Category Archives: Conferences

Making All Things New—Faith and Work 2014 Conference

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In about a week I will be speaking at what looks to be a very exciting conference in New York City.

The conference is called “Making All Things New—Imagination & Innovation Required,” sponsored by the Center for Faith and Work, which is affiliated with Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

This is how the website describes the conference:

“The Faith and Work Conference is a two day gathering of industry leaders, cultural commentators, and leading theologians to reflect on the vital, inevitable intersection of our work and faith. Through keynote talks, exhibitions, workshops, and cultural outings, we’ll explore the role of imagination and innovation as expressions of God’s grace in our world. Artists and educators, designers and technicians, homemakers, engineers, managers, entrepreneurs, doctors, and everyone in between are invited to help us celebrate the remarkable reality that work matters.”

The conference begins Friday evening, November 7, and continues all day Saturday, November 8.

Timothy Keller (founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church) will give a keynote talk on Friday evening, framing the conference in terms a Christian imagination.

My own keynote, entitled “A Sacred Calling for Sacred Work,” will be on Saturday morning.

Other speakers include David Brooks (columnist for the New York Times), on a social imagination, as well as Dave Evans, Nancy Ortberg, and Margaret Newman.

The afternoon has an “Imagination and Innovation Expo,” with “workshops, tastings, conversations, screenings, demos and more.”

The conference ends with theologian and poet Christian Wiman leading participants through an imaginative exercise to envision the future together.

Bios for all the presenters are listed here.

Conference on “Toward an Evangelical Feminism” (this Saturday in Toronto)

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I am updating an earlier post, where I mentioned a theology conference I’m planning on attending.

The conference is coming up this Saturday, so if you want to attend there is still time (you can register online in advance, or you can register on site).

Since the conference schedule has been changed slightly I have provided an updated schedule, as well as a link to the abstracts for all the papers.

Toward an Evangelical Feminism: Scripture, Theology, Gender

This is the (somewhat audacious) title of this year’s fall conference of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA), to be held Saturday, October 18, 2014 at Wycliffe College in Toronto. The conference is co-sponsored by CETA, along with the Institute for Christian Studies and Wycliffe College.

A flyer for the conference is available, as well as the updated conference schedule and the paper abstracts.

The keynote address is by Marion Taylor (professor of OT at Wycliffe), on an evangelical feminist reading of Ruth, and the papers cover a wide range of topics. Some papers attempt to define evangelical feminism, while others are focused on reading the texts from the Old or New Testament that pertain to issues of the dignity and empowerment of women in God’s world.

Online registration is hosted by the Institute for Christian Studies (just scroll to the bottom of the page for the registration links).

Living Eucharistically: A Journey of Faith, Doubt, and Learning

This is the title of a talk I will give the day before the CETA conference (9:30 a.m. on Friday, October 17) at the Institute for Christian Studies (also in Toronto) in their “Scripture, Faith, and Scholarship” seminar. The seminar is primarily for doctoral students at the ICS, but is open to others.

As a past doctoral student at the ICS, I plan to share some of my own life journey, tracing how I initially moved towards a holistic biblical worldview, then—through a time of suffering and doubt–how I came to a second naivete by embracing lament and a deeper understanding of the gospel. I will end with a brief look at the journey ahead—in particular, the issues in human evolution and the Christian doctrine of the Fall that I’m currently working on (as part of a group research project with the Colossian Forum).

The fruit of the joint research project will first be a major conference called “Re-Imagining the Intersection of Evolution and the Fall” to be held at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (of Northwestern University) on March 26-28, 2015. Then there will be a book of essays arising from the conference presentations, edited by Jamie Smith and Bill Cavanaugh (the co-leaders of the project).

Evangelical Feminism and the Kingdom of God

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There are two interesting conferences coming up in October that I will be attending.

Toward an Evangelical Feminism

The first is the annual fall conference of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (CETA) on Saturday October 18, 2014 at Wycliffe College in Toronto. The conference is entitled “Toward and Evangelical Feminism: Scripture, Theology, Gender” and is co-sponsored by CETA with the Institute of Christian Studies and Wycliffe College. A flyer for the conference is available, as well as the conference schedule and the paper abstracts. The keynote address is by Marion Taylor (professor of OT at Wycliffe) on an evangelical feminist reading of Ruth, and the papers look fascinating (some of the papers attempt to define evangelical feminism and others are focused on reading the Bible as authoritative scripture that dignifies and empowers women in God’s world). Online registration is hosted by the Institute for Christian Studies (just scroll to the bottom of the page for the registration links).

Kingdom Conspiracy

The second conference, entitled “Kingdom Conspiracy: Reclaiming the Radical Mission of the Church in the World,” is sponsored by Missio Alliance, and will be held on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 on the campus of Northeastern Seminary and Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. The keynote speaker is well-known theologian and biblical scholar Scot McKnight, who hosts the blog “Jesus Creed” on the Patheos website. The advertising says that McKnight might ruffle a few feathers by providing “a biblical corrective and a fiercely radical vision for the role of the local church in the kingdom of God.” A flyer (with the conference schedule) is available and you can register here.

I’ll report on both conferences after I attend them.