How Carmen House Integrates Faith and Learning at OSU

At the heart of The Ohio State University, a new initiative is taking shape. Carmen House is a Christian Study Center that launched just six months ago, and is designed to help students and faculty explore how their intellectual pursuits connect with their faith.

Carmen House Founder and Executive Director, Aaron Badenhop, also serves as a part-time lecturer at The Ohio State University in the GenEd Bookends program. He is an OSU alum and served on staff with Cru OSU for twenty years. Aaron has a heart to have Carmen House serve as a collaborative resource; a place where ministries, churches, and the university community can engage in thoughtful conversation about life’s biggest questions. Its vision is to help students and faculty see their study, research, and teaching “with Christ and for Christ.”

While some believe faith should be confined to personal devotion or church settings, Carmen House encourages students to integrate their faith with their academic pursuits. Its programs and partnerships invite the university community to see how Christian faith offers meaning and purpose in every field of study. Carmen House aims to cultivate a generation of students and scholars who live out their calling within the academic world and beyond.

Carmen House functions as a neutral and unifying partner rather than a competitor to existing ministries and churches on campus. It provides intellectual and vocational resources that help students grow spiritually and connect in community. The hope is that students who encounter Carmen House will be more open to exploring Christianity and more connected to the ministries and churches that can nurture their ongoing discipleship.

Carmen House has already begun hosting a speaker and lecture series, and topics this fall have included "God’s Heart for Immigrants "and "Is There Evil?" In November, theologian and author Marlena Graves will speak on “Remembering Mortality” and December’s event will tackle “Forgiveness”. Beyond public events, Carmen House plans to launch faculty-led reading groups that help Christian professors and students integrate theology with their disciplines. These small gatherings will help form and strengthen a network of Christian thinkers at the university.

Carmen House is already playing a key role in the emerging For Columbus OSU Network, co-led by Josh Underwood (TBOC=Taking Back Our Campus). This network seeks to foster unity among campus ministries and churches serving Ohio State. Overcoming historical siloing among ministries is difficult, but Carmen House is helping to model collaboration, prayerful dependence on God, and a vision of flourishing that’s bigger than any one organization.

Finally, while its programming is strong, Carmen House currently lacks a dedicated facility. It often utilizes business co-working spaces like COHATCH, and though helpful, these spaces cannot function as open study centers for students. A permanent Carmen House facility would change that. We encourage you to check out the Carmen House website to learn more, and considering donating toward their programming and purchase of a future permanent facility. Universities like Virginia, UNC, Yale, and (dare we say) Michigan, already have thriving Christian Study Centers, and now is the time to invest in a flagship center at Ohio State!