The Providence Public Lecture Series kicks off tonight at the McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg. Over the next seven weeks faculty from Providence University College and Theological Seminary will be delivering lectures that aspire to make their scholarly work accessible to a broader audience. Each presenter will deliver their lecture on a Friday night in Winnipeg and then on the following Tuesday evening in Steinbach at the Cultural Arts Centre. Continue reading The 2019 Providence Public Lecture Series
American Protestant Gnosticism
I’ve been revisiting Philip J. Lee’s incisive study Against the Protestant Gnostics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) in anticipation of lecturing on the life and work of the second century Church Father Irenaeus. Lee’s diagnosis of Protestant Gnosticism seems just as apt in 2019 as when he first published the book some thirty years ago. Here’s a few quotes from a chapter entitled, “Results of a Gnosticized Protestantism” that caught my attention. Continue reading American Protestant Gnosticism
Minding the Web on Kindle
Minding the Web: Making Theological Connections by Stanley Hauerwas with Robert J. Dean is now available for Kindle on Amazon.
America’s and Niverville’s Best Theologians
I was caught by surprise this morning when upon opening the town newspaper, the Niverville Citizen, I was confronted by my own face and that of Stanley Hauerwas staring back up at me. The article fittingly appears directly above a piece on the “Bear-y Holiday Musical” staged by the local elementary school, in which my kids participated. You can read the full article here. Continue reading America’s and Niverville’s Best Theologians
Restoring Catholicity (One Course at a Time)
With a new year comes a new semester and I am particularly looking forward to this coming semester at Providence Theological Seminary. In addition to the introductory “Theological Foundations” course, I am also going to be teaching an intensive course on the Holy Spirit and Eschatology in March and, beginning next week, a semester-length course entitled “Reading with the Fathers.” A keen and bright group of students have registered for the course and I am excited about what we will discover as we dig into the writings of Irenaeus, Origen, Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzus, and Augustine. Continue reading Restoring Catholicity (One Course at a Time)
The Word Became Flesh
One of the most interesting books I read this past year was Peter Leithart’s Delivered from the Elements of the World: Atonement, Justification, Mission (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016). Leithart skillfully integrates insights from a variety of disciplines to present a compelling, and profoundly biblical, vision of Christian reality.
Here’s a key quote from the book that powerfully spells out the profound theological reality that the church celebrates at Christmas. Continue reading The Word Became Flesh