Spiritual Formation Seminar by Dr Alex Tang

Petaling Jaya Evangelical Free Church is pleased to announce a Spiritual Formation Seminar to be conducted by Dr Alex Tang.

Date: October 9, 2010
Time: 9.30am-4.30pm
Registration Fees: RM20 (incl notes, lunch and tea breaks)

Please call the church to register before Oct 7: +60 (3) 7957 4341

For a map to the venue, please click here.

Kairos Organises Forum on "The Real Jesus Christ of History"

Kairos Research Centre is organising the following forum.

KAIROS PUBLIC FORUM

THE REAL JESUS CHRIST OF HISTORY

Jesus of The Bible

versus

Jesus of the Documentaries (National Geographic/Discovery /BBC)

Date: Friday, 20 November 2009

Time: 8.30pm – 10.30pm

Venue: Hall 1, Dream Centre

2 Jalan 13/1, Seksyen 13
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia

Influential networks like National Geographic, Discovery and BBC Channels are propagating new portraits (or fabrications) of Jesus that distort if not contradict what Christians traditionally believe about Jesus for 2000 years.

This Kairos Public Forum seeks to explain why these TV producers rely on pagan Mystery Religions and 2^nd century Gnosticism texts to reconstruct new portraits Jesus, what methods and assumptions inform the scholars who advise these media channels for their distorted views of Jesus.

The Forum also offers evidence for the integrity of the New Testament Gospels as reliable historical records of Jesus’ life and ministry and critiques popular images of Christ in contemporary society.

Topics/Speakers

1) The Fabricated Jesus of Contemporary TV Documentaries

Speaker: Mr. Philip Koh

(Partner of a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur and Director of Kairos Research Centre)

2) The Historical Christ of the New Testament: The Test of History

Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng

(Research Director of Kairos Research Centre)

3) The Real Jesus Christ and Contextual Christs Today: Who makes the real difference?

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Tan Jin Huat

(Anglican minister and CTEE Director, Seminari Theoloji Malaysia)

Kairos Seminar on Jesus Christ and Early Christianity

There will be a follow-up seminar for those who want to learn in detail how contemporary research supports the historical accuracy and authenticity of the New Testament portrait of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: Dr. Ng Kam Weng

Date: Saturday 5 December 2009

Time: 9.30am – 12.00 noon

Place: Dream Centre

To participate in this seminar contact Kairos office (Tel no: 7726 5420 or email: kairosmalaysia@gmail.com)

New Perspective on Paul and the Jews Academic Seminar

I have just been alerted concerning the Interdisciplinary Academic Seminar on New Perspective on Paul and the Jews that was recently held from Sept 12-14 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. This seminar is part of the Research Project on Paul and the Jews.

The conference was organised around 8 topics as follows:

1. What nomenclatures best represent the Judaism that Paul was in dialogue with: covenantal nomism, variegated nomism, ethical monotheism, etc.? What are the notions of covenant or works-righteousness that lie behind the use of these terms?
2. Is covenant a central notion in Paul? What are the merits of a semantic domain linkage between diatheke and dikaiosyne? Can one argue for an embedded covenantal framework in Paul’s thought? If so, does this framework supersede the Mosaic covenant (cp. 2 Cor 3:7-18)?
3. What is the relationship between creation and covenant in Paul’s thinking, specifically the motif of kaine diatheke and kaine ktisis (2 Cor 3 and 5 respectively)?
4. Does Paul move away from an Israel kata sarka to a notion of Israel kata pneuma? Is the new reality the ekklesia tou theou? Is this church part of, or distinct from, Israel?
5. Was Paul Torah-observant? Did Paul’s Christ transcend the Law, embody it or something else? Is Paul in continuity or discontinuity with the prophetic reading of the Law? Is Paul an interpreter or manipulator of Israel’s scriptures?
6. What is the relationship between Pauline studies and Jewish-Christian dialogue? Should Pauline studies take into account the post-Shoah context of contemporary ecumenical and interreligious dialogue between Christians and Jews?
7. Are the classical interreligious and soteriological models of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism acceptable or useful for Christian/Jewish dialogue? How do they relate to the typical dialogical positions of single and double covenant schemes? What is the best way forward?
8. Are the religious ends of Christianity and Judaism compatible? Is the church in mission with or in mission to the Jews? How should this apparent tension be portrayed in homiletics, liturgy, catechetics, etc?

