ACSI Research Fellow Program

91黑料网 / Thought Leadership / ACSI Research Fellow Program
Program Overview

The Research Fellowship program at ACSI offers a unique opportunity for talented researchers to contribute to advancing the field of Christian education while addressing critical global challenges. By fostering collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovative research, the program aims to make a significant impact on the world stage.

Program Aims:
  • Create a vibrant and inclusive international research community.
  • Foster collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovative solutions to address both US and global challenges through research projects in Christian education.
 
Program Oversight:
  • The fellows will collaboratively work with ACSI’s research department and Thought Leadership and the Research Director will oversee the program.

 

ACSI Fellows Collaborate on Research to Advance Faith-Based Education

ACSI Fellows collaborate with the Thought Leadership team (Research Department) to develop research and Working Papers on important topics in education, spirituality, and culture, focusing on their impact within the realm of Christian education. Their work addresses current trends and challenges, offering valuable insights for advancing faith-based learning.

Research in Brief

RiB is a biannual publication by ACSI, aimed at sharing the latest research findings and insights on the Christian school sector. It is available exclusively to ACSI member school and is managed by ACSI Director of Research.

 

Current Fellows
Lynn Swaner

 

Lynn Swaner Ed.D.

President of Cardus USA – ACSI Senior Research Fellow
Dr. Lynn Swaner is the President, US at Cardus, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good. She also serves as a Senior Fellow for the 91黑料网 (ACSI). Dr. Swaner is the editor or lead author of numerous books, including Future Ready: Innovative Missions and Models in Christian Education (Cardus & ACSI, 2022); Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators, and Schools (Eerdmans, 2021); and MindShift: Catalyzing Change in Christian Education (ACSI, 2019). Dr. Swaner holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University and a diploma in strategy and innovation from University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She previously served as a professor of education and a Christian school leader in New York.
Matthew Lee

 

Matthew Lee, Ph.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University - ACSI Senior Research Fellow
Matthew Lee is Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University. He previously served as the Director of Research at the 91黑料网, where he helped develop the Flourishing Faith Index. His peer-reviewed research on Christian education has appeared in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Religious and Health, International Journal of Educational Development, and the Journal of Religious Education. He is co-author of Future Ready (ACSI/Cardus 2022) and co-editor of Religious Liberty and Education (Rowman & Littlefield 2020). He earned his Ph.D. in education policy at the University of Arkansas.
Francis Ben

 

Francis Ben, Ph.D.

Associate Professor & Head of Postgraduate Coursework and Research at Tabor College Adelaide Australia – ACSI Global Research Fellow
Francis has more than 30 combined years of experience in secondary and tertiary education. He has an undergraduate qualification in Civil Engineering, and postgraduate qualifications in Physics and Education. At secondary schools in North Carolina, he taught mathematics and physics subjects. He also taught Physics, Research Methods, and Education-related subjects at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. His research and publications include Physics Education, Educational Measurement, large-scale studies (e.g., PISA). He is currently Head of Postgraduate Programs and Research in the Education Faculty at Tabor College of Higher Education in South Australia.
Alison Heap Johnson

 

Alison Heape Johnson

PhD candidate at the University of Arkansas – ACSI Junior Research Fellow
Alison is a PhD candidate and Distinguished Doctoral Fellow at the University of Arkansas where she studies education policy, with research interests in school finance, school choice, and teacher/administrator pipelines. She previously taught in both public and Christian schools and has a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language. She and her husband Blake reside in Arkansas with their newborn daughter and enjoy exploring the beauty of the Natural State and gathering with their church where Blake is a pastoral resident.
Become A Fellow
    Eligibility:
    • Understanding of Christian education.
    • Strong academic credentials (e.g., relevant degrees, publications, minimum a Ph.D. candidate in education programs for Junior Fellow and a Ph.D. or Ed.D. for Senior Fellow).
    • Demonstrated research excellence.
    • Experience in international research collaboration.
    • Excellent English communication skills.
    • Minimum five years experience of doing research.
     
    Nomination and selection process:
    • The selection of the fellows is done through ACSI’s internal nomination.
    Blog

    AI and Christian Imagination: Toward a Theology of Educational Technology

    Oct 7, 2025, 07:50 by Dr. Dave Mulder
    When the Lord said to Joshua, 鈥淕o up and attack Ai鈥 (Joshua 8:1), I鈥檓 pretty sure he wasn鈥檛 talking about ChatGPT. Yet sometimes, it seems like that鈥檚 how we treat Scripture鈥攕earching for a proof-text answer to contemporary issues. Is the Bible telling us that we should take up arms against algorithms? Smash the supercomputers? Obliterate the large language models? Clearly not. (Though I鈥檒l admit the mental picture here was too good to resist!)

