Category Archives: Canada

Call for Papers for the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association Annual Meeting in Calgary, May 29, 2016

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The Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) has two theology conferences each year. One occurs at the end of May/early June, in conjunction with the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences of Canada. The other (which was inaugurated in 2012) is held in the Fall (usually in October), in conjunction with a local theological seminary or college.

This year both CETA conferences will be in Western Canada, giving the Association an opportunity to reach out to professors, graduate students, and pastors from the region who are interested in theological reflection for the sake of the church.

CETA Congress Meeting (May 29, 2016)

This year the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences will meet at the University of Calgary, and the CETA meeting will be on Sunday, May 29, 2016.

The executive of CETA have extended the deadline for receiving paper proposals for the Calgary meeting until February 15. You can download the extended Call for Papers here.

CETA Fall Conference (October 15, 2016)

The Fall CETA theology conference will be held in conjunction with the Associated Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS seminaries), a consortium of theological schools located on the campus of Trinity Western University, in Langley, BC. The date for the Fall conference is Saturday, October 15, 2016, and the keynote speaker will be Iain Provan, Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, in Vancouver, BC. When the Call for Papers for this conference is ready, I will post an announcement.

NES Theology Conference (March 18-19, 2016)

Remember that registration is open for the theology conference at Northeastern Seminary on March 18-19, 2016, with Michael Gorman as the keynote speaker (Gorman will give a public lecture the Friday evening of March 18, and another lecture during the conference proper on Saturday, March 19). The response to the Call for Papers was phenomenal, with the result that there will likely be about forty concurrent papers offered on a variety of topics under the broad umbrella of the conference theme, Participation in God’s Mission. Discounted registration lasts until February 8.

The Very Best Christian Analysis of ISIS (By Brian Stiller)

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Brian Stiller (a Canadian) has been Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) for the past four years. In this capacity he has visited dozens of countries (including Somalia, Japan, Nepal, Iraq, Egypt, South Sudan) to witness and liaise with Christian groups, especially those suffering persecution.

He has recently edited, along with other scholars, a volume entitled Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century (Thomas Nelson, 2015).

Along the way Stiller has gained a deep knowledge of the nature and problem of extremist Islam.

His four-part analysis of ISIS is the best and clearest I have found, and should be helpful to anyone wanting to understand the roots, development, character, and goals of this movement. It is particularly helpful in being informative yet non-ideological, while acknowledging the genuine danger of this form of extremist religion.

Stiller’s analysis originated as four “Dispatches from the Global Village” sent as emails to interested persons, which are now compiled into one succinct, yet comprehensive, article. The four parts are:

ISIS Part I: What it is

ISIS PART II: Four central questions

ISIS PART III: Six underlying realities; seven stages in conquest

ISIS PART IV: A Christian response

This is well-worth reading by anyone who wants to be informed on the subject.

 

Creatures of God: Human Nature & Evolution for Evangelicals & Catholics

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I recently began a series of blog posts on evolution and human nature, but I’ve had to put that aside for a while so I could prepare a lecture I will be giving in a few days in Vancouver, BC, as part of a two-day symposium funded by BioLogos.

The syposium is entitled “Creatures of God: Human Nature & Evolution for Evangelicals & Catholics” and is organized by Dr. Paul Allen, Associate Professor, Department of Theological Studies, Concordia University, Ottawa, ON.

Dr. Allen and his team have staged three prior symposia on related themes in three other Canadian contexts: Crandall University in Moncton, NB; Wycliffe College in Toronto, ON; and the Kings University College in Edmonton, AB.

At each of these events, theologians, philosophers, and scientists addressed different audiences of faculty, students, and members of the lay public on the question of human nature in the context of the orthodox claims of theological anthropology and the emergence of the human species according to Darwin’s theory and later revisions of it.

The symposium I’m a part of is addressed specifically to Evangelicals and Catholics, with presentations on the biblical and scientific sides of things.

I’ve been asked to speak on a biblical theology of humanity as imago Dei. I will give my lecture at Regent College (an Evangelical graduate school of theology affiliated with the University of British Columbia) at 7:00 pm on Thursday, October 29, 2015. The title of my lecture is: “Being Human: Engaging the Opening Chapters of Genesis in Light of Hominin Evolution.”

The following evening, Dr. Jeff Schloss (BioLogos Senior Scholar and T. B. Walker Chair of Natural and Behavioral Sciences at Westmont College) will be speaking at St. Mark’s College (the Catholic theological college of the University of British Columbia). His lecture is entitled: “Uncommon Nature Through Common Descent? Evolution and the Question of Human Exceptionalism.”

Each evening there will be a number of respondents to the paper that is presented, followed by an open discussion of the topic.

More information about both lectures can be found by downloading this flyer.