My doctoral supervisor, Dr Bill Campbell (pictured above), presented a paper on "Covenant, Creation and Transformation in Paul." All papers presented at the conference are now made available online:

• Michael Bachmann (Germany)
• Michael Bird (UK)
• Thomas Blanton IV (USA)
• William Campbell (UK)
• Philip Cunningham (USA)
• Hans Hermann Henrix (Germany)
• Daniel Langton (UK)
• Mark Nanos (USA)
• John Pawlikowski (USA)
• Hans-Joachim Sander (Austria)
  

With such a prestigious panel of speakers, one can be sure of a very exciting exchange and dialogue. For me, reading the papers will be my diet for the next couple of days.

IDMC - Part 3

In my earlier post, I shared some of my reflections and observations concerning the Intentional Disciple Making Conference hosted by Covenant Evangelical Free Church in Singapore. What I did in that post is to highlight some of observations that I perceive to be the strengths of the conference. In this promised follow-up post, I hope to offer some of my critique and reservations concerning some of the issues dealt with or highlighted in the conference.

First, it seems to me that most of what Rev Edmund Chan covered in his plenary sessions remained at conceptual level. For those who have done some theological studies or those who are informed readers of serious or academic theological books, this might not be much of an issue. But for most of the audience, having to grasp with the theology of God for the first time within 2-1/2 days might be a little bit daunting. How theology could be made simple in everyday life and how this can be lived out in everyday life remains rather sketchy. Although Rev Chan has made clear on several occasions during the conference that his purpose is to lay the foundation and to provoke thinking, I feel that for many who may be hearing such theological concepts for the first time may need further guidance in helping them navigate through many issues confronting them in their Christian journey. One of the participants remarked to me, "With all these high-sounding words and statements being made, I wonder if there is any substance to it." To be fair to Rev Chan, although he did attempt to bring all that he had covered together in the final plenary session, it would have been more beneficial if additional practical examples be given in each of the sessions.


Second, I find Rev Chan's plenary session on how theology should be done is "inadequate and truncated", to use the one of his most quoted phrase in the conference. Rev Chan listed 6 building blocks for what he perceived to be the fundamental necessities for the theological task. These are:

• 1) the necessity of theological vision
• 2) the necessity of theological foundation
• 3) the necessity of theological contemplation
• 4) the necessity of theological pedagogy
• 5) the necessity of theological holism
• 6) the necessity of theological humility.

Rev Chan is to be applauded for crafting these fundamental building blocks in provoking the participants to carry out the task of theology not merely as an intellectual exercise but to integrate it into the whole of life and faith. But I find 2 elements missing in Rev Chan's theological task, namely, the necessity of theological community and the necessity of theological practice. Let me explain briefly. I am a strong proponent that the theological task is to be carried out within a theological community, and any hermeneutic for theological interpretation that is done outside a community should be viewed with suspect. Perhaps I am, in some ways, influenced by the works of Stephen Fowl, Kevin Vanhoozer and Richard Hays, just to name a few. After all, as a NT scholar, I accept without hesitation the premise that the church makes a vital contribution to my theological discourse and that any theological discourse is to be done with and for the church. And furthermore, this theological conversation not only participates in centuries-long conversation with interpreters - both ancient and modern, but also engages in animated dialogue with one another around a meal fellowship, over a teh tarik at mamak, in Starbucks, over Yahoo Instant Messenger, and in a noisy living room filled with active children. This aspect of doing the theological task within a community is, what seems to me, being minimised in Rev Chan's theological vision.


On the other hand, I also believe that the theological task should not be merely an intellectual stimulating exercise that tickles the brain but does not bring about the needful transformation of the heart or move the heart with compassion to theological practice. One cannot do theology without talking about the transformation of the community, society and nation. While Rev Chan did mention in passing about the need for transformation, it seems to me that his focus is on spiritual transformation of individuals that leads to discipleship and evangelism, but not moving into the engagement of the public square. If my observation is correct, I believe the theological task promoted by Rev Chan may need some correction to include the necessity of theological practice.

