I reached the finish line Monday just before midnight, following 6 long days of meetings in Atlanta, Georgia. The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) had their annual meetings back-to-back at adjacent hotels downtown. I spent about 12 hours each day listening to scholars present papers reflecting their latest research, meeting with potential PhD supervisors from the five schools to which I've applied, and meeting friends new and old. My roommates and I stayed up late into the night talking and woke up early each morning to get ready for a new day. It was mentally intense, but emotionally exhilarating.
Imagine you are visiting the baseball hall of fame and you discover, much to your surprise, that all of the baseball greats who are still alive are gathered there. As you walk the halls your jaw drops when you see the name tags of all your favorite players, just inches away. You have complete freedom to mingle with them, and if you're brave enough you can strike up a conversation. That's what ETS and SBL are like for a young biblical scholar. I was surrounded by the men and women who had shaped my thinking in so many ways, and had shaped the thinking of my professors, and now I was seeing them face to face. James Kugel. Karen Jobes. Daniel Block. Richard Hays. Frank Theilman. Alan Culpepper. Joel Green. Patrick Miller. Thomas Schreiner. Marianne Meye Thompson. Seyoon Kim. Peter Martens. John Goldingay. Eugene Merrill. Erhard Gerstenberger. J. Ross Wagner. Andreas Kostenberger. Rikk Watts. Craig Keener. Grant Osborne. Walt Kaiser. Paul House. Jeff Tigay. Sandra Richter. Bernard Levinson. David Pao. John Oswalt. (Eliana is watching me type and she says you get the idea...) It felt like a living bibliography.
There's no way to capture even just an overview of what I learned in my blog, but I'm hoping to tell you about a few of the things that stood out to me during my six days. So stay tuned...!
Showing posts with label Hays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hays. Show all posts
Thursday, November 25, 2010
mental marathon
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
Friday, April 23, 2010
N. T. Wright and Friends
Wheaton's Theology Conference was outstanding! N. T. Wright's work was in the spotlight, and scholars from all over were invited to come and respond to him -- highlighting where they think Wright is right, and where he is wrong. Almost all the lectures are available for download, including his chapel message to Wheaton College students on Friday morning, so you can listen to the stimulating conversation for yourself.
Friday's theme was "Jesus and the People of God." The highlights of the day were hearing Richard Hays (from Duke) and N. T. Wright's evening lecture. Listen to Wright first for an entry-level explanation of his reading of the gospels. Hays has much in common with Wright but wants to see more attention to the literary shape of the gospels (as opposed to the history behind them). For what it's worth, Wright's book Jesus and the Victory of God was not written on a blank slate, but rather in response to the Jesus Seminar's discrediting of the Gospels. He puts himself squarely on their playing field, using only the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and emphasizing their historical reliability. He wishes that he had been able to give more attention to the ways in which each of the four Gospels present Jesus in a unique way, but constraints of time and space did not permit that.
Saturday was devoted to "Paul and the People of God." If you've heard about the current scholarly debate over 'justification' then you will want to listen to Wright's evening lecture, followed by Kevin Vanhoozer's hilarious yet substantive critique of Wright's position. It may be helpful to know in advance that Wright has been drawn (by John Piper) into the debate reluctantly. He does not feel that justification is the main point of Paul's writings. Community concerns are primary (the uniting of Jew and Gentile as the one people of God). Wright says that the Reformers did a great job answering late medieval questions, but that those questions have been allowed to set the agenda ever since. He wants to re-situate our reading of Paul in its 1st-century Jewish historical context. Vanhoozer (who teaches at Wheaton Graduate School) argued for a mediating position (between Piper and Wright).
Jeremy Begbie (from Duke) gave a fascinating lecture on the relationship between the emerging church and N. T. Wright. Hopefully the audio version includes his original piano composition in honor of Wright. The panel discussions were a lot of fun and very interesting, but they will probably only make sense if you first listen to all the presenters from that day. Let me know what you think!
http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/lectures-theology10.htm
Friday's theme was "Jesus and the People of God." The highlights of the day were hearing Richard Hays (from Duke) and N. T. Wright's evening lecture. Listen to Wright first for an entry-level explanation of his reading of the gospels. Hays has much in common with Wright but wants to see more attention to the literary shape of the gospels (as opposed to the history behind them). For what it's worth, Wright's book Jesus and the Victory of God was not written on a blank slate, but rather in response to the Jesus Seminar's discrediting of the Gospels. He puts himself squarely on their playing field, using only the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and emphasizing their historical reliability. He wishes that he had been able to give more attention to the ways in which each of the four Gospels present Jesus in a unique way, but constraints of time and space did not permit that.
Saturday was devoted to "Paul and the People of God." If you've heard about the current scholarly debate over 'justification' then you will want to listen to Wright's evening lecture, followed by Kevin Vanhoozer's hilarious yet substantive critique of Wright's position. It may be helpful to know in advance that Wright has been drawn (by John Piper) into the debate reluctantly. He does not feel that justification is the main point of Paul's writings. Community concerns are primary (the uniting of Jew and Gentile as the one people of God). Wright says that the Reformers did a great job answering late medieval questions, but that those questions have been allowed to set the agenda ever since. He wants to re-situate our reading of Paul in its 1st-century Jewish historical context. Vanhoozer (who teaches at Wheaton Graduate School) argued for a mediating position (between Piper and Wright).
Jeremy Begbie (from Duke) gave a fascinating lecture on the relationship between the emerging church and N. T. Wright. Hopefully the audio version includes his original piano composition in honor of Wright. The panel discussions were a lot of fun and very interesting, but they will probably only make sense if you first listen to all the presenters from that day. Let me know what you think!
http://www.wheaton.edu/wetn/lectures-theology10.htm
Dr. Carmen Imes is the Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, and serves the broader church through teaching, speaking, writing, and creating YouTube videos. She earned a PhD in Biblical Theology (Old Testament) from Wheaton College under Dr. Daniel Block, an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a BA in Bible and Theology from Multnomah University. She and her husband, Daniel, served as missionaries with SIM 15 years. They have three children: Ana, Emma, and Easton.
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