From a link at the Desiring God blog.

Dr. Piper and many others, we’re glad that our resources reach you, encourage you, and make you think.

Here’s a comment from Piper’s blog on innovation:

“I heard Collin Hansen say in an interview that John Piper is not an innovator.

I hope I can live up to that tribute. I would like it to be true. I am very happy with the simple role of blowing the boredom out of people’s brains with long-forgotten, old-fashioned, faithful blasts of biblical truth.”

Thanks to DG for the link.

Day five, the final day of the conference. 

I’m not going to recap the last few talks, though I will tell you that this morning featured a stimulating session with Drs. Robert Priest of TEDS and David Lee of Evangel Seminary.  In their papers, the speakers considered the topic of contextualization on theological grounds.  Priest, an anthropologist, encouraged the audience to theologically contextualize–that is, adapt–their message to foreign contexts.  Lee gave several examples of how this might be done, noting that in China, Christians can accommodate the biblical idea of wisdom to the lives of those to whom they witness with little trouble.

All this provoked reflection on the ways in which we as Christians fit the timeless truths of the Bible to the situations in which we find ourselves.  We never simply teach the Bible in a new place–and that’s that.  We’re always adapting what we’re teaching, choosing the right words, picking out certain clothes, deciding what we need to focus on doctrinally in this particular place with these particular people.  All of us, then, do contextualization on a theological level, whether we realize it or not.

At the same time, though, the Bible is the norm that norms all other norms, as the Reformers put it.  Though it comes to us in specifically Jewish and Greek clothing (with some other cultures in the mix as well), the truths of the Bible transform our reality and dictate to us the terms of our existence in the particular cultural situations in which we find ourselves.  We don’t pick and choose which biblical ideals fit our situation best, and implement them as we see fit.  Becoming a Christian is at the most fundamental level a matter of submission.  We as sinful rebels submit ourselves to the God who, with Spirit-opened eyes, we now see to be not a tyrant, not a deity we can manage, not a shadow, but a majestic being whose very existence threatens to destroy our own.  From this posture, we run–we do not walk–to follow the will of this holy God, allowing Him to shape us and the cultural outlook we possess.

As one can see, there are significant issues to work out here.  In some sense, this is the task of theology–to apply timeless truth to contemporary life. 

Our conference is ended.  We have had a very fruitful week in Hong Kong.  We have heard from expert scholars and learned from global saints.  We have broken bread–lots of it–with Chinese Christians, and we are all the richer for it.  As we have considered the nature of evangelical identity through academic work, we have in some sense altered our own personal conception of evangelical identity.  The act of international fellowship, after all, is no mere passing of the time, but is itself a transformational act.  How thankful we at the Henry Center are for opportunities like this.  We bear a huge debt to our generous supporters who, like Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, care deeply about the global church of Christ, and have taken tangible steps to nurture and support it.  We look forward to our Nairobi conference in August 2008 and our Tokyo conference in 2010, endeavors that we trust will accomplish further advancement of God’s kingdom in our own lives and in our world.

On behalf of Center director Doug Sweeney, thank you for reading this series.  All our best to you in your work to advance the gospel in a world that so desperately needs it. 

Day Four in Hong Kong, and we are right in the thick of our conference.  It is going quite nicely.  Last night, we held a session at an Evangelical Free church that meets in a shopping mall in the city, Tsim Fook church.  Well over 200 people turned out to hear Drs. Tremper Longman and David Pao consider the topic of holy war.

Longman’s presentation was entitled “Holy War” and the Universal God: Reading the Old Testament Holy War Texts in a Biblical-Theological and Post-Colonial Setting”.  I have certainly heard of Tremper Longman, and I have used his commentaries, but I always find that my understanding of an author is altogether altered after I meet them in person or hear them speak in public.  Longman’s talk exemplified the best of evangelical scholarship as it traced the idea of holy war through the canon.  It brimmed with passion, pulsed with theological insight, and made a clear and indelible mark on its hearers.  I would heartily commend Longman’s works to readers.  He clearly has a passion to help the church know its Bible.  After his talk, which was given through an interpreter, David Pao of TEDS spoke.  Pao considered the idea of holy war in the New Testament and noted that when obeying the Lord, Christians are actually engaging in spiritual warfare of the kind discussed in Ephesians 6.  He noted that such action was fundamentally subversive to the spiritual powers of darkness and marched through the NT material with vigor and wisdom.  It has been enjoyable to see Dr. Pao in his home territory.  He is a hugely respected figure here, and his presentation demonstrated why.