Third, it seems to me that the quality of the various workshops is rather uneven. The workshops could have been a great opportunity to augment and strengthen the main theme of the conference, "Knowing God: Theology Made Relevant in Discipleship Today." As I have mentioned above, one of the shortcomings of the conference is that much of what Rev Chan expounded on remains at conceptual level, and the workshops could have been an excellent platform in bringing out the theme in practical, daily Christian living. One of the workshops I attended was disappointing, to say the least. In this workshop, we were asked to do a quick exercise to gauge our stress level by assigning different weightage to different issues in life. As a single, my immediate reaction based on this exercise is this: "I don't have any stress!" But is this a true picture? Immediately, I looked at the source of this exercise and it was dated back to 1967! I find this to be totally unacceptable. How can one use an exercise designed in 1967 to gauge the stress level today? This is by far the most disappointing aspect of the conference. I would like to believe that the speaker of the workshop would have done more homework, and to utilise a more updated statistics available for this kind of exercise.

Overall, as I have indicated in my previous post, I find this conference to be a very spiritually refreshing one for me as a professional NT scholar and theological educator who teaches the Scripture daily to my student. My criticisms in this post are not meant to detract us from what would otherwise be a great conference.


The success of the 2009 conference is clearly reflected in the overwhelming response to the 2010 Intentional Disciple Making Conference. All the 1,800 seats available for the live package have been snapped up! So what's left are the live-time video package.

So, are you persuaded to be a part of the 2010 IDMC? If so, better act fast, else you will be left behind!

For my earlier posts:
Part 1 - please click here
Part 2 - please click here

IDMC - Part 2

In my earlier post, I mentioned about my participation at the Intentional Disciple Making Conference hosted by Covenant Evangelical Free Church in Singapore. What I hope to do in the next couple of posts is to offer my humble reflections and observations about the conference. I will begin with what I perceive to be the strengths of the conference in this post, to be followed by my critique of the conference in the following post.

Before I begin, let me place some caveats concerning my reflections and observations. What I offer here are drawn from the perspectives of a professional New Testament scholar, a theological educator in an ecumenical seminary, a minister of the gospel with the Evangelical Free Church of Malaysia, and as someone who sits on the pew as well in the church.


First, I must applaud Rev Edmund Chan for repeatedly affirming both the role of the theological institutions and the professional biblical scholars/theologians. This is one of the very few conferences I walked away being so strongly affirmed in my calling both as a professional NT scholar and a theological educator. I can literally count with the fingers on both my hands how many times the roles of the professional theologians and theological institutions are so publicly and strongly affirmed. Far too many times, I would always cringe when I attend Christian conferences or gatherings where biblical scholars/theologians have been publicly ridiculed by the speakers. I recall some years ago, one church leader publicly accused theologians for leading the church into idolatry over issues concerning the singing of worship songs (some would call this session "worship" which I feel is a very narrow and unbiblical way of defining worship). Apart from this, the theological institutions have also been viewed by some in a rather negative sense. How many times we have heard the phrase that "a seminary is a cemetery." How many times we have heard that theological institutions make a person loses his/her zeal for God after their studies. How many times have we heard that those who enter theological institutions become cynical or critical about their church (It is not my intention to respond to these negative views for the time being, I will pick up these issues in a later post).

Personally, I am of the opinion that perhaps pastors and church leaders could further engage professional biblical scholars/theologians who are members of their congregations, rather than to feel threatened with or simply ignore their presence. In addition, I feel that perhaps pastors and church leaders could also further affirm the calling and ministry of professional biblical scholars/theologians. After all, aren't we serving the same Lord as well? Aren't we not only serving the church but also the wider body of Christ? Don't we share the same passion where we would like to witness the church of Christ being built up, authentic disciples of Christ being multiplied, and the unadulterated gospel of Christ being proclaimed? If we could synergise our roles and ministry, I believe there is much we could do for the body of Christ.


Secondly, Rev Edmund Chan is to be highly commended for his effective communicating skills in explaining complex theological concepts in simple terms. The theme of the conference is "Knowing God: Theology Made relevant in Discipleship Today" and the primary thrust of all the 7 plenary sessions by Rev Chan is simply to issue the call "to think more godly about God." Rev Chan makes it clear that the conference is not meant to be a theology course, and it is not meant to cover everything within a few hours. But it seeks to "provoke thinking...provide perspective...promote the pursuit of knowing God." To a large extent, it seems to me that the overall objectives of the conference have been achieved. How does one explain the theological concepts of the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience of God in simple language? How does one explain the transcendence and immanence of God; creation Ex-Nihilo; and Imago Dei in expressions that can be understood by the majority, if not all? Even some of these concepts are difficult to grasp by our seminary students. But I think this is where Rev Chan is successful. He has the ability of using theological terminology in a non-threatening manner. Admittedly, as a professional NT scholar, I have much to learn from Rev Chan in the manner of communicating difficult theological concepts in a simple manner to those on the pew.