    When the Lord said to Joshua, “Go up and attack Ai” (Joshua 8:1), I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about ChatGPT. Yet sometimes, it seems like that’s how we treat Scripture—searching for a proof-text answer to contemporary issues. Is the Bible telling us that we should take up arms against algorithms? Smash the supercomputers? Obliterate the large language models? Clearly not. (Though I’ll admit the mental picture here was too good to resist!)

    I hope you are reading my tone correctly: I take a high view of Scripture! So high, in fact, that this playful misreading of Joshua 8:1 is meant to highlight an important point: the Bible is not a manual on 21st-century technologies. You won’t find “computer,” “smartphone,” or “artificial intelligence” in your concordance. But that doesn’t mean Scripture is silent! The Bible might not have direct language about how to respond to the challenges of artificial intelligence, but there is plenty of wisdom in the Word that we can draw upon. Rather than a proof-texting approach, I suggest that we need to learn to think theologically—to discern biblical principles that can guide us as we live faithfully in a technology-rich world.

     

    Thinking Theologically About Technology

    My friend Derek Schuurman, a Christian computer scientist, reframes Tertullian’s old question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” by asking instead, “What has Silicon Valley to do with Jerusalem? What do bytes have to do with beliefs?” I think this is the right kind of question that we should be asking when it comes to technology. The challenge for Christian educators isn’t simply whether to use AI or not—it’s how to use technology Christianly, in ways that reflect God’s truth, goodness, and beauty.

    Thinking theologically means zooming out from prooftexts and instead considering the big picture. What principles emerge when we ask how this technology might help us love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength? How might it help us love our neighbors as ourselves? Where might it distort that calling?

     

    Practicing Humble Skepticism

    Of course, not every promise about technology deserves our wholehearted embrace. Neil Postman—who was not a biblical prophet but was certainly prophetic—warned decades ago about “technopoly,” a culture in which technology becomes the dominant authority. Even before the internet, Postman worried about information glut and just how easily we could be misled by implausible claims.

    His warning rings even truer in an AI-saturated world, where every week seems to bring new breathless headlines: This will revolutionize teaching and learning! If you don’t use this, your students will be left behind! Or, alternatively: AI will destroy education as we know it! We have to ban it!

    How do we respond? I’ll suggest an approach I call “humble skepticism.” This is not a knee-jerk rejection, but also not naïve enthusiasm. Instead, we discern—testing the spirits of our age, as the apostle John would put it. (See 1 John 4:1-6.) We ask careful questions:

    • What does this technology promise?
    • How likely is it to deliver on that promise?
    • What will we gain, and what will we lose, by using it?
    • Can this be used in ways that align with the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

    Jesus told his disciples to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. That’s the posture we need with AI: discerning but hopeful, critical but charitable.

     

    Technology in the Arc of the Redemptive Story

    The fullest Christian imagination for AI comes when we set it inside the Big Story of Scripture: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.

    • Creation reminds us that technology itself is not evil. Human creativity, including tool-making and innovation, is part of God’s “very good” design.
    • The Fall warns us that technology, like all things, is twisted by sin and can be wielded for harm. Algorithms can amplify injustice as easily as they can aid learning.
    • Redemption proclaims that Christ has reconciled all things—yes, even the digital and technological—through his death and resurrection. There is no corner of creation outside his sovereign rule!
    • Restoration points us forward. Notice the story doesn’t end back in the garden but in a city, the New Jerusalem. That detail matters! It suggests that cultural and technological development are not detours from God’s plan but part of the unfolding story. In the end, Christ declares, “I am making all things new.” Even our tools, our machines, and our inventions will somehow be caught up in God’s renewal.

    Can I picture AI in the New Jerusalem? Honestly, I don’t know. But I like to imagine that even our most advanced technologies could be transfigured into tools of love, justice, and praise. And in the meantime, we are invited to use them in restoration-oriented ways—ways that glorify God, honor human dignity, and serve our neighbors.

     

    Imagining Christianly

    So, should we attack AI? No. But should we think carefully, critically, and hopefully about AI? Absolutely.

    Christian educators don’t need to be either AI alarmists or uncritical cheerleaders. Instead, we are called to cultivate a theological imagination for technology—one that balances trust in God’s sovereignty with humble skepticism about human promises, one that remembers the arc of the redemptive story, and one that dares to ask what it means to live as disciples of Jesus in a technology-rich world.

    Maybe the better battle cry isn’t “Attack AI!” but “Imagine Christianly.”