The Henry Center sponsors the Scripture & Ministry lectures, which feature distinguished Christian speakers addressing issues of crucial importance for relating Scripture and ministry. This series brings together Trinity Evangelical Divinity School faculty members, pastors and community members for a time of learning and fellowship. The relationship between theologians and practitioners calls for earnest efforts to bridge the gap that all too often divides them and to encourage mutually enriching collaboration in the gospel.
All 2011-2012 lectures will be held at 1pm (in the ATO chapel on the TEDS campus). They are free and open to everyone.
UPCOMING LECTURES | PAST LECTURES
February 22, 2012 | Jo Anne Lyon | The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters, Fishers, Indiana
“The Spirit and the Scripture: Transforming People and Cultures”
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a lens for viewing the world as it relates to the role of the church in bringing about Justice. Wesley’s view of Sanctification is an integral part of doing justice. The results continue to live with us today. This view of Social Justice and Sanctification became the embodiment of the beginnings of the American Holiness Movement. Structural Evil was identified and advocacy was also a part of one’s faith life. Today the Spirit is calling through the Scriptures and empowering His people to do Kingdom work in this second decade of the 21st century. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can redeeming work be done. It is happening!
March 14, 2012 | Michael Rea | University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
“Divine Hiddenness, Divine Silence”
Divine silence—or, as many think of it, divine hiddenness—is the source of one of the two most important and widely discussed objections to belief in God. It is also one of the most important sources of doubt and spiritual distress for religious believers. Many people seem to be utterly broken by divine silence in the midst of their own suffering or the suffering of others, or simply by the ongoing and unsatisfied longing for the presence of God. In this talk, Michael Rea explains why divine silence poses a serious intellectual obstacle to belief in God, and then goes on to consider ways of overcoming that obstacle. After considering several ways in which divine silence might actually be beneficial to human beings, he argues that perhaps silence is nothing more or less than God’s preferred mode of interaction with creatures like us. Perhaps God simply desires communion rather than overt communication with human beings, and perhaps God has provided ways for us to experience God’s presence richly even amidst the silence. Rea concludes that it is plausible to think that Biblical narratives and the liturgies of the church are the vehicles by which God’s presence is mediated to us.
September 12, 2012 | Michael Horton | Westminster Seminary California, Escondido, California
October 3, 2012 | Mark Labberton | Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California