Thirdly, Rev Edmund Chan also challenges many of the presuppositions that are prevailing in the church today. In particular, Rev Chan challenges the participants to move from an anthropocentric orientation of the Scriptures towards the theocentrality of the Scriptures in one of his plenary sessions, "The Theocentricity of the Scriptures." For many believers, reading the Bible is simply to ask the question, "What does the Bible speak to me?" While there is nothing inherently wrong in this approach, it is, to use Rev Chan's oft quoted phrase, "inadequate and truncated." In this approach, the focus is primarily on the reader and not the Author of the Scriptures. What Rev Chan attempts to challenge the participants is to move "from the WORD of God to the GOD of the Word." The focus is hence on what God is doing in our midst, on the faithfulness of God, on the redemptive work of God, so that as his children, we can begin to think more godly about God through his revealed word, and that would move us from theology to doxology. Personally for me, I particularly like Rev Chan's approach. I have, in some ways, attempted in my exegesis courses in the seminary to encourage my students to think more about what God is doing and saying in the text, rather than what the text speaks to me as an individual. I believe this is an area that deserves further consideration in my teaching as a theological educator as it does open up the Scriptures in new dimension we have never seen before if we only focus on our anthropocentric approach.


In another plenary session, Rev Chan spoke on "Five Features of Theological Rootlessness." He effectively challenged those who are anti-intellectual in the approach of the theology where doctrine is often seen as a dirty word. He strongly cautioned against the marginalization of theological education. He also emphatically highlighted the need for biblical exposition from the pulpit, instead of merely biblical exhortation. This I cannot agree more wholeheartedly with Rev Chan. Some churches believe that the primary aim of pulpit is exhortation instead of exposition, and that exposition of the Scriptures could be done in Bible classes or through Christian education. This I respectfully disagree. I believe Christian education is at best a supplement, and never a substitution for the pulpit. Admittedly, topical or exhortation preaching has its place - and I would not deny this fact. But more importantly for me, although others may beg to differ from me, the pulpit is sacred, and preaching is a sacred task too. It is through the pulpit that the whole counsel of the Word of God is proclaimed. And I strongly believe that one of the primary ways in which we can feed our congregation is through the systematic preaching and faithful proclamation of the Word. I have already highlighted this in an earlier post where in my 5-minute devotional sharing in one of the seminary chapel services, I spoke on "Don't Waste Your Pulpit", drawing insights from John Piper. Perhaps it is also good to listen to what Piper has to say about preaching and ask ourselves, is there any truth in what Piper is saying about our attitude towards preaching? Is there any truth in what Piper is saying about out attitude towards the Bible? Have we wasted the pulpit that God has given us?

Finally, there are many good profound and thought provoking statements made by Rev Chan that would, without doubt, challenge the participants to rethink, reevaluate, and reexamine one's worldview to see how far it is aligned to the biblical worldview as expounded by Rev Chan. Here are some of these statements:

On our identity: Our identity is anchored in whose we are
On the importance of biblical literacy: What one generation neglects, the next rejects
On worldview: Living biblically in a fallen world demands a keen cultivation of a biblically Christian worldview.

I could go on highlighting many good things that I picked up from the conference - indeed there are many - and this conference has been a very spiritually refreshing one for me as a professional NT scholar and theological educator who teaches the Scripture daily to my students. However as in any great conferences, there are inherent weaknesses as well. In my next post, I will offer some of my humble critique about the conference. It is not in anyway meant to discredit Rev Chan or his pastoral team, but these are some shortcomings that would otherwise make a perfect conference.

For Part 1 - Please click here.
For Part 3 - Please click here

IDMC - Part 1

I have just returned from attending the Intentional Disciple Making Conference at Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Woodlands, Singapore.

I must say it was a pretty good conference and I have picked up some interesting lessons at the conference. I will be blogging about my reflections and observation of IDMC 2009 in the next day or so. Right now, it's back to the grind for me. The semester break is over, and I have tons of work to do.

Meanwhile, here are some of the photos taken during the conference.

The venue of the conference: Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Woodlands.

The crowd making their way to the sanctuary of the church.

