Scripture and Church Seminar

Scripture and Church Seminar 
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
11/18/2022
Plaza Court 1 (Plaza Tower - Concourse Level) - Sheraton Downtown (SD)

The Scripture and Church Seminar explores the implications of Scripture for the terrain that is normally referred to as practical theology. Its particular purpose is to promote rigorous and faithful biblical scholarship for ecclesial contexts and to forge bonds among scholars so motivated. The Scripture and Church Seminar looks forward to its November 2022 meeting, which will consist of invited papers devoted to the exploration of “Reading the Bible in our Global Context.” For more information, contact Bill DeJong ([email protected]).

Bill DeJong, Redeemer University College, Welcome (5 min)

Opening Liturgy

Susan Bubbers, The Center for Anglican Theology, Presiding (5 min)

Havilah Dharamraj, South Asia Inst. for Advanced Christian Studies
Reading the Bible with the South Asian Church (20 min)

Riad Kassis, Langham Scholars
Reading the Bible with the Arabic Church (20 min)

Break (10 min)

Xiaxia Xue, China Graduate School of Theology
Reading the Bible with the East Asian Church (20 min)

Jacob Onyumbe Wenyi, Roman Catholic Diocese of Tshumbe (D. R. Congo)
Reading the Bible with the African Church (20 min)

Roundtable Discussion (20 min)

Discussion (20 min)

Closing Liturgy

Susan Bubbers, The Center for Anglican Theology, Presiding (5 min)

Announcements/Conclusion

Bill DeJong, Redeemer University College, Presiding (5 min)

Our papers this year will address:

1. Hearing the Gospel of the Kingdom: What does the gospel of the Kingdom have to say to the twenty-first century church? At what points do Jesus’s kingdom parables, discourses and signs offer encouragement and sustenance to a struggling post-Christendom church? At what points do they disrupt and destabilise the order that we have constructed or inherited?
2. Proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom: How are we to convey the meaning of Jesus’s Kingdom proclamation and its present implications, within a contemporary context in which notions of kingdom and kingship are alien to the experience of many, and there is deep and widespread suspicion of authority claims and totalizing narratives?
3. Dramatizing the Gospel of the Kingdom: How should the liberating incursion of the Kingdom of God be demonstrated and dramatized in the conduct of contemporary Christians and in the shape of our churches and the various other institutions that we create and maintain?

• Bill DeJong, Blessings Christian Church, Welcome (5 min)
• Opening Liturgy
• Other (5 min)
• Jeannine Brown, Bethel Seminary (St. Paul, MN)
  Hearing the Gospel of the Kingdom (25 min)
• Koert Van Bekkum, Theological University (Kampen, NL)
  Proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom (25 min)
• Break (10 min)
• David Starling (Morling College, Sydney) Dramatizing the Gospel of the Kingdom (25 min)
• Panel Discussion
• Discussion (25 min)
• Q&A with Panelists
• Discussion (20 min)
• Closing Liturgy
• Other (5 min)
• Final Announcements
• Other (5 min)

The 2018 theme for the Scripture and Church Seminar will bring into focus the complex relationship between the church and the Kingdom of God. Some of the critical questions we will engage with an interdisciplinary panel of presenters are: How does Scripture shape a church of covenant subjects of, or partners with, the King? How does Scripture disclose the church as the community gathered before the King? What insight does Scripture provide for how the church is to live as dual citizens of the Kingdom of God and earthly political nation-states? And since Scripture reveals to us the ever-present God who is King, what does it mean that the Church is the Worshippers of the Present-and-Coming-King? Each paper of this year's meeting will address one of these important scholarly and practical questions.

• Michael Wagenman, Western University, Presiding

• Michael Wagenman, Western University, Welcome (5 min)

• Michael Wagenman, Western University, Scripture Reading and Prayer (5 min)

• Jonathan Pennington, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
  Church as the Community Gathered before the King (25 min)

• Jonathan Leeman, 9Marks, Washington, DC
  Church as Dual Citizens of Kingdom and State (25 min)

• Break (10 min)

• Amy Peeler, Wheaton College (Illinois)
  Church of Worshipers of the Present-and-Coming King: The Time and Place of Worship in the Epistle to the Hebrews (25 min)

• Panel Discussion

• Discussion (25 min)

• General Discussion

• Discussion (25 min)

• Michael Wagenman, Western University, Scripture Reading and Prayer (5 min)

• Michael Wagenman, Western University, Presiding

• Vince Bantu, Covenant Theological Seminary
  Biblical Interpretation and Liturgical Performance in Global Christian Perspective (30 min)

• Ryan O’Dowd, Cornell University,
  Dark Things in the Depths: Wisdom Confession, and the Kingdom of God (30 min)

• Break (15 min)

• Ruth Padilla-deBorst, Boston College
  The Kingdom of God and Everyday Liturgies in the New Testament (30 min)

• Dru Johnson, The King’s College (New York)
  Placebos, Elevator Buttons, and High Powered Lasers: How Ritual Ethics Enable Us to See the Kingdom of God (30 min)

• Discussion (15 min)

Nov. 19, 4:00–6:30pm     103 (Plaza Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)

This year features an invited review session on E.P. Sanders, Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought.

• Craig Bartholomew, Redeemer University College, Presiding

• Discussion (120 min)

• Break (30 min)

Nov. 20, 4:00–6:00pm     221B (2nd Level, East) – Convention Center (CC)