The shadow of suffering and death casts widely over human life, not only in the midst of toil and the hope for a brighter tomorrow, but also in the intellectual struggle for the belief in a sovereign and benevolent God.

While many issues wax and wane with the passing of time, the seeming futility of death carries a uniquely perennial quality. Since its inauguration in the garden, no human tribe or nation has been able to evade it. While many issues wax and wane with the passing of time, the seeming futility of death carries a uniquely perennial quality.That does not mean that efforts have not been made, personally or culturally. Our own culture, indeed, is quite sophisticated in our efforts at concealment and diligent in our search for a fount of eternal life. We sanitize death in our hospitals, conceal it with our cosmetic surgery, and sedate it with our medicine. Our technology wars against it; our sci-fi fantasies provide the mythos to sustain hope in the midst of so many lost battles—No wonder we’re so incapable of responding when death pounces.

Unlike modern life’s suppression of death, the hope of the gospel stands upon Christ’s undoing of the “sting of death.” This year-long look at suffering and death will offer a sober and honest reflection upon suffering and death in light of the gospel and the resurrection.

 

Fall Semester

Henri Blocher (Kantzer Lectures), “God, Evil, and Possibility”

D. A. Carson (Scripture & Ministry), “A Firm Foundation: Six Pillars of Faith in the midst of Suffering and Death”

J. Todd Billings (Scripture & Ministry), “Hope for Mortals: The Church’s Witness in the Midst of Dying and Death”

Frank Page (Timothy Series)

 

Spring Semester

Matthew Levering (Scripture & Ministry), “How We Die: From Sherwin Nuland to the Early Christians and Back Again”

Rhys Bezzant (Edwards & the Church), “The Surprising Mentoring Ministry of Edwards: Learning the Art of Leadership Development”

Paul Copan, Matthew Levering, Dennis Magary, and Paul Gavrilyuk (Trinity Debate), “Divine Action & Human Suffering in the Old Testament”

Sandy Willson (Timothy Series)

Alan Torrance (Scripture & Ministry), “Where is God? The Continuing Priesthood of Christ and Human Suffering”

George Davis (Timothy Series)