Rev Edmund Chan, Senior Pastor of Covenant EFC, addressing the conference participants

Part of the 2,500 participants

For subsequent posts:
part 2 - please click here
part 3 - please click here

Eagles Leadership Conference

I was at the Eagles' Leadership Conference in Singapore last week. On one of the days, I was staring at this board, wondering which workshop I should attend. It was a little bit difficult to make a decision where there were so many great topics to choose from. In the end, I opted for the seminar on "Coaching Underperformers, Changing Lives."

Someone asked me whether I have any specific situation in mind in choosing this particular seminar. I am not sure whether my experience is any indication. Based on my observation and involvement in a number of non-profit Christian organisations, one of the inherent problems is having an above-average number of underperforming staff. I am not sure whether I am fair in my observation here, and I stand corrected.

Having said that, I enjoyed the seminar - but to be fair to the engaging speaker, she only had 2 hours to cover the topic, and this certainly limited her in what she could possibly do in such a short period of time.

Back From Rome

I am now back from Rome, after attending a fruitful SBL International Meeting. It was a great conference.

I presented my paper, and I was quite please with the response generated.

I might blog about my Rome trip later. For the time being, it's back to work.

Note: Photo courtesy of SBL website - This was the first session on the Paul and Pauline Literature Seminar. If you look carefully, you might just detect me sitting somewhere on the right!

Working on My SBL International Meeting Paper

Over the next few days, I'll be busy working on my paper to be read at the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting in Rome, to be convened in 2 weeks' time.

In my paper entitled "Reading Romans 13:1-7 with Multiple Lenses: Some Reflections from A Multi-Faith Context with Malaysia as A Test Case", I attempt to employ the methodology developed by social scientist, James C. Scott (in both his works, Weapons of the Weak: Wveryday Forms of Peasant Resistance and Domination and The Art of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts), in reading Romans 13:1-7, especially in understanding the public discourse of the ruling elites and the hidden transcript of the masses in reacting to subordination, resistance and hegemony of the powerful elites.

It is interesting to note that James Scott develops his theory based on his fieldwork among the Muslim rural peasants in Kedah, the northern state in Peninsular Malaysia, in reacting against the Muslim ruling elites. I hope to extend Scott's discussion to include how the minority middle-class Christians in urban setting response to the Muslim ruling elites by drawing on both the public discourse and hidden transcript embedded in Romans 13:1-7. This paper will be an initial attempt to investigate whether Scott's theory developed among the majority Muslim rural peasants in Malaysia can be profitably extended to include the minority, middle-class urban Christians in Malaysia.

However, time is fast running out, and my paper remains very sketchy. Am I a chronic procrastinator?

Lost in Translation Conference

LOST IN TRANSLATION: STUDIES OF THE SEPTUAGINT AND BEYOND IN HONOUR OF JENNY DINES
A One Day Conference
Heythrop College, University of London

All papers will take place in the Walker Room, 2nd Floor, Main Building


Wednesday 24th of June 2009
9:30-10:10:
Registration and Tea/Coffee (Walker Room)

The morning papers will be chaired by Dr Ann Jeffers, Heythrop College.

10:10:
Introduction

10:10-10:50:
Sarah Pearce, University of Southampton
"Philo's 'Family Values'".

10:50-11:30:
Charlotte Hempel, University of Birmingham
The Qumran Yahad in Recent Scholarship.

11:30-12:20:
Tessa Rajak, University of Reading
'Ancestral Laws: What Josephus Made of the Greek Bible.'

12:20-1:00:
Deborah Rooke, King’s College, London
‘Susanna in Handel's Oratorio’.

Lunch – provided (Walker Room)

The afternoon papers will be chaired by Dr Bridget Gilfillan Upton

1:50-2:30:
Jim Aitken, CJCR, Cambridge
'The Septuagint and "Alexandrian" scholarship'.

2:30-3:10:
Gillian Greenberg, University College London
'Literary Initiative in the Peshitta'.

3:10-3:50:
Sean Ryan, Heythrop College.
‘Dislocated Locusts: Re-visions of Joel
& Amos in Revelation 9’

3:50-4:30:
Jonathan Norton, Heythrop College.
‘Psuche, Pneuma, and Paul's Rhetorical Surprise’.

4:30 Tea and departure

For registration, please contact:
Ms Mariann Jakab
Heythrop College
University of London
Kensington Square
London W8 5HQ
m.jakab@heythrop.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7795 4201

SBL International Meeting Online Programme Book Now Available

The 2009 SBL International Meeting Online Programme Book is now available.

