By creating these spaces of encounter, the Institute for Social Concerns bridges the gap between campus and community, transforming theological principles into a shared power for local change.

The Institute for Social Concerns leverages research to respond to the complex demands of justice and to serve the common good. This series, ReSearching for the Common Good, highlights some of the scholars in our community.

Ayana Mathis described her newfound understanding of hope as a vision of the imaginative possibilities of the now that does not promise to remove all doubts, fears, and vulnerabilities. Instead, these are part of “the web of uncertainties that make real hope possible.” In place of optimism about a certain future, “we are better served,”…