This morning, Drs. Tite Tienou of TEDS, Paul Lai of CES, and Carver Yu of CGST covered theological education.  Each of the presentations by these key administrators raised valuable questions on this topic, and each provided interesting guidance for the Christian academy in the days ahead.  Theological contextualization was a common focus, as was missional theologizing.  Oxford-educated Carver Yu’s talk, “Forging Evangelical Identity: Integration of Models of Theological Education in the Global Context”, gave an excellent survey of the market forces that imperil Christian witness.  Yu challenged the audience to adapt a theological model of education in which theology, according to theologian Karl Barth, critiques the preaching and witness of the church.  As can be expected, the lecture was challenging and provocative. 

The morning session prompted thought on my part about the nature of theological education.  In general, the academy was assumed as a necessary presence in all of the lectures.  It is interesting, though, that the New Testament, while recognizing and ennobling the office of teachers, nowhere posits the need for an academy.  By mentioning this I do not wish to be read as casting aspersions on the academy.  Indeed, I am at TEDS as a PhD student, and earning my bread by working for the Henry Center at TEDS.  With that said, it does seem to me that there is helpful ground to be covered on the topic of church-based theological education.  How can the church and the academy better work together such that professionalization and insufficient preparation are together overcome?  Going too far one way at this point in the church’s history seems to me to deprive us either of ministerial depth or ecclesial connection.  I hope that in future days we can think more about this matter.

We have just one more day to go in Hong Kong (one full day, that is).  The week has been intensive but profitable.  I had hopes of playing the greatest game in the world (basketball, for those who didn’t immediately know) with some people from the city, but it seems that time is short and this wish may go ungranted.  This is inconsequential, though, because we are having such a rich time interacting with fellow Christians, learning from them, and fellowshipping together that the days are passing quickly and enjoyably. 

What a privilege it has been to be with believers of other lands in a foreign place.  I am thankful for the Henry Center and its supporters.  One can write sparkling copy about the importance of theological partnership, and that’s one thing.  But when one experiences it, one finds that the copy, however polished, speaks truly.  The reality of united Christianity sinks in, and the heart yearns even more for a day when division and distance are overcome, and the body of Christ is freed to worship its Lord and Savior together in the splendor of holiness.

The actual conference started today and has gone very well through the first two sessions.  We’re at the YMCA International House on Waterloo Street, right in the middle of bustling Hong Kong. 

This morning, historians Doug Sweeney of TEDS and Kevin Yao of China Graduate School of Theology discussed the nature of evangelical identity as related to history.  Sweeney’s talk, “Modern Evangelicalism and Global Christian Identity: Promise and Peril as Seen Through the Eyes of a North American Church Historian”, surveyed definitions of evangelicalism, suggested one that emphasized the fact that evangelicalism is founded upon an eighteenth century “twist”, and then encouraged Christians of all stripes to simultaneously preserve the indigenous nature of the faith as expressed in their culture and to link arms with the global and historical church. 

This was an important message for Christians of both East and West to hear.  No group of Christians is immune to the danger of narrowed vision.  Indeed, in America, we saw time and time again efforts and organizations pop up with great motives but no confessional and ecclesiastical connection.  What great need, then, for Christians to simultaneously take the faith to their culture while connecting themselves, however awkwardly, to the church of all ages and cultures.  Our faith must be both horizontal, linked to those who claim Christ across the world, and vertical, linked to the church of ages past and, God willing, of ages to come.

