2020–2021
Conferences
(Re-)Connecting the Christian Faith and Scholarship: Vocational and Theological Perspectives
After the 2019-20 theme of ‘Christ, (Post-)Modernity and the Academy’, focussed particularly on the challenges and opportunities presented by twentieth and twenty-first century (post-)modern philosophy, the 2020-21 conferences broadened out to consider foundational principles for integrating faith and scholarship. The Autumn conference considered this topic from a vocational perspective, while the Spring conference looked at it from a theological perspective.
Autumn 2020 Conference:
Vocational Perspectives
Date, time and location
Theme and focus
Personal interviews and insights, with:
- Prof John Lister (University of Cambridge)
- Prof John Lennox (University of Oxford)
- Dr David Glass (Ulster University)
How does lockdown change or illuminate our vocation as Christian academics? How can we contribute to ‘human flourishing’ in these circumstances? How can we draw on our academic work to point others to Christ, especially when we rarely have the opportunity to meet with other people? This conference will feature interviews with Christian academics working in different contexts who will share how they are serving Christ as an academic during CV19, exploring vocational principles which are relevant across all the disciplines.
Programme – Part 1
The first half the programme consisted of interviews, conversation and Q&A.
Programme – Part 2
The second half of the programme consisted of faculty-specific breakout rooms.
With many physical faculty buildings closed down, this provided a unique opportunity to meet other Christians in the same field and discuss together the vocational principles from the interviews.
Spring 2021 Conference:
Theological Perspectives
Date, time and location
Friday 26th February (7.00-9.15pm) and
Saturday 27 Feb 2021 (9.30am-1.00pm)
Zoom
Speakers
- Rev Dr Craig Bartholomew – Director of the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, Cambridge
- Dr Dan Strange – Director and Lecturer in Culture, Religion and Public Theology, Oak Hill College, London
- Dr Chris Watkin – Senior Lecturer in French Studies, Monash University, Australia
- Dr Matt Lillicrap – Associate Minister, Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge, and former medical doctor
Theme and focus
What does it mean to ‘integrate Christianity and scholarship’ or ‘(re-)connect your faith and your studies’? And how would one go about that? What are some of the theological building blocks to help us integrate the Christian faith and scholarship? What does it mean to go about this in a way that brings glory to Christ, and is faithful to his word?
After the vocational focus of the Autumn conference, here we stepped back to consider the theological foundations of an evangelical approach to the academic vocation.
Before applying the principles in our different disciplines, led by a variety of seminar leaders, we first engaged with the following:
- Two Adams:
the relationship between Christ’s work and our academic work
Matt Lillicrap - The Bible and Other Texts:
the character of Scripture and its role for our scholarship
Craig Bartholomew - Christian Scholarship:
contributing to our field in light of the gospel
Chris Watkin - Christ our Hope:
drawing on our academic expertise to point people to Christ
Dan Strange
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