Dr. Daniel Lee Hill, assistant professor of Christian theology at George W. Truett Seminary at Baylor University, has been named the 2022 Emerging Public Intellectual. Hill holds a master of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD from Wheaton College. His research interests include ecclesiology, theological anthropology and political theology. 

“Dr. Hill has a unique and profound gift for translation in his public scholarship, for the common good,” says Dr. Jessica Joustra, director of the Albert M. Wolters Centre for Christian Scholarship at Redeemer. “He is able to mine rich, deep, complex insights from Christians in many different times and places to bear on pressing issues for our own day. Not only is this evident in his public scholarship, it is also evident in his public, daily witness. The award committee was impressed and encouraged by not only Dr. Hill’s academic rigor and ability to translate these insights, but by the strong evidence of the courage and sacrifice that marked Dr. Hill’s desire to follow the way of the cross in every aspect of his life and calling. Dr. Hill’s work and witness testify to his infectious and inviting posture of confidence and hope in what God has done, can do and will do in his world.”

Dr. Hill has a unique and profound gift for translation in his public scholarship, for the common good.

Hill says his work in the academy mostly orbits questions of the human creature, her contexts, and the relationship between the two. He uses these insights to find innovative ways to approach 21st century challenges including race, social-sin, human embodiment and human frailty. He is currently writing a book titled, Freedom Papers: Toward an Evangelical Political Theology, which is planned for completion next year. He also published Gathered on the Road to Zion: Toward a Free Church Ecclesio-Anthropology in 2020. He previously served in young adult and college ministry and was a founding board member of a classical Christian school on Chicago’s West Side. 

“I hope that my work will inspire Christians to new ways of engaging public issues, new ways of collaborating together across denominational lines; that it would encourage sharing of strategies, visions, resources and ‘best practices,’ to borrow a term from educational policy. And I hope my work encourages Christians to be hopeful,” says Hill. 

The Emerging Public Intellectual Award is intended to recognize and foster emerging talent—those working in the Christian academy who excel in both academic and public spheres and whose work impacts the common good. This prestigious award is sponsored and adjudicated by Redeemer University, Cardus, the Acton Institute, the Centre for Public Justice, the Henry Institute, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), and The Richard John Mouw Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Redeemer will host Hill on campus on January 25, 2023, for its annual The World and Our Calling lecture.

Read more about Dr. Daniel Lee Hill and the work of Redeemer’s Albert M. Wolters Centre for Christian Scholarship.