Yao gave a strong talk titled “Chinese Evangelicals and Social Concerns: A Historical and Comparative Review” on the nature of Chinese approach to government and society.  Surveying the Christian heritage of China, he noted that in the past, believers took an apolitical position.  Now, however, they are rethinking this position, and it seems best to Yao for the church to ” to witness to Christian faith through teaching basic Christian values, charity and dialogue with the authority.”  I found this a provocative insight. 

Following a panel discussion between Sweeney, Yao, and moderator Andrew Lam of Evangel Seminary, Old Testament scholars K. Lawson Younger of TEDS and Timothy Wu of China Evangelical Seminary spoke.  Younger’s talk, “The Old Testament in its Cultural Context: Implications of “Contextual Criticism” for Chinese and North American Christian Identity”, propounded a forceful case for the need to analyze three primary environments in teaching and preaching the Scripture: literary (textual) environment, material cultural (archaeological) environment, and geographic (topological) environment.  Younger gave examples of ways in which these methods buttressed and enhanced study of Scripture.  Though the talk performed few exegetical feats, it gave a stirring call for close, careful study of the Bible.  It is easy for students of God’s Word to get distracted by various disciplines and endeavors.  Ideally, we should use philosophy, theology, history, and so on to enrich our study of the Word, but all our preaching and teaching should be founded upon an attempt to get to the very heart of the text. 

I remember well a great lesson from a class on Isaiah at Southern Seminary.  I wrote a long paper on chapter 55, attempting to get to the marrow of every clause, every word, but I missed a crucial point (the background for the “dogs” that Isaiah condemns) and my professor excoriated me for not doing so.  At the time, that stung a little bit.  Ever since then, however, I’ve remembered my professor’s point, and I’ve agreed with it completely.  Bringing out the importance of that term would not have revolutionized my preaching of that text, but it surely would have enriched it, and fed the saints a richer meal.  Younger’s talk corroborated that experience and encouraged me to work very hard to understand the text, and feed the saints the fullness of God’s Word.

Timothy Wu then spoke on “The Renewal of Culture: The De-Focus and Re-Focus After “Paradise Lost”.  Wu surveyed Genesis 1-11 from a canonical standpoint and sought to show how these chapters provide a model for the pattern of human history.  After declension (fall) comes renewal and transformation (Abraham).  It was very interesting to synthesize the two OT talks, as they together made the case for careful exegesis and biblical theology. 

There are more talks to go in the day.  I’m on my dinner break and have to go, although I must say that I’m not that hungry because our hosts are feeding us constantly and deliciously.  On one of our “coffee breaks”, which also provide us with little cheesecakes and scrumptious noodles (I can’t tell you how well this strange mix works), I bumped into a waiter named “Ringo”.  I asked him if he was named after the Beatle.  What ensued was an utterly hilarious conversation in which, I’m pretty sure, he thought that I was asking him if he played bass guitar.  I’m sure I was explaining myself with a complete and utter lack of clarity, despite numerous gesticulations, re-clarifications, and, at one point, a citation of Yoko Ono.  Oh well.  Such is life in a foreign environment.  It’s a good thing our speakers are a great deal clearer than my attempts at connection!

By the way, all of the conference talks will be published in a forthcoming volume.  The Center Blog will have more about that in the future.  Speaking of the future, I’ll be back tomorrow for more reportage and stories of self-humiliation.

Today was a day of sightseeing as the gracious staff of Evangel Seminary hosted the conference speakers from TEDS and elsewhere on a tour of Hong Kong.  Have you ever had a day in which your whole view of the world was expanded, stretched like a rubber band until it was irrevocably changed?  I had that kind of day today.  Let me tell you about it.

