a forthcoming book, Light within Light: Psalms and the Arts of Insight, of which she is a co-writer along with world-renowned artist, Makoto Fujimaura, and prominent theologian Shai Held.

This episode has been produced and edited with the help of Michael Lynch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Monday, November 3rd, 2025, Dr. Samuel Kimbriel gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center. Samuel Kimbriel, Ph.D., is the Founder and Director of Aspen’s Philosophy & Society Initiative.

Philosophers from Aristotle onward have often considered love—and friendship in particular—to be very near to the culmination of human life. We cannot attain the fullest version of our human selves without it. Yet love is always occurring against the backdrop of history, and the conditions of love are shifting dramatically in our time.

The age of mass media has altered the scale of human community dramatically. The churn of our economic model shifts the structure of material dependency. And now in the age of AI we are seeing both centralizing and isolating factors, all of which are changing the conditions for love. This lecture will assess these shifting conditions—and mount its own defense regarding the future of love.

Lecturer Bio

Dr. Samuel Kimbriel is a political philosopher, author, and founding director of Aspen’s Philosophy & Society Initiative. He is the author of Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation published by Oxford University Press, and he holds MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Thursday, October 23rd, 2025, Dr. Kevin Bird gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center. Kevin Bird, Ph.D., serves as the Center’s Experiential Learning Coordinator and Lecturer with the UF Bob Graham Center for Public Service.

Martin Luther King Jr. called the songs sung during critical junctures of the struggle for America’s Second Reconstruction, “the soul of the movement.” Other Black Christian activists contended the Civil Rights Movement would not have been possible without signing.

In this talk, Dr. Kevin Bird will explore the role of singing and a few representative songs in enlivening the movement, deconstructing Jim Crow, and paving the way for the most significant expansion of democracy in the history of the United States. Dr. Bird will also comment on singing and songs from an understanding of the Movement as America’s Third Great Awakening.

Lecturer Bio

Kevin Bird, Ph.D., serves as the Center's Experiential Learning Coordinator and Lecturer with the UF Bob Graham Center for Public Service. Kevin has a doctorate in history from UF with a focus on the American South. He appreciates researching and teaching on the consequential movements of change that secured modern notions of citizenship and unshackled democracy.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Saturday, October 11th, Joshua Perlin gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Joshua is the current Assistant Director of Educational Programs at the Christian Study Center.

In the third lecture at the 25th Anniversary Celebration, Joshua gave a talk about what we might consider when we encounter two or more truths that seem paradoxical. Christian theology is imbued with this paradoxical thinking (i.e. the Trinitarian nature of God). In the first porting of his talk, Joshua sketches a model of four distinct psychological approaches to thinking about two contrary truths (“either/or” thinking or “both/and” thinking). In the second part, Joshua elaborates on the distinctly Christian quality of both/and thinking. And finally, he asks us to consider how the adoption of this paradoxical thinking can serve us in integrating our personal faith narrative with the larger narrative of Christianity.

Lecturer Bio

Josh Perlin earned his B.A. in Psychology from Emory University, with minors in Religion and Ethics, and has recently completed his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Florida. His research interests concern narrative identity, liturgical formation, and theological anthropology. Specifically, his dissertation examines whether liturgical style shapes how Anglican Christians narrate their religious autobiographies. In his role as Assistant Director of Educational Programs at the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Josh works on program development and implementation, as well as connecting faculty, staff, and graduate students at the University with the work of the CSC.

This episode has been produced and edited with the help of Michael Lynch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Friday, October 10th, Mike Sacasas and Josh Perlin sat down with music artist Jess Ray for a conversation about faith, art, and story. This interview was part of the 25th Anniversary Celebration.

Guest Bio

“A singer-songwriter, producer, and creative supernova based in her beloved home state of North Carolina. Crafting a new wave of music for those seeking God, Jess blends fresh sonic style with timeless truths, delicately weaving it all together with the realities of the human experience. There is a place for everyone in Jess’ camp of friendly folk music.”

​As part of the Anniversary Celebration, we will got to enjoy a night of worship with Jess Ray on her MATIN tour. The concert drew from four albums of quiet songs and hymns, recorded from first light until sunrise. Her style and selection offered guests a beautiful time of worship and reflection.

This episode has been produced and edited with the help of Michael Lynch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Saturday, October 11th, Mike Sacasas gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Mike is the Executive Director at the Christian Study Center.

Two questions framed the contents of Mike’s talk: “How do Study Centers fit into the landscape of the Christian higher education?” and “How do Study Centers contribute to the life of the universities they serve?” In his talk, Mike invites us to consider the changing attitudes toward higher education, recent university closures (of which Christian colleges make up almost half) and the technological elements affecting how valuable and viable some four year degrees seem (especially with the spread of AI in school and the workplace). Mike presents Study Centers as one solution for Christian learning and a means of innovation to meet the demands of the moment with the goal to form people intellectually by helping them think Christianly about the world.

Lecturer Bio

Michael Sacasas earned his MA in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary in 2002. He was later a doctoral candidate at the University of Central Florida studying the relationship between technology and society with a focus on the work of Hannah Arendt. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, an Associate Fellow in Ethics and Culture at the Greystone Theological Institute, and is a contributing editor for Comment Magazine. His writing on technology and the moral life has appeared in The New Atlantis, Comment, The Point Magazine, and Plough.

This episode has been produced and edited with the help of Michael Lynch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com

On Friday, October 10th, Dr. Richard Horner gave a public lecture at Christian Study Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. Dr. Horner is one of the founders of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville.

In his lecture, Dr. Horner draws from the philosophical work of Saint Augustine, Alasdair McIntyre, and Blaise Pascal to raise challenges to modern thinking inspired by the projects of René Descartes, Enlightenment, and Liberalism that propound humanity’s ability arrive to certainty through reason alone. Utilizing the questions “What frames what?” and “With whom are you in conversation?” Dr. Horner presents what he believes to be a better framework than what’s presented as a result of modernity. Additionally, he expounds upon the importance of reconsidering which telos is the most reasonable and leads to human flourishing.

Lecturer Bio

In the summer of 2001, Dr. Horner left his position at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia to become the first Director of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, where he served until his retirement in 2022. He received his BA in History from Houghton College, his MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary, his PhD in Intellectual History from the University of Virginia, and he is ordained as a Pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He has taught part-time at James Madison University, the University of Delaware, the University of Florida, and Reformed Theological Seminary and has served churches in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. In retirement Dr. Horner works on various writing projects, including “The Yellow Pad,” and delights in the pleasures of simply being with his wife April, their three children, and their four grandchildren. Dr. Horner is recognized as Director Emeritus at the Study Center.

This episode has been produced and edited with the help of Michael Lynch.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christianstudycenter.substack.com