Topics
Theology and ...
At Regent College, our goal is to explore the difference Christ makes to everything. We often talk about this in terms of “theology and.” You can think of most of The Vine’s Topics as possible answers to that question.
Each piece published here is tagged with one or more of the Topics listed below. You can click on these tags to find more material on a similar theme. While no tag or tags can capture the nuances of our contributors’ thinking, we hope that identifying key Topics in each piece can both give you a sense of what our community is talking about and make it easier to follow along. This tagging system isn’t intended to be reductive—in fact, we hope it will challenge all of us to look for different connections and think outside the boundaries we often draw around ideas. (In short, please, feel free to quibble with our choice of tags!)
We hope these Topics spark your curiosity and whet your appetite to learn more. Welcome to theology and.
Browse Topics
Arts: Explore the many and varied intersections between theology and the arts.
Bible: Encounter fresh perspectives, deepen your understanding, and let God speak into your life anew.
Church/Parachurch: Consider who Christ is, who we are as his people, and how theology informs our community life and ministry.
Environment & Creation Care: Address environmental issues with both scientific realism and theological hope.
History: Explore the complexities of the Christian story and consider how the past can speak into today's conversations.
Marketplace & Leadership: Cultivate better relationships between faith, work, and leadership.
Medicine & Medical Ethics: Reflect on life and death, health and sickness, care and suffering, and the difference theology makes.
Mental Health: Approach vital issues in personal and community life with compassion, scientific credibility, and theological depth.
Spirituality: Consider the vast range of spiritual practices, experiences, and encounters that God uses to draw us to himself.
Science & Technology: Address cutting-edge questions as we seek to think and act faithfully in a hyper-scientific, high-tech world.
Society & Culture: Make connections between Christian theology and the social dynamics that shape our lives.
Theology: Explore the scope of Christian doctrine as you grow your love for God and commitment to God’s mission.
World Christianity: Learn from Christians around the world, with a special focus on contributions from outside the European tradition.
Topic Descriptions
Arts
This conversation is for artists and art appreciators, writers and readers, musicians and listeners—for all of us. As we explore the many and varied intersections between theology and the arts, we’ll consider how art can reflect, express, and actually be theology. We’ll also practice thinking theologically about art that presents itself as anything but theological. Challenge your mind and unleash your imagination as we think through the arts.
Bible
God speaks, and we try to listen. We try to understand. We try to respond. In this conversation, we practice listening to God’s word together in order to hear God more clearly. Whether you’re getting to know Greek or Hebrew for the first time, discovering historical backgrounds that shed fresh light on familiar stories, or learning from how Christians in different times and places have read the Bible, you’ll find fresh perspectives and opportunities to let God speak into your life anew.
Church/Parachurch
What does it look like to be the body of Christ in today’s world? What does it mean to serve God and others faithfully inside the church, outside the church, anywhere and everywhere? In this conversation, we’ll look at these and other questions from a wide variety of angles. Together, we’ll consider who Christ is, who we are as his people, and how theology informs the challenges we face—and the choices we make—in our lives, relationships, and ministry.
Environment & Creation Care
As humans and as Christians, we are called to care for creation. This task can feel ever more overwhelming in a world of climate crisis, microplastics, and forever chemicals—yet we trust in a God who created, sustains, and will redeem the entire cosmos. Where does this leave us as individuals and as the body of Christ? The Regent community has been exploring this question for decades. As we continue the conversation, we’ll strive to address environmental issues with scientific credibility, sober responsibility, and unquenchable hope.
History
Join us as we discover and engage with the incredible range of ideas and experiences that have helped make us who we are as the people of God. Together, we’ll listen to voices both new and familiar, and consider how the past can speak into the conversations we're having today. As we explore the complexities of the Christian story, we’ll encounter people, events, and ideas with the power to reshape our understanding of the present—and our vision for the future.
Marketplace & Leadership
Regent was built on the conviction that theology is for everyone. Whatever your vocation, your faith matters for what you do everyday. Marketplace theology is a conversation about business, labour, and the professions in light of God's work. We’re asking questions like, how can we take our faith to work? What does it mean to live Christianly wherever God places us? How can we lead with faithfulness and integrity? Our goal is better relationships between faith, work, and leadership.
Medicine & Medical Ethics
In this conversation we seek to engage Christians from a range of perspectives and relationships with healthcare—from professionals to patients—in reflection and discussion about life and death, health and sickness, care and suffering, and the difference theology makes. We’ll wrestle with difficult subjects and bioethical dilemmas, striving always to keep in mind the vulnerable human subjects at the centre of these discussions, and to keep our eyes fixed on the God who heals us.
Mental Health
Mental health has become a hot topic in recent years. Long before that happened, the Regent community was discussing these issues with compassion, scientific credibility, and theological depth. How can our faith inform our understanding of mental health challenges? How can mental health challenges inform our understanding of who God is and what it means to follow him? How are we called to listen, speak, love, and act when we encounter suffering people? Let’s keep the conversation going.
Spirituality
Theology isn’t just a “head” thing. It touches our hearts, guides our hands, shapes our whole being. In this conversation, we’ll consider the vast range of spiritual practices, experiences, and encounters that God uses to draw human beings closer to himself, as well as the biblical and theological truths that shape our understanding of life in the Spirit. We look forward to thinking together about how God shapes us into the people he wants us to be—as individuals, and as the global body of Christ.
Science & Technology
Science and theology have often been portrayed as incompatible, even hostile. But we’re interested in telling a different story—one that offers dazzling insights into God and God’s world, as well as challenging conundrums about our relationship with creation. How should we think about and evaluate new technologies that both tantalize and terrify us, from bioengineering to AI? We’re bringing theological reflection to cutting-edge questions, seeking to think and act faithfully in a hyper-scientific, high-tech world.
Society & Culture
Where is God in today’s world? What does it look like to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, not only of our lives but of our world and everything in it? How can we follow God with integrity right now, right here, in all the beauty and mess of the real world? These aren’t easy questions, and we can’t answer them alone. Join us as we think through challenging questions and make connections between Christian theology and the social dynamics that shape our lives. We may not always agree, but we’re committed to having a conversation, not a fight.
Theology
Theology is a name for our human efforts to know and understand the God who made us, loves us, and calls us to himself. As a community, we’re having this conversation because we believe theology matters—deeply, persistently, and in every aspect of life. Whether we’re exploring the scope of Christian doctrine, examining ideas and debates from the history of the church, or engaging complex social issues, you’re invited to grow your love for God and your commitment to God’s mission.
World Christianity
In today’s globalized world, we have unprecedented opportunities to connect with sisters and brothers in Christ from cultures and backgrounds vastly different from our own. As we engage in these rich conversations, we’ll learn from the experiences, perspectives, and insights of Christians around the world, with a special focus on contributions from outside the European tradition. And as we embrace the beautiful diversity of God’s people, we’ll grow in our knowledge and love of the God we worship together.
From the Vine to Your Inbox
To keep up with our conversations on any or all of the Topics above, subscribe to The Regent Vine's monthly digest newsletter, Fresh from the Vine. Tell us which Topics you're most interested in, and we'll also let you know about upcoming events and other resources covering similar subject matter. Subscribe now!