There is so much that happens to us simply by seeing new things.  It’s interesting.  You don’t need to interact with things; you don’t need to handle them; you can be a complete stranger to an area, and yet, simply by seeing them one’s perspective is shaped.  This came home to me as our group toured an island village about thirty minutes by boat from Hong Kong.  We left the city harbor on a big ferry, were buffeted by strong waves, and then passed through big stone walls to the port of Cheng Chau.  Once afoot, we walked the island, gazing into the little shops and nooks.  To those who have not been to such a place, let me say that the closeness of the quarters is stunning.  There is not an inch of wasted space.  In the West, we take space for granted.  Even poor people (in rural areas, granted) have massive land holdings compared to those in Hong Kong and its outlying territories.  Yet I am sure that the people whose homes I glimpsed do not share my conception of space, and thus are comfortable in their homes.  My brief time in Hong Kong has altered my understanding of real estate and the privilege of landholding.  What one takes for granted in the West is a virtual fiefdom in parts of the East.

While on Cheng Chau, the group visited Alliance Bible Seminary.  We took a tour of the campus and ate a very nice lunch that our hosts provided us.  Alliance could be termed a “resort seminary” as it is porched on a gorgeous hill of the island’s coast.  Tropical plants abound, and the campus, though small, is quite appealing.  Though located in a corner distant in my eyes from the mainland, Alliance has 180 full-time MDiv students and 900 students including part-timers.  For those who don’t know, those are impressive numbers.  The school has just started a PhD program and clearly believes in a brand of scholarship that is propelled by faith and intellect.  It has a library of roughly 50,000 volumes, an impressive total for a school in its situation.  Made me think of the almost unbelievable wealth of the Western church and the need to share that wealth with the East.  It would be no small thing for a church or parachurch organization to set up a book distribution system such that Christians could share resources with the global household of faith.  Many of us will end up having larger personal libraries than sister institutions worldwide.  Perhaps we can think about this situation, and perhaps we can ameliorate it in time to come.

After our visit to Cheng Chau, we visited a Lutheran retreat center in Tao Fong Shan started by Areopagus in the hills of what are called the “new territories,” regions just opened for business, so to speak.  We visited a fascinating church/temple (yes, I’ve got that right) started by a missionary in the early twentieth century who believed that one could combine the best of Christianity with the best of Buddhism.  Interesting proposition.  He fashioned a statue with a cross emerging from a lotus.  Following our trip to the retreat center, which was peaceful and made one want to stay and take a nap, we drove to Evangel Seminary and enjoyed a kind reception from our hosts.  During the reception, I heard that the home of Chinese movie star Chow Yun-Fat was down the street a little ways.  I ran down the street (departure time was drawing nigh) and easily located the house.  It was the one with the barbed wire coils three feet high!  I took a picture of the house (that I may post on this blog at a later date, check back) and saw that a window on the second floor was open.  Perhaps I just missed my brush with Hollywood greatness.  Oh well.  Mentioning this house takes me back to my above comment on the preciousness of real estate.  The fact that Yun-Fat has a two-story house speaks of astonishing wealth.  His home, which was nice but entirely unremarkable, was worth the GDP of a small country. 

Following that, we returned to our hotel.  The day in sum brought reflection on the great responsibility of missionaries to steward the faith delivered to us in the Word.  It has occurred to me numerous times over the last few days that the church unreached countries (of which China was once one) are so very dependent on the teaching of missionaries and scholars who take up residence in these places.  The awesome responsibility of gospel stewardship becomes very real when one sees effects of theological waves that ripple on farther shores.  The point is an obvious one, but Christians taking the gospel to unreached places have a huge burden upon their backs.  They must tell the truth about God and His Word.  They cannot avoid hard questions or fall back on ignorance.  They have to know the truth, for what they know and teach becomes in a very direct sense what the reached peoples will know and teach.  Perhaps this sounds obvious.  When one is in a foreign land, though, it gains fresh meaning and import.  Suddenly, innovation and experimentation seem less captivating.  Fidelity and seriousness seem of the utmost importance.  If we may say this of missionary work, of course, we may say it of all teaching done in Christ’s name and for His glory.

That concludes our recap of day two.  Tomorrow, the conference begins.  Some of the papers to be given sound absolutely engrossing.  The nature of how Chinese identity shapes and is shaped by evangelical identity is very complex.  I’m looking forward to hearing how world-class scholars comprehend the question and answer it, and I would invite you to join me in this great task of learning.

