TCF Sponsors Respectful Conversation on American Evangelicalism

The Colossian Forum is sponsoring a virtual conversation on the www.respectfulconversation.net website, hosted by TCF Senior Fellow, Harold Heie. The title of this conversation is “American Evangelicalism: Present Conditions, Future Possibilities.” This conversation will last for 7 months, with one month devoted to each of 7 pre-announced sub-topics, which will include Evangelicalism and the Broader Christian Tradition, Evangelicalism and the Modern Study of Scripture, Evangelicalism and Morality, Evangelicalism and Politics, and Evangelicalism and Higher Education. After postings by “primary contributors” on a given topic, readers will have the opportunity to submit “comments” in a moderated forum.

If you are interested, you can subscribe to receive all the postings for this conversation in your email in-box by going to “Email Subscription” on the web site.

To date, 28 Christian scholars have agreed to be primary contributors to this conversation, including Randall Balmer (Dartmouth College), Amy Black (Wheaton College), Jeannine Brown (Bethel Seminary), Peter Enns (Eastern University), John Franke (Yellowstone Theological Institute), Stanton Jones (Wheaton College), Ben Mitchell (Union University), Richard Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary), Soong-Chan Rah (North Park Theological Seminary), Sandy Richter (Wesley Seminary), Sarah Ruden (Wesleyan University), Mark Sargent (Westmont College), Corwin Smidt (Calvin College), Theodore Williams (City Colleges of Chicago), John Wilson (Books & Culture), and Amos Yong (Regent University).

This conversation is also co-sponsored by the Center for Faith & Inquiry at Gordon College and Eastern University.

Comments

The Colossian Forum Receives Grant for Project on Evolution and The Fall

The Colossian Forum has received a $303,732, three-year grant from The BioLogos Foundation for their project, Beyond Galileo – to Chalcedon: Re-imagining the Intersection of Evolution and the Fall. This project is led by Dr. James K.A. Smith (Calvin College), Dr. William Cavanaugh (DePaul University) and Michael Gulker (President – The Colossian Forum). The Colossian Forum was one of 37 winners out of 225 applicants to the Biologos Evolution & Christian Faith grants competition.

This project gathers a multidisciplinary team of leading scholars to pursue a communal research project on evolution, the Fall, and original sin, asking a pressing question: If humanity emerged from non-human primates—as genetic, biological, and archaeological evidence seems to suggest—then what are the implications for Christian theology’s traditional account of origins, including both the origin of humanity and the origin of sin? The integrity of the church’s witness requires that it constructively address this difficult question. The team believes that cultivating an orthodox theological imagination can enable Christians to engage these tensions without giving up on confessional orthodoxy. So its confessional methodology is as central to the project as its topic.

The team embraces the church’s ancient wisdom in the Council of Chalcedon as a model and template for how to faithfully grapple with contemporary challenges. The team believes the resources for such theological imagination are carried in the liturgical heritage of the church—in the worship practices and spiritual disciplines that enact the biblical story in ways that seep into our imagination, helping Christians see creative ways forward through this challenge. Research will be shared in a culminating conference and resulting scholarly book. In addition, the fruit of the team’s research will also be “translated” and distributed for pastors, Christian educators and students through forums, web publishing, and curricula.

For more information about The Colossian Forum on Faith, Science and Culture, visit http://www.colossianforum.org.

The Biologos Foundation Announcement – http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-and-christian-faith-grantees-announced.

Contact: Brian Cole, Director of Operations
Telephone: 616-328-6016
Email: bcole@colossianforum.org

Comments