My paper is scheduled on 3rd July. It is very interesting to note that almost the entire session on Paul and Rome (4 out of 5 papers) is represented by my alma mater, University of Wales, as highlighted below. And I am very pleased to discover that I am slotted in together with my doktorvater and his dear wife in this session as well. Both Kathy's and my book will be released by T&T Clark in May, and we all agreed that there is much for all of us to celebrate in Rome!


Paul and Pauline Literature
7/03/2009
1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Room: Room TBD - Hotel TBD

Theme: Paul and Rome

Anthony Cogliolo, University of Wales
Where Did Paul’s Addressees in Rome Reside ?: Trastevere and Beyond (25 min)

William S. Campbell, University of Wales
‘All God’s Beloved in Rome’: Who Did Paul Think they Were? (25 min)

Mark D. Nanos, Rockhurst University
When in Rome, Would the Paul of 'All Things to All People' (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Do as the Romans Do? (25 min)

Break (30 min)

Kathy Ehrensperger, University of Wales Lampeter
‘…Nothing is in Itself Unclean’: Hospitality and Paul’s Discussion of Koinos and Katharos in Romans 14.1-15.13 (25 min)

Kar-Yong Lim, Seminari Theoloji Malaysia
Reading Romans 13:1-7 with Multiple Lenses: Some Reflections from A Multi-Faith Context with Malaysia as A Test Case (25 min)

Exploring Paul Conference, Saint Paul University

To celebrate the year of Saint Paul, the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Philosophy of Saint Paul University are proud to host jointly a one-day conference on Exploring Paul.

Papers may be on any aspect of Saint Paul's life and thought, from his historical circumstances to his philosophical and theological endeavours and the associated problems of interpretation.

The date of the conference is Wednesday, April 29th, 2009, to be held at the Saint Paul University.

Papers are to be a maximum of 25 minutes reading time.

Please send an abstract (1000 word maximum) by March 10, 2009 to:
Richard Feist
Dean
Faculty of Philosophy
Email: rfeist@ustpaul.ca

Confirmed Participants include:

• Normand Bonneau (Theology): Story Line and Behavior in Paul: Salvation-Historical Consciousness
• J. Kevin Coyle (Theology): Paul after Paul: Early Christian Readings (or Not) of the Apostle?
• Richard Feist (Philosophy): Paul's Cynicism
• Raymond Jahae (Philosophy): Reflections on Paul's Teaching on the Law
• Jim Pambrun (Theology): Creation and New-Creation in Paul: a Reflection on the Aesthetic Moment in Apocalyptic Genre

BibleTech: 2009

For all publishers, programmers, webmasters, educators, bloggers and anyone interested in using technology to improve Bible study, this piece of news might of interest to you, if you have the time and resources to travel to the States to attend this conference.

BibleTech:2009 will feature twenty-eight presentations from leading figures in the field of Bible and Technology. Not only will you find out about the latest developments in Bible and translation software, but you will learn about cutting edge Bible study and ministry tools available on the web. If you are curious about technology, passionate about the Bible, and eager to know the latest in Bible software and online ministry, then BibleTech:2009 is definitely what you’re looking for.

The official BibleTech:2009 schedule is available on the conference website.

You can also view the complete list of conference speakers and get to know them by visiting their blogs and other personal pages.

Some of the topics to be presented in the conference include:

• Formal Equivalence Versus Dynamic Equivalence: How Digital Texts Can Break the Conundrum
• Exploring Biblical Languages: The Use of Field Works Language Explorer in Biblical Studies
• Organizing the People, Places, and Things in the Bible
• Software Tool for Bible Translation
• A Case Study: Using Technology to Teach Exegesis in Higher Education"
• The Background of the New BiBIL Interface and a Free Converter Tool for the Legacy Fonts"
• Becoming a Digital Disciple
• Sermon Painting: Using Digital Projection to Illustrate a Sermon
• The Near-Future of the Bible: Scenarios, Methods and Structures of Futures Studies
  

BibleTech:2009 will be held March 27 and 28, at the Hilton Seattle Airport, across the street from SeaTac International Airport. Registration is $149.95 per person, which includes: conference fees, three catered meals, and a conference T-Shirt. Registration information is available online.

General registration and check-in for all conference attendees will begin at 8:00 AM on Friday, March 27. The first sessions will start at 9:00 AM on Friday, and the conference will conclude on Saturday, March 28 at 6:00 PM.