The Henry Center has gone international.  Director Doug Sweeney and Managing Director Owen Strachan (the author) are hosting an international conference in Hong Kong, China this week that covers the topic of Christian identity in diverse situations.  A number of faculty from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL are joining, as are scholars from Westmont College, Beeson Divinity School, Christar in India, Alliance Bible Seminary of China, Evangel Seminary in Hong Kong, and China Graduate School of Theology.  Students from TEDS and local seminaries will attend, as will area pastors and interested laypeople.  The conference will be on May 29-31 (see here for more details), but most of the conference speakers are here. 

It is my privilege to give you just a little taste of this exciting event through a blog series.  I don’t have a lot of time, and there’s a great deal going on, but my posts should give you a window into what we’re doing.  We are really excited by this conference, as it’s not common for Christians from East and West to gather together for such meaningful and productive fellowship.  This is a very unique part of the privilege it is to labor for Christ in a world of increasing connection.

Without further ado, my humble little travelogue.

Day One (and Two): Discovery and Jetlag

(Sunday) 9:00am–Say goodbye to wife.  Brave the wilds of O’Hare Airport.  Check-in goes surprisingly well.
9:30am–11:35am–Wander O’Hare in search of vitals.  Debate on which magazine to buy when confronted with 13,000 choices.
11:35am–Board plane for flight to Hong Kong.  Sit for an hour.  Am aware of what it is like to be a distinct ethnic minority.  Think to myself that this experience is going to be very good for me. 
12:35pm–Fifteen hour flight to Hong Kong commences.  Ponder the fact that I’ve only once been on a flight longer than eight hours.  Begin reading book (one).
1:15pm–First movie (of five!) begins screening. 
3:45pm–Start reading book (two).
6:45pm–Lunch is served.  A little plate of noodles and chicken with a microwaved roll never tasted so good.
1:15am–Both seatmates are asleep, as is most of the plane.  I’m staying up so that I can sleep once we arrive in Hong Kong (we will arrive at 4:30pm their time–HK is 13 hours ahead of Chicago time (CT)).  Realize that this means I have to stop reading.  Commence watching of “27 Dresses.” 
1:30am–End watching of “27 Dresses.” 
2:30am Chicago Time, 4:30pm HK time–Arrive at HK.  Connect with fellow TEDS folks.  Find our escort.  Drive into Hong Kong. 

I’m going to break in here and talk for a bit about my first impressions of the city.  For those who don’t know, it’s a port city.  In addition, though the city stretches over many miles, the terrain is quite hilly, even mountainous.  There is not a great deal of actual real estate in the city.  Thus, there are skyscrapers everywhere.  The roads are narrow.  The city is very clean.  It is utterly baffling to be in such a tightly constructed area.  Not a spare inch is wasted.  After we arrived at our hotel, we went out for a bite to eat.  Along the way, we entered a mall with ceilings that could not have been higher than 7.5 feet.  Little tiny shops proliferated, and people were almost back to back.  I noticed a number of real estate shops–places advertising apartment housing.  The rooms in these apartments boggle the mind, as they’re nothing less than tiny.  Yet if one wants to live in the city, it appears that this is standard–less than 800 square feet for whole families is quite normal.  For many Americans (outside of New York), such an apartment would be quaint.  Here, it is standard.

The city is crawling with red taxis.  At one stoplight, roughly thirty cars were stopped.  Over half were taxis.  Big rectangular buses swoop in from out of nowhere and park on a dime.  It’s interesting to ponder what it would be like to live in a city like this all of one’s life.  One gets used to simple things like seeing thousands of people per day.  In general, people seem to move in their own isolated trajectories with little sense of the larger flow of others.  Chinese pop music is everywhere.  It throws me off, because I expect to hear American voices.  In just a few blocks, we pass five banks.  The market here seems to be exploding.  Little noodle shops are also everywhere.  Some smell good to my American nose, others hint of strange foods I’ve never encountered and couldn’t imagine consuming.  I don’t think that I have ever felt like more of an outsider in this world than these moments.  I don’t say this in a negative sense, as if I think that people are excluding me.  No, I mean more what is cold, hard fact: I am an outsider.  All around me are people speaking words I can’t understand.  Language appears now more of a unifier than ever before.  Walking along, I yearn to be able to connect with others through language.  It is perhaps the simplest means of communication, one we take for granted, and I have no access to it, and am thus something of a shadow in the city, a passing presence who might as well not be there.

