Spring School: Week 5

Bruce Hindmarsh
James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology, Regent College. BRE (Briercrest Bible College), MCS (Regent College), DPhil (Oxford).

Bruce has published and lectured widely on the early evangelical movement in the age of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. He has been on research leave during 2007 as a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, working on a book on early evangelical devotion.

The Historical Roots of Evangelical Spirituality

The rising wave of interest among evangelical Christians in spirituality has rightly drawn upon the ecumenical riches of church history, including movements such as the fourth-century Desert Fathers or the twelfth-century Cistercians or the sixteenthcentury Spanish mystics. This course examines the period when modern evangelicalism itself arose from the perspective of this renewed interest in spiritual theology. The classic works of evangelical leaders such as John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards or John Newton were really eighteenth-century specimens of spiritual theology. By looking at evangelicalism as an early-modern revival of spiritual concern, we will ask what lessons we can learn today as we aspire to live by the gospel, that is, to achieve an authentically evangelical spirituality. Students should come away with a stronger sense of evangelical identity, rooted in the “great tradition” of Christian devotion down through the ages but expressed in contemporary terms. They should also find themselves personally inspired, as one of the favourite books of the early evangelicals put it, to experience more deeply “the life of God in the soul of man.”

HIST/SPIR 612: June 9-13, 8:00-11:00 am
1 or 2 graduate credit hours

Redeeming Creation: God’s Whole Story

Over recent decades evangelicals have been recovering their commitment to the created world. In this course we will examine the causes and practical consequences of a renewed relationship to all that God has made. We will review some of the essential biblical foundations, and we will look at the significance, distinctives and challenges of the growing, world-wide, Christian involvement in the care of creation. We will also consider its implications for how we build human communities, and we will endeavour to work in an interactive fashion, making ourselves as available as possible outside class hours for discussion. As in previous years, it will be our hope that participants in the course can consider the missional possibilities for their own lives, taking full account of the places and times in which they find themselves.

APPL/INDS 601: June 9-13, 8:00-11:00 am
1 or 2 graduate credit hours

Download the course information sheet in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format (142 kb)

Miranda Harris
Founder, A Rocha. CertEd (Homerton College, Cambridge).

Peter Harris
Founder and President, A Rocha. MA (Cambridge), DipHE (Trinity College, Bristol).

A Rocha Trust is an international Christian organization working in conservation. A Rocha projects span the globe—presently in twenty-one countries.

“Both Peter & Miranda are wonderful models for Christian living…transparent people who live out the gospel.”

Dr. Jennie McLaurin
Interim Dean of Students, Regent College. BS (Salem College), MD (Wake Forest University), MPH (University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill), MCS (Regent College).

Jennie is a pediatrician with a degree in maternal and child health, and has worked for many years with the American Health Resources and Services Administration, serving immigrant populations. In addition to her medical training, she holds a Master of Christian Studies from Regent College.

Faithful Medicine

Contemporary Christians struggle to make sense of modern medicine and its bioethical challenges. Abortion, euthanasia, AIDS and stem cell research continue to make headlines and fuel debate. But less public concerns also occupy us as families, clergy and health providers. How shall we approach common issues like infertility, aging, chronic pain and our neighbour’s unmet medical needs? Does our use of medicine reflect our Christian worldview? How might we portray Christian alternatives to the prevailing secular notions as we give and receive health care? This course will examine medicine’s powerful role in society, the ethical methods used in public debate and the popular theological terms used to support bioethical viewpoints. Interactive case studies will be used throughout the course to stimulate discussion and to illustrate our concerns.

Health professionals, church leaders and the wider Christian community are invited to think well about medicine, and so to offer reasonable and faithful approaches to bioethical deliberation, drawing upon a coherent and accessible theology.

APPL/INDS 503: June 9-13, 1:15-4:15 pm
1 or 2 graduate credit hours

Download the course information sheet in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format (142 kb)

Bruce Milne
Conference speaker, writer and formerly pastor of First Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC. MA (St. Andrews), BD (London), PhD (Edinburgh).

Bruce is presently engaged in writing, an international conference ministry and the encouragement of ministers. His books include Know the Truth, The Message of Heaven and Hell and Dynamic Diversity: The New-humanity Church for Today and Tomorrow.

“His lectures gave energy, encouragement and real help in understanding the text.”

Acts of the Apostles

The primary claim of the Christian faith is that God, the universal creator, has in person entered space and time in his eternal Son, Jesus Christ; and that Christ’s coming, culminating in his death and resurrection, represents the central cultural event in the human story, and the one hope of salvation for all humanity. The Book of Acts, Luke’s sequel to his account of Jesus’ ministry, accompanies Jesus’ disciples as they respond to his mandate to take the good news about Jesus to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.” The class will trace the exciting and challenging story of the beginnings of the global mission, and attempt to relate the text to contemporary missional realities through detailed exegesis of important passages and more general reflection. The aim will be to rekindle a sense of commitment to the church’s worldwide calling, as well as learning the lessons of the pioneer generation of witnesses.

BIBL 562: June 9-13, 8:00-11:00 am
1 or 2 graduate credit hours

Download the course information sheet in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format (142 kb)