Thinking After

Tag: eschatology

  • Upcoming Event: After Dispensationalism

    On Thursday, March 30, 2023, the Biblical and Theological Studies department of Providence Theological Seminary will be hosting a panel discussion of the forthcoming book After Dispensationalism: Reading the Bible for the End of the World written by Brian Irwin of Knox College, Toronto along with my colleague Tim Perry. If you’re a Christian in North America there’s a very good chance that you’ve either personally been influenced by dispensationalism or know someone who has. Guests are welcome to join the event in person or on Zoom. You can register for this free event and find out more information here.

  • Cultural Encounters: Apocalypse Now and Not Yet – Leaving No One Behind

    I have an essay entitled, “Reclaiming an Eschatological Imagination: A Dogmatic Sketch” appearing in the most recent issue of Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture on the theme “Apocalypse Now and Not Yet.”  Friends and former students will know that I have been teaching and lecturing on these themes going all the way back to my comprehensive examination on Apocalyptic Eschatology written years ago under the supervision of Joseph Mangina.  You can access a preview of the issue, which includes the first few pages of my essay here.  The issue also includes an essay by Rodney Clapp entitled, “Apocalyptic Hope in a World Consumed by Apocalypse” and an essay by John Morehead called “The Truth is Out There” on extraterrestrial salvation.

  • 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: (more…)

  • 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.”

     

  • The 2019 Providence Public Lecture Series

    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. (more…)

  • “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 2)

    Below you’ll find the audio for the second part of my presentation – “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Paul, the Kingdom and Living between the Times – from the Kingdom Come conference held at Bayview Glen Alliance Church this past weekend.  Having discussed the riddle of the apparent absence of the kingdom in Paul’s writings in the first part of the talk, in this section of the presentation I begin to consider the eschatological outlook at the heart of Paul’s theology. (more…)

  • Series: Newbigin on “The Call to the Church” – 1. Eschatology

    The previous post set the stage for a series of posts on Lesslie Newbigin’s understanding, as presented in Foolishness to the Greeks, of the seven essential conditions that must be recovered if there is to be a genuine missionary encounter between the church and the modern West.  The first of these essential conditions, Newbigin asserts, “must be the recovery and firm grasp of a true doctrine of the last things, of eschatology.”[1. Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1986), 134.]  (more…)

  • What’s Old is New Again

    In September 2012, just before Apple released the iPhone 5, comedian Jimmy Kimmel took to the streets to get the opinions of passersby on the new device. The only catch was that he was not showing them the new iPhone 5, but rather the older iPhone 4s. Nevertheless, people raved about how superior the new device was to the identical device they had in their pockets or, in some cases, their other hands. I’ve used the clip in a variety of settings to illustrate the power of worldview and the enduring influence of the Myth of Progress. (more…)

  • “Fire is Coming!”: An Advent Sermon

    The following is adapted from a sermon preached to pastoral ministry students at Tyndale Seminary near the beginning of the season of Advent this year.
    FireI didn’t come to ask how you’re doing these days
    Didn’t come to roll no stones away no
    I come to tell you the end is nigh
    I come to prophecy

    You wanted a messenger and I be he
    Your heebie jeebie man in ecstasy
    My eyes a blazin’ and my mantle dark
    You better hark

    (more…)