Alumni

CC Faculty Spotlight

For CC Professor Kevin Hoffman ’93, probing Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s views of faith and suffering, using his skills as a carpenter to help students build housing in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, or pondering “The Perplexities of Personal Love” (the title of one of his CC seminars) are all part of the same enterprise: enabling students to think for themselves and become “integrated human beings.”

Kevin Hoffman ’93 and students repair New Orleans homes during a spring break volunteer trip.

“Given the content of what I teach, our moral and spiritual aspirations regularly emerge as topics of exploration,” Hoffman says. “Some educators might find this too personal, while I think it is perfectly natural.”

A CC student favorite whom they regularly encounter as coordinator of the Freshman Program, Valparaiso University alumnus Hoffman holds a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Fordham University. Hoffman’s scholarship on Kierkegaard has drawn growing praise from leading philosophers for its fresh interdisciplinary insights.

Hoffman was recently awarded Valparaiso University’s prestigious Caterpillar Award for Excellence in Teaching. CC students who helped nominate Hoffman for the award said, “His hospitality, respect, generosity, and sense of humor will stay with students long after they no longer remember details from books.”

“I do take my teaching responsibilities as the most important part of my job,” says Hoffman. “And I love it.”

Here is what Christ College students are reading in the seminar “Perplexities of Personal Love”:

• Paul Elie, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”
• Plato, “On Love”
• Andreas Capellanus, “The Art of Courtly Love”
• Søren Kierkegaard, “The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage”
• Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, “The Story of Avis”
• Graham Greene, “The End of the Affair”
• Will D. Campbell, “Brother to a Dragonfly”
• Andrew Sullivan, “Love Undetectable”