A Final Plug for the Global Theology Conference in Toronto this Saturday (October 3, 2015)

The Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) will hold its fourth annual Fall theology conference on Saturday, October 3, 2015 at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto.

The theme of the conference is “Global Evangelical Theology.” The keynote speaker, Dr. Las Newman (president of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Jamaica), will address the topic: “Theology on the Move: Discerning Global Shifts in Theological Thinking from the Global South.”

The conference runs from 8:00 am (beginning with registration and a continental breakfast) through 4:30 pm (ending with the presentation of the annual theological excellence award and a closing liturgy).

There will be about 50 paper presentations, in six concurrent sessions, on topics historical, theological, biblical, and missional—relating to the conference theme.

Click here for the conference schedule. And click here for online registration (though you can also register at the door). The registration site also has information about overnight accommodation if you want to travel to Toronto the night before.

If you want to check out my previous blog posts on this conference, they are here, and here, and here (in chronological order).

Is Yahweh a God of Violence?

This is a heads-up about an upcoming lecture for anyone in the Rochester area.

This Friday afternoon (September 4, 2015) there will be a public lecture on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College, entitled: “Yahweh, a God of Violence? Understanding God’s Old Testament Reputation.”

The lecture will be held at 3:00 pm in the Ellen Stowe dining room.

The speaker is Tyler Williams, an excellent Old Testament scholar, who is currently lead pastor at Greenfield Community Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He previously taught at Taylor University College and Seminary and at The Kings University College. he continues to serve as an adjunct professor at King’s.

I got to know Tyler Williams some years ago when he was teaching full-time, before he began his pastoral position at Greenfield. He has amazing expertise in biblical languages, and has done a lot of work on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

I still remember his paper at a biblical studies conference, where he demonstrated that the Greek version of Psalm 151 (found in the Septuagint) was original, and the Hebrew version in the Dead Sea Scrolls was derivative (an expansion of the Greek). He argued this counter-intuitive point so well, by careful exegesis of the psalm, that I have been convinced ever since.

This is his website with resources on biblical studies, including some of his course syllabi.

In his lecture at Roberts, Tyler will address the impression many people (both Christians and non-Christians) have, that the God of the Old Testament is a violent deity.

Please join me in attending this fascinating lecture, if you are able to. It is free and open to the public.

Click here for a flyer of the event.

 

A Theology Conference in Toronto with a Global Reach

We are almost at the deadline for early bird registration for the next Fall conference of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA), which will be held on October 3, 2015 on the campus of Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto.

There’s still an hour and a half to go if you want to beat the deadline for lower registration costs!

Here is where you can register online (don’t worry if you missed the deadline; it’s only $10.00 more after).

The Call for Papers this year drew almost fifty proposals on some aspect of “Global Evangelical Theology,” which is the theme of this Fall’s conference. With our keynote speaker, Dr. Las Newman, president of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Jamaica, we can expect an excellent selection of papers on historical, theological, and biblical aspects of the conference theme.

For more on this upcoming CETA conference, see my initial post on the topic, as well as my follow-up post on registration.