Previous Symposia

 

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On Monday, April 24, the Center hosted a discussion between Center Director Dr. Doug Sweeney and TEDS M.Div. student Collin Hansen to discuss Hansen’s then-recently published book, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists (Crossway, 2008). Sweeney discussed with Hansen the trends captured in the book and offered reflection on contemporary theological movements. The conversation was continued by audience Q&A.

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On April 23, 2009, at Park Community Church in Chicago, IL, the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School hosted an evening of free lectures and discussion with Dr. John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church and Dr. D. A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Titled “The Pastor as Scholar, and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry with John Piper and D.A. Carson”, the evening featured two hour-long lectures that reflected of a theological and personal nature on the work of the pastor and the scholar.

The event was co-sponsored with Park Community Church.

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Sponsored by Matthias Media and held at TEDS, this conference explored the paradigm shifts that need to occur in our ecclesial thinking if we are going to build ministry around people, not programs. Featured speakers include D. A. Carson, Mark Dever, Philip Jensen, and Tony Payne.

On March 17, 2010, in partnership with Lausanne 2010, the Henry Center hosted a conversation on global Christianity and cultural engagement in ATO Chapel. The conversation featured such leading evangelical thinkers as Tite Tiénou (TEDS), Doug Birdsall (Executive Chairman of Lausanne), Andy Crouch (Christianity Today), Bethany Hoang (International Justice Mission), and Peter Cha (TEDS). Skye Jethani (Leadership Journal) moderated the discussion.

Trinity was one of a select group of locations for Lausanne gatherings, which also included New York City, Boston, and Pasadena.

Entitled “Apologetics Beyond the Pew: A Conversation for the Church with Ravi Zacharias and Friends”, the event covered how Christians can carry out faithful apologetics beyond the walls of the church building. Dr. Zacharias was joined by Scott Chapman of The Chapel (Grayslake) and John Njoroge of RZIM. Following the conversation, questions were fielded from those in attendance. The Henry Center was pleased to sponsor this event, which came on the heels of a special service on the same day, which announced the formation of a special partnership between TIU and RZIM. Dr. Zacharias’s chapel message is also posted below.

Led by Greg Scharf, chair of the Pastoral Ministry department at TEDS, this conversation featured David Jackman (Proclamation Trust), David Helm (Simeon Trust), and Todd Kelly (Leadership Resources International). Along with Greg Scharf, who is affiliated with Langham Preaching, each of the participants began with a brief presentation on the movement they lead and how it contributes to the spread of biblical preaching. Thereafter, attendees contributed to a lively question-and-answer discussion with the presenters in the mold of the Center’s Timothy Series events.

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During this symposium, Dr. Michael Emerson, sociology professor at Rice University, will be speaking on race and the church, drawing especially on Ephesians 6:12. His talk will be followed by a free luncheon and conversation moderated by Dr. Peter Cha. A TEDS alumnus, Rev. Peter Hong, will also be joining the conversation. He is a 1.5 generation Korean American who planted a multiracial church in Chicago ten years ago. The church is called New Community Covenant Church and now has about 600 members.

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Evangelicalism has struggled to address the structures of racism and poverty, and has often uncritically embraced money and power in pursuit of problematic versions of upward mobility and the American Dream. In view of the political and cultural challenges the movement has faced in recent years, the time is ripe to reevaluate our kingdom allegiances. Rather than being known for desiring power politics and material prosperity that fail to challenge racialization and economic disparity, we ought to be known for holding true to God in Christ—the downwardly mobile God. Drawing from a communal and cruciform model of Trinitarian thought, Paul Louis Metzger calls for “trickle-up economics.” This economic strategy involves developing social businesses among the poor to take ownership of their communities, as reflected in the works of John M. Perkins and Muhammad Yunus.

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Christian social thought, and specifically the doctrine of subsidiarity, was able to solve problems of material poverty, making the Christian West the first civilization in history to bring economic freedom and prosperity to the common person. This religious tradition, Rev. Robert A. Sirico will argue, remains essential for addressing the modern issues of poverty and human dignity, and offers a preferable alternative to, on the one hand, contemporary emphases on the “common good” and “social justice” (usually defined with collectivist and socialist ideas) and, on the other, the radical individualism of Ayn Rand. A Christian notion of freedom, which understands the human person as both social and individual, is a safer protector and promoter of authentic ‘fraternity’ and sociality than these alternatives, and offers important guideposts for how society and the Christian community is best structured to take account of this reality.

 

Our political emissaries and Western media generally have presented the recent unrest in Egypt as a military coup that threatens to undo democracy. This narrative, however, stands on a false presentation of the Muslim Brotherhood. In this lecture, foreign policy expert and long-time Egyptian resident Raymond Stock will offer the untold story: The Muslim Brotherhood is a fanatical group born in Egypt in 1928, which is dedicated to subjugating all Christians, killing all Jews and conquering the earth for Islam. Radical Islamists have been “cleansing” Christians from most of the Middle East for the past decade, and this has intensified, in scale and force, in Egypt since the July removal of President Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader. The group and its Salafi allies are waging jihad against the Copts, the world’s oldest Christian community. Learn more about how this has happened and how Christians can respond.

 

Theologians have often dismissed economics as inherently heretical or, at the very least, highly suspect. Economists have often forgotten the humble beginnings of their discipline and allowed their reach to exceed their moral grasp. It is incumbent upon both disciplines to renew their commitment to one another for their mutual benefit. This lecture will explore the background of the current schism, the dynamics of its contemporary expression, and particular promising points of rapprochement going forward. Theology and economics have insights to offer one another, and in fact, in a deep and meaningful way, need one another to fulfill their respective tasks.

 

This lecture will provide and introduction and orientation to Bonhoeffer’s ethical thought, particularly with regard to his mature doctrine of divine mandates, consisting of family, work, church, and government. The relationship between the personal and the social will be considered, as Bonhoeffer’s social thought is rooted in his understanding of the doctrine of vocation and “vicarious representative action.” Bonhoeffer’s social thought provides a dynamic and compelling vision of human social life, and a way forward beyond the sometimes stultifying debates of the twentieth century.