This spring I was scheduled to deliver a series of lectures as part of the Xplore program at Canadian Mennonite University entitled, “Theological Resistance in Troubled Times: The Compelling Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” Unfortunately, COVID had other ideas. I was only able to give two of the planned six lectures. Because I was teaching an intensive course on Bonhoeffer at Providence Theological Seminary the week that Xplore was scheduled to start, I had to record my first lecture: “Claimed by Costly Grace: The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” You can watch that recording below: Continue reading Claimed by Costly Grace (Video Resource)
Category Archives: Public Lectures
“God’s Unpredictable Plans”
The following is a response I was invited to recently give to chapter 1 of Matt Brough’s forthcoming book Let God Send: Crossing Boundaries and Serving in Christ’s Name. Matt is the Minister of Word and Sacraments at Prairie Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He also serves as the Program Coordinator for the New Worshiping Communities Initiative of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Continue reading “God’s Unpredictable Plans”
“Formed by the Word in an Age of Information”
My colleague at Providence Theological Seminary, Joshua Coutts, Assistant Professor of New Testament, recently presented a wonderful paper on the nature and use of Scripture at our Fall Biblical and Theological Studies Symposium. The paper was entitled, “Formed by the Word in an Age of Information: Recovering a Christian Approach to Scripture.” Another of my colleagues, Ed Neufeld, Professor of Biblical Studies provided a short response, in which he began by drawing some connections between Coutts’s paper and my essay “A Tale of Two Stanleys.” You can watch both the paper and response below:
Powerful Preaching: Fleming Rutledge’s Parchman Lectures
Fleming Rutledge recently delivered the Parchman Lectures at Truett Divinity School located at Baylor University on the theme “By the Word Worked: The Unique Power of Biblical Preaching.” I recently had the opportunity to watch the first two lectures which are available for public viewing through the Parchman Lectures Media Library.
In the second half of the first lecture, Rutledge incisively identified four trends that weaken the power of contemporary preaching, before positing five counter-affirmations about the power of the preached word. In what follows, I’ll attempt to summarize her important observations, in the hope of encouraging interested readers to watch the lecture itself. Continue reading Powerful Preaching: Fleming Rutledge’s Parchman Lectures
It’s Still the End of the World!
It was able to share an enjoyable evening last night with an engaged group of people at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg. One of the things I was attempting to do in my lecture was to recover the eschatological character of the Christian faith, bound up as it is with the coming of Messiah and the pouring out of the promised Spirit. The irruption of the eschaton introduces the distinction between church and world, which is clearly elucidated by Hauerwas and Willimon in the following quote which appeared in my lecture: Continue reading It’s Still the End of the World!
Providence Public Lecture
If you’re in the Winnipeg area tonight and looking for something to do, consider dropping by the McNally Robinson bookstore for my free public lecture: “‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’: Reclaiming an Eschatological Imagination.” If you’re not able to make it, but are interested in the topic, you’ll have another chance to hear the lecture on Tuesday at the Cultural Arts Centre in Steinbach, MB. Failing that, you could always consider registering for my upcoming modular course the week of March 4-8 at Providence Theological Seminary on “The Holy Spirit and Last Things.”