Kirby Liang Institute for Christian Ethics Newsletter and Conferences

The Kirby Liang Institute for Christian Ethics at Tyndale House, Cambridge has just released its latest newsletter. Click here for the Winter 2009 issue of the newsletter.

KLICE also announces 2 conferences, details are as follow:

“Responding to Secularism: Christian Witness in a Dogmatic Public Culture”
24 April 2009, Tyndale House, Cambridge
10.00am - 5.00pm

- a day conference on mission and contemporary culture co-sponsored with the Gospel and Our Culture Network (www.gospel-culture.org.uk)

Programme:

Dr Dominic Erdozain (King’s College, London) on the growth of secularity in modern British culture

Prof John Stackhouse (Regent College, Vancouver) on public engagement in a secularised culture

Rev Dr Andrew Kirk (formerly University of Birmingham) on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age

Dr Elaine Storkey (TEAR Fund) on responding to the secularist worldview

For further details and booking form click here or contact Tania Raiola on administrator@tyndale.cam.ac.uk or 01223 566606.

------------------------------------------------

“Justice: Rights and Wrongs. A Colloquium”
with Prof Nicholas Wolterstorff (Emeritus, Yale University)

May 21-22 2009 Christ Church, Oxford

Sponsored by the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life
(Oxford) and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics

Speakers:
Prof Onora O’Neill (British Academy; Philosophy)
Prof Roger Crisp (Oxford; Philosophy)
Prof Timothy Endicott (Oxford; Law)
Prof Julian Rivers (Bristol, Law) (former KLICE Advisory Council Chair)
Dr Bernd Wannenwetsch (McDonald Centre; Theology)
Dr John Perry (McDonald Centre; Theology)

Co-chairs:
Prof Nigel Biggar (McDonald Centre)
Dr Jonathan Chaplin (KLICE)

KLICE doctoral grantee Joshua Hordern (Edinburgh) will prepare a precis of the book for conference registrants.

Prof Wolterstorff’s book, Justice: Rights and Wrongs (Princeton University Press, 2008) presents a distinctively Christian theory of justice and rights and has been hailed by Richard Bernstein (New School for Social Research) as "the most impressive book on justice since Rawls's A Theory of Justice".

This event is the 2009 KLICE Annual Book Colloquium.

McDonald Centre website: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mcdonald/

Further details will appear on the McDonald Centre website and the KLICE website soon. For a registration form contact Jonathan Chaplin on 01223 566625 or klice@tyndale.cam.ac.uk.

My Paper Proposal for 2009 SBL International Meeting Accepted

In less than 3 days after I submitted my paper proposal for the 2009 SBL International Meeting for the Paul and Pauline Literature Programme unit, I received an email from the Chair of the Programme Unit that my paper proposal has been accepted.

For this year, I hope to work on Romans 13:1-7. Let's see how this will develop over the next few months. This year's SBL paper is the second in the series of papers that I am developing in the area of contextual hermeneutics, and hopefully over the years, these paper will culminate into a collected essays on contextual hermeneutics that will be my 4th book project.

Whether I will eventually make it to SBL International Meeting in Rome is another issue. For now, I am glad my paper has been accepted and this gives me the inspiration to work on it.

Acts Seminar at the BNTS: Call for Papers

I have just received the following announcement from the BNTS E-list:

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Book of Acts seminar at the British New Testament Conference
University of Aberdeen
3-5 September 2009


I am writing to invite papers for the Book of Acts seminar group at this year's British New Testament Conference. The conference takes place at the University of Aderdeen, 3 to 5 September 2009.

This seminar aims to be a forum for considering Acts from various angles:
historical, literary, textual-critical, theological, archaeological, the social world, possible links/parallels with other biblical and ancient writings, and so on.

We are very happy to include discussion of topics which relate Acts to the wider contexts of Luke-Acts and the Pauline corpus, where they are relevant and helpful to the study of Acts. Papers are welcome from both research students and more established scholars.

If you (or someone you know) is interested in offering a paper, please make contact with me as soon as possible (ideally by the end of April, and by the end of May at the latest), so that we can make plans. It would be helpful to have a working title and brief sketch of the topic (s) which the paper would cover. Papers could be longer, requiring a whole seminar session for discussion (90 minutes) or shorter, filling half a session (45 minutes). Responses by post, fax or email are all fine, although email is preferred.

