ICS Worldview Conference 2007

Saturday October 20, Chicago
Burning Questions? Biblical Answers?
Can an Ancient Text Guide Us?

Keynote Speaker Richard Middleton Jesus, the One Name that Saves, and Other Faiths · with Morris Griedanus   A Spirituality of the Ragged Edges: The Psalms of Lament as a Resource for Addressing Human Suffering · with J. Richard Middleton   Picturing Human Stewardship and Climate Change At the Intersection of Science and Imagination · with Perry Recker   Who is My Neighbor? A Call to Social Consciousness and Responsibility to the Stranger · with Cynthia P. Stewart   Come and explore how your faith relates to current ideas... Heritage Science Center 014 Trinity Christian College, 6601W. College Dr, Palos Heights, IL, USA [view map]

Christians confess that the Bible is the inspired word of God, meant to give direction to our lives as we seek to be faithful followers of Christ. Yet many of us yawn while we read it, if we read it at all, or resort to desperate measures like opening it randomly to shake out a contemporary meaning. How does Scripture provide guidance for living today? Isn't it full of outdated or conflicting points of view on a variety of ethical matters? This conference will help participants face squarely the ethical complexity of Scripture, while introducing a narrative framework for making sense of this difficulty, so that Scripture might provide guidance for us in the contemporary world.

Schedule | Keynote Addresses | Workshops | Registration | Sponsors

 SCHEDULE

 KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

J. Richard Middleton teaches Biblical Studies at Roberts Wesleyan College, in Rochester, NY. He is a graduate of the joint Ph.D. program of the ICS and the Free University of Amsterdam. Originally from Jamaica (he lived down the road from Bob Marley), Richard immigrated to Canada in the late seventies and soon enrolled in the ICS. He started teaching worldview courses for ICS at various universities in south western Ontario. These courses led to two books he coauthored with Brian Walsh: The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (InterVarsity Press, 1984) and Truth is Stranger Than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (InterVarsity Press/SPCK, 1995), which received a Book-of-the-Year award (1996) from Christianity Today magazine.

His most recent book is The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos Press, 2005). Richard and Marcia have two sons.

Quotes in response to Toronto worldview Conference address
"Outstanding. He made the complex plain. I appreciated his knowledge, teaching style, and grace."
What did you like most?
"Richard's fresh and thought provoking approach to Scripture." "Richard's accessibility."

 CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

Morris Griedanus
Jesus, the One Name that Saves, and Other Faiths
AM and PM
We live, often uncomfortably, in a religious pluralistic time. How do other religions fit into our worldview? Is there a theological/biblical basis for living next to them and speaking with them? An interesting narrative in Acts where St Paul is first revered as a god, and then stoned, begins our examination of the early church's claim of the unique place of Jesus combined with sympathetic engagement with other religions.

Morris Greidanus served ICS as interim president in 2005/2006. Morris and Alice work with and for Friends of ICS. Educated at Calvin College and Seminary, the Free University, and Knox College-University of Toronto, Morris served as pastor in various churches and in campus ministry at the University of Toronto in the ICS's start-up years.

J. Richard Middleton
A Spirituality of the Ragged Edges: The Psalms of Lament as a Resource for Addressing Human Suffering
PM only
Pain and suffering are everywhere, even in the church. No one is immune. How can Christians deal with suffering honestly while remaining faithful to God? This workshop will offer biblical and theological resources from the psalms of lament for processing pain in our own lives in a manner that leads to genuine hope for ourselves and those to whom we minister.

Perry Recker
Picturing Human Stewardship and Climate Change – At the Intersection of Science and Imagination
AM and PM
A view of biblical stewardship in the context of a redemptive-historical worldview. A brief discussion of some competing alternative views, including notions of cosmic law and scientific activity. Definitions of climate change and global warming. Proposed solution sets in relation to the normative structures of human society.

Perry Recker, an ICS alumnus, is a librarian at Kennedy-King College and Chicago Semester. Perry enjoys a love of the creation and has received training from Al Gore to become a presenter on the Climate Crisis. He has delivered 6 presentations based on principles of Christian stewardship.

Cynthia P. Stewart
Who is My Neighbor? A Call to Social Consciousness and Responsibility to the Stranger
AM only
We will explore the meaning of the gospel story of the Good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor? This narrative invites us to consider our relationship to persons from cultures, races, religions, identities and political or economic contexts different from our own. How do we relate to persons facing situations of duress and violence in urban and intercultural contexts?

Cynthia Stewart is a co-founder of The Perfect Peace, LLC, a member of St. Sabina church, and she has completed three Christian studies related Masters Degrees and  a Certificate in Community and Economic Development from Harvard Divinity School. She is currently with Chicago Semester as Practicum Group Leader, Internship Assistant and teaches "History of Religion and Society in Urban America." Clinton Stockwell, Executive Director of Chicago Semester will moderate this workshop.

 REGISTRATION

Capacity limited, registrations available on a first come first served basis.
 
Please register no later than Wed. Oct. 17.
 
For queries about attendance without registration, call ahead on evening before or day of conference to 708-239-4752.

 OUR SPONSORS

Milton and Carol Kuyers