Back at the hotel, we ready for rest.  We’re all flagging, and jetlag is working its stupor-inducing magic.  Before I fall asleep, I look out my window.  A place like this reminds one of the bigness of God.  He oversees all of this, all of the madness, the controlled chaos, the billions of people who live and walk and buy noodles in places just like this.  I am overwhelmed by this city–though I’ve seen probably 1/50th of it–and discover that it is in places like this, places that overwhelm the senses and boggle the mind, that God’s sovereignty and presence becomes very real.  In a natural sense, there seems to be no center, no common point around which this all coheres and takes shape.  Life is anonymous, moving at light-speed, insignificant.  With God, though, there is a center.  Better than this, there is a personal center.  God is here.  He is ruling.  He is caring for His people and His world.  To eyes struggling to take it all in, His transcendence emerges clearest.  It is not simply in the pastures and meadows that we find God, and our need for Him.  It is in the city, walking on sidewalks, surrounded by ten thousand people who do not know my name, do not speak my language, and do not even know I exist.

That concludes day one (and two).  I put this all under day one because our flight and arrival was of a piece, though it stretched over two days.  The value of this experience will, I know, be immense, and I am thankful for the opportunity to be here, to go outside of myself, to fellowship with fellow Christians of foreign background, and to learn lessons of faith in a new land.  Tomorrow, I’ll give you a snapshot of our sightseeing, and the next few days, I’ll take you into the conference, and give you some highlights.

From Hong Kong, Owen Strachan.

It has been a busy and fruitful semester, and year, at the Henry Center.

Our Scripture and Ministry series brought several incisive speakers to wintry Deerfield. In January, we welcomed to campus Dr. Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Dr. Dever delivered a lecture on church membership that surveyed the biblical, historical, and theological case for membership. In April, Dr. Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary covered a biblical theology of wealth and possessions in a stimulating and wide-ranging lecture (see the above link to access the resources of each speaker). With both of our distinguished speakers, the Center was pleased to host question-and-answer sessions with area pastors in addition to dinners with friends of the Center. In the year to come, the Center anticipates an intellectual and spiritual harvest from lectures by pastor Dr. Phil Ryken of Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, PA (October 1, 2008) and theologians David Wells (October 29, 2008), Thomas Oden (January 21, 2009), and Esther Meek (March 18-19, 2009). Click here to read more about these future lectures.

The Center kicked off its Timothy Series in January with a visit from Pastor Scott Chapman of the Chapel in Grayslake, IL. Following Chapman’s profitable visit, we hosted Lee Eclov of the Village Church of Lincolnshire (IL), Steve Farish of Crossroads Church in Grayslake, IL and Stan Archie of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO. Each of these events featured Tuesday and Thursday chapel sermons, followed by a free lunch featuring discussion of the call and responsibilities of the pastor. Click here to listen to these resources. The Center staff has been especially encouraged by the response of our MDiv students to the Timothy Series. At a recent event, two students remarked that the series had afforded them the best guidance related to ministry of their seminary experience. This was a rewarding assessment for a program began just four months ago.

In April 2008, the Center hosted a debate on religious pluralism between Dr. Harold Netland of TEDS and Dr. Paul Knitter of Union Theological Seminary (NY). Viewed by a crowd of nearly 300 people that stretched into the adjoining hallway, the debate was live-blogged, webcasted to a live audience, and a major success. Here is the link to the detailed and helpful live-blog. Future debates are in the works and will feature the same brand of high-level conversation that is at once engaging and provocative.

