Deerfield, IL—The Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding has awarded five recipients for our second annual Henry Resident Fellowship program. The recipients for the 2017–2018 academic year are Stephen Williams, Marc Cortez, Gavin Ortlund, Daniel Houck, and Nathan Chambers.

Despite the importance of the doctrine of creation within the Christian tradition, relatively little theological energy has been dedicated to this topic in recent decades. D. A. Carson, for example, has noted that among the 50 volumes published reflecting more deeply on the most important elements of the doctrine of creation for our dayin the New Studies in Biblical Theology, not one explicitly focuses on creation. Similarly, many of the standard series in Christian systematic theology, like Contours of Christian Theology, do not have a volume on the doctrine of creation.

It is within this context that the Henry Center’s Evangelical Theology and the Doctrine of Creation (known in short as the “Creation Project”) was conceived. The Henry Fellowship is the centerpiece of the $3.4 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust awarded to the Henry Center in 2015. The fellowship is a scholar-in-residence program designed to support and stimulate evangelical scholarship that examines various biblical and theological elements in the doctrine of creation and their interaction with modern, scientific developments.

The scholars will leave their home communities and reside on Trinity’s Deerfield campus, creating a collaborative learning environment throughout the academic year, while working on their own research projects. This new group of scholars, according to Tom McCall (Director of the Henry Center and Professor of Systematic Theology), blends “expertise and experience” with “energy and enthusiasm.” “We hope to continue the fine work begun by Jack Collins, John Hilber, and the other 2016–2017 Fellows as we reflect more deeply on the most important elements of the doctrine of creation for our day.”

Stories on each fellow will run on Sapientia—the online periodical of the Henry Center—in future weeks.

 

2017-2018 Henry Resident Fellows

Stephen Williams
Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological College
Project: “Transhumanism, Robotics and the Doctrine of Creation”
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Marc Cortez
Associate Professor of Theology, Wheaton College
Project: “Divine Presence”
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Gavin Ortlund
PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary (2016)
Project: “Retrieving Augustine’s Doctrine of Creation”
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Daniel Houck
PhD, Southern Methodist University (2016)
Project: “Original Sin and Evolution: A Modern Thomist Account”
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Nathan Chambers
PhD, University of Durham (2017)
Project: “Created from Nothing: Creatio Ex Nihilo as a Framework for Reading Genesis 1”
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The Creation Project

The Creation Project is a three-year, six-program initiative intended to bring greater clarity, openness, and understanding about the doctrine of creation within the evangelical theological community in light of modern scientific discovery. In addition to providing wider guidance to the evangelical public, the project is also intended to stimulate interdisciplinary scholarship and engagement on the controversial issues at the intersection of Scripture, theology, and science. Visit henrycenter.org/creation-project to learn more about the project, or to stay updated on events, resources, and other announcements.

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The Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding is dedicated to the advancement of Christian wisdom in all areas of life and thought for the glory of God, the good of his church, and the welfare of the world. As an outreach ministry of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, the Center embodies the vision of Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003), a long-time faculty member at Trinity, which promotes the need for evangelical collaboration and commitment to God’s Word, where scholars with expertise in the relevant areas can work together to engage the pressing challenges of the day.