Frequently Asked Questions

What is character?

In the context of ethics, character refers to the comprehensive values and dispositions that reliably characterize a person’s actions in the world. Character can be used in a neutral sense — one has either good or bad character. But it is also frequently used as having a positive valence, as in “she is a person of character.” When we talk about character formation as part of the character hub, we are using this term in the latter sense, to indicate the development of virtue in a person.

What is a virtue?

According to Michael Lamb, Jonathan Brant and Edward Brooks, virtues are “excellences of character that contribute to and partly constitute human flourishing.” In other words, virtues are those good character traits that make for a good life by making us good people. Some examples of virtues are courage, prudence, gratitude and humility. From a Christian perspective you could say that virtues are the character traits that make a person more like Jesus.

How does character development relate to the Christian faith of Hope’s mission?

As a Christian college, we believe that God’s purpose for each one of us is to shape us into the image of his Son, that we might be, as C.S. Lewis put it, “little Christs.” In the ecumenical and invitational setting of Hope College, we recognize the complexity and mystery of the human person and the mystery of God’s work in human lives. While not all Hope students are confessing Christians, we want to promote character throughout our community, and we seek to provide opportunities for all students to grow in character, with a fundamental faith that the God who has created each one of us knows better than we do what we need at any given moment. God is always and everywhere at work, often in ways we do not understand.

How does a person grow in virtue or become more like Jesus?

Character growth is not like a recipe, where if you just mix the right ingredients in the right way, you’ll get the desired result. It is God’s work and we are called to participate in it. Much of this transformative work we do not control and may only be visible in retrospect: that time of struggle that has made us more understanding and compassionate towards others or the close group of friends that taught us the joy of loving our neighbor. At the Character Hub, we seek out specific ways that an academic community can facilitate or create space for character growth. Some of these include teaching about character, shining a light on exemplars of character, providing an opportunity for action, and encouraging self-examination.

Where is character formation happening at Hope?

Character formation is happening all the time – in the classroom and in the lab, in athletic teams, through Bible studies and immersion trips. No matter what we are doing, our character is always being shaped. Some of these ways are positive and some are negative. The goal of the Character Hub is to draw attention to all the ways that we are intentionally forming students (through the virtues of public discourse, Christian aspirations, Emmaus scholars, Phelps scholars, Hope Forward, etc.) and to provide resources to increase efforts across campus to form all members of our campus community into virtuous people. In short, at Hope we want character to be woven into the fabric of our campus community.

What is gratitude?

As humans, none of us is responsible for our existence. Instead, we receive our being from outside ourselves. We enter life as infants with a profound dependence on others. Throughout our lives we continue to receive and to depend on others, even as we grow in our own agency. Gift, in other words, is basic to human life. In Christian theology, this foundational receiving of life is from God – in our initial creation, in our daily lives and experience of providential care, and in our experiences of redemption. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive?” Literally everything is a gift.

Definition: The virtue of gratitude is an orientation to life by which we recognize and appreciate both our basic human rootedness in gift and the specific gifts we regularly receive from others through our dependence on God, human community and the natural world.

What is generosity?

Like gratitude, generosity is rooted in the fundamental recognition that life is a gift. Human generosity is modeled after and made possible by God’s generosity (Philippians 2:1–4). God continually brings creation into existence and lovingly cares for it. In Jesus, God has entered into creation and suffered and died on behalf of humanity. These gifts of God make possible our own generous giving in imitation of Christ.

Definition: Generosity is the act of giving some benefit to others in a manner that exceeds minimum necessity or expectations. Generous giving does not operate through contractual stipulations of what one owes or deserves.