The Center is pleased to sponsor symposia in which we consider issues related to the theological and intellectual life of the TEDS community. These discussions, which take shape from a presentation, lecture, or question-and-answer session, allow the Center to supplement its regular programmatic calendar with opportunities to sponsor conversation based in the thought-life trends of the seminary. The first iteration of the Trinity Symposia was a discussion between Center Director Doug Sweeney and TEDS MDiv student Collin Hansen on Hansen’s new book, Young, Restless, Reformed (Crossway, 2008). Find the audio and video of the event here. The Center desires to consider the key trends among the evangelical community in the current day, and this event yielded helpful reflection on movements among the younger wing of American evangelicalism.

Through the Christ on Campus Initiative, the Center sponsored the publishing of two articles in the past year. Intending these articles to be of wide-ranging utility, we do hope that you will consider perusing Craig L. Blomberg’s “Jesus of Nazareth: How Historians Can Know Him and Why It Matters” and Graham Cole’s “Do Christians Have a Worldview?” It is our particular concern that these materials reach the hands of students encountering crucial questions of faith and theology. We encourage you to pass them on to any who may benefit from them.

Faculty members gathered at four separate times in the school year to discuss papers submitted by their colleagues. The Deerfield Dialogue Group, sponsored by the Center, allows seminary professors of varying disciplines to avoid academic hyper-specialization and to learn from one another over a meal. We are pleased at the attendance this program has drawn since its inception and anticipate it bringing similar enrichment to the TEDS faculty in the coming year.

In the coming weeks and months, the Center will sponsor international conferences in Hong Kong, China (May 27-29, 2008) and Nairobi, Kenya (August 12-14, 2008). HCTU staff will travel with TEDS faculty members to these distant locales for important discussion with other Christians about the challenges of evangelical identity and theological education. Read descriptions of these conferences here. In the spirit of our namesake, Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, we desire to serve and learn from theological educators from all corners of the earth. These conferences will allow us to accomplish these aims as we form ministry partnerships of a value that are difficult to quantify.

Following its internationally oriented summer calendar, the Center will inaugurate a fresh season of on-campus events. Please do consider joining us for them. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the TEDS community, our friends beyond the campus, and the broader Christian community. We give thanks for a profitable 2007-08 calendar year and are hopeful that the coming year will bring kingdom partnership and advancement of greater magnitude and glory to God.

On Monday, April 28 at 2:30pm in Aldeen 113 on the campus of TEDS, the Henry Center will host a discussion between Dr. Doug Sweeney, Director of the Center, and Collin Hansen, TEDS MDiv student and author of the recently published Young, Restless, Reformed (Crossway, 2008). The event is free and open to all and will feature roughly an hour’s worth of discussion of the book and of recent theological movements among young evangelicals. Coffee and light refreshments will be served free of charge.

Join us for an hour of thoughtful discussion, and please note that Hansen’s book will be on sale at the event through the TEDS bookstore. The author will be signing copies free of charge for interested parties.

a report live-blogged by Andy Naselli

This evening is part of the annual Trinity Debates, “a series of discussions on challenging issues related to the church, theology, and the Christian life.”

Harold Netland vs. Paul Knitter

Read the rest of this entry »

The new article by eminent New Testament scholar Dr. Craig Blomberg of Denver Seminary, “Jesus of Nazareth: How Historians Can Know Him and Why it Matters”, is now available free of charge on the Henry Center website.  Simply click here to go straight to the article, which is presented in PDF format.

The Christ on Campus Initiative (CCI) is a ministry of the Henry Center created for the purpose of preparing and circulating literature for college and university students, addressing an array of important intellectual and practical issues from an evangelical Christian perspective.  The editorial team, led by D.A. Carson, commissions top evangelical scholars to oversee the creation and distribution of a variety of resources for university students. The goal of these resources is that they be intellectually rigorous, culturally relevant, persuasive in argument and faithful to historic, evangelical Christianity.

The Center hopes that website visitors will find this article by Dr. Blomberg an excellent resource in rightly understanding the significance of the historical Christ and His proper place in world history.