Dr. Ryan Olson
Tuesday, Jan 24
3:15 – 4:30 pm
Christian character doesn’t form by accident. It’s shaped—day by day, in community, through Word and habit. And in today’s rapidly shifting world, character formation is not only vital for personal faith but also essential for leadership and the long-term health of churches and schools. Leadership isn’t mainly about titles or positions. At its core, leadership is about character—the kind that earns trust, steadies culture, and points people to Christ. When such character is formed and sustained within a community, it becomes one of the most powerful forces for lasting gospel influence.
This keynote will draw on historical and cultural lessons—from the early church to the Reformation to today—while also engaging fresh research into how character is shaped in schools, families, and congregations. Particular attention will be given to one of the greatest challenges facing us: the exodus of young adults. What strategies help them stay rooted in Christ and engaged in the life of the Church?
We’ll consider practical ways parishes, schools, and homes can cultivate resilience and faithfulness through everyday practices: teaching, mentoring, worship, and daily life together. In a culture pulling hearts in every direction, character formation is one of the most powerful strategies for gospel witness. And by the Spirit’s power, it’s more possible than we think.
Dr. Ryan Olson is a research professor at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, where he also co-directs the Colloquy on Culture and Formation. A classicist, Olson’s scholarship has focused on the literary, historical, religious, and cultural context of the eastern Mediterranean world from the Roman era through Late Antiquity. His historical research provides comparative material for times of intensive cultural change, as under the conditions of late modernity. Olson earned his doctorate in classics from Oxford University. He recently co-edited The Necessity of Character: Moral Formation and Leadership and The Content of Their Character: Inquiries into the Varieties of Moral Formation. His first book, Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery: The Poetics of Embedded Letters in Josephus, was published by Harvard University Press. Dr. Olson and his family are members at Living Hope (WELS) in Midlothian, Va.