Our practice in the Acts seminar is that papers are available on the British New Testament Society web site a few weeks before the conference, so that seminar members can read them in advance. We then ask the paper's author to give a 10-15 minute summary before we discuss the paper. This approach maximises discussion time, which is a major reason we meet together.

Please pass the word around about the Acts seminar, and encourage others who may wish to offer a paper to contact me soon. Do forward this email to others who may be interested. A copy of this notice is attached in PDF format ; please will you display it on your departmental/college notice boards?

If you have any questions about the seminar, please do get in touch with me.

With warm regards
Steve Walton <s.walton@LST.ac.uk>

2nd British National Patristic Conference

This announcement just came through the BNTS list:

Faculty of Divinity
West Road
Cambridge CB3 9BS

Second British National Patristic Conference
Wednesday 9th –Friday 11th September, 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS.

We are inviting all those engaged in the research and study of early and late antique Christianity to this conference. Our aim is to acknowledge the wide variety of institutional contexts and inter-disciplinary research cultures, trajectories, questions and approaches, encompassing the history, literature, theology, practice, and material culture of the early Church, including questions of the relationship between Early Christianity and other religions, philosophies and social contexts both within the Roman Empire and across borders.

The conference programme will provide opportunities for research presentation and discussion and will encourage communication and potential collaboration between participants.

The four keynote speakers are Frances Young (Birmingham), Stephen Mitchell (Exeter), Thomas Graumann (Cambridge), and Carol Harrison(Durham).

Researchers are now invited to respond to a call for papers of about 20 minutes in length, followed by discussion time.

Please provide the following information by 15th January 2009, to
Allen Brent,
alb13@hermes.cam.ac.uk
or by hard-copy to
Faculty of Divinity,
West Road,
Cambridge CB3 9BS.

1. Your name and affiliation (if any),
2. Paper Title,
3. Abstract of approximately 100-150 words,
4. Brief statement of your current recent research and writing if appropriate.

We would expect to give notice of acceptances by the end of February, 2009.

There will also be Workshops for Graduate students, grouped into areas of shared interests. Students are invited to indicate their area of interest and whether they would be prepared to make a brief, five-minute presentation of their work. The closing date for such offers is 1st May.

We look forward to hearing from you for what is looking like a very well subscribed conference with some very important contributions from researchers in our fields of study.

Allen Brent
Thomas Graumann
Judith Lieu

2009 SBL International Meeting Call for Papers

It seems like it's not too long ago I was at the 2008 SBL International Meeting in Auckland, presenting my paper (that's July). Now, the 2009 SBL International Meeting call for papers is already in place.


Next year, the International Meeting will be held in Rome. I have a couple of papers I would like to submit, where I would like to continue developing some Asian (or more particular, Malaysian) reading of the Pauline corpus. But at this stage, I am very uncertain whether I will even make it to Rome. It is going to be a very costly conference to attend!


Hopefully, I won't be like St Paul, arriving Rome in chains...

NT Wright at Gordon Conwell

NT Wright will be speaking at my alma mater, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on November 18, 2008.

Bishop NT Wright is the invited guest speaker at the Fall Pastor's Forum on the topic of Between God and the World: Reading John in Tomorrow's Church

According to Gordon-Conwell's website, "John’s Gospel is both majestic and intimate, a book for pastors, theologians, evangelists and - not least - those concerned to relate the gospel to tomorrow’s world of culture, society and politics. This seminar will offer a refresher course in understanding John and thinking through its powerful message for the church and world - and for ourselves!"

Specific topics that Bishop Wright will address include...

(1) The Word and the World

(2) Sings of Glory, Seeds of Hope

(3) The Shepherd King and His Helpers

(4) The Spirit and the Church's Mission

For further information, please click here.

If I am able to attend SBL Annual Conference in Boston, I would not have missed NT Wright's session at Gordon-Conwell. But...it's just a wish to attend SBL....just a dream...

2009 Annual Seminar on the OT in the NT

I have just received the following announcement through the BNTS list.

The 2009 Annual Seminar for the Study of the Old Testament in the New Testament will take place at St Deiniol's Library, North Wales, from Fri-Sun, April 3-5th 2009.

Offers of full papers (45 mins) and short papers (30mins) are welcome.

Please send title and brief abstract to Prof Steve Moyise (s.moyise@chi.ac.uk).

The cost of the conference will be approximately £115 full board.