As I alluded to in a previous post on the devastating shootings in Orlando, I was privileged to be part of a conference in Bristol over a recent weekend. Hosted expertly by Westminster Theological Centre - whose useful website you should check out, and follow them on Twitter - the Kingdom Theology Conference 2016 examined a vital theme: 'Created Unequal? Men and Women in the Family of God'. Drawing a range of contributors from a diversity of perspectives, this also happened to be my first academic outing since SVS 2015, so I was a little nervous about what to expect. But I didn't need to be. WTC organised a brilliant conference, that hung together beautifully.
WTC is an interesting form of theological education - with an exciting commitment to Kingdom Theology, the theological framework in which New Wine, the Vineyard movement and many churches live and move and have their being. I've blogged before about the Kingdom of God,and will likely continue to do so. WTC hosted the conference at Woodlands Church in Bristol - which gave me a great excuse to catch up with my Aunt and Uncle the evening before, which was a real joy - a perfect venue for a conference like this. We were all warmly welcomed - and it was genuine hospitality. This was the first time that I've spoken at a conference, giving a short paper, where I haven't had to pay to play. I really appreciated that - and WTC didn't stint on the hospitality. The atmosphere of welcome, worship and focused and spirit-filled inquiry was genuinely noticeable - it felt like an SVS conference at their best! The theme of the day - continuing on in WTC's annual conference series - was the contentious but often ignored theme of the equality of men and women in the church. This wasn't a conference with an agenda, though - the two keynotes explored the biblical texts in context, and the short papers came from a real range of perspectives!
Matt Lynch giving his Old Testament Keynote.
The first keynote came from Matthew Lynch, Dean of Studies at WTC, who brought his broad and deep Old Testament knowledge to bear on the question of humantiy and gender. This keynote was in my love language - Matt focused in on the Image of God, and what that means for being creatures and stewards, men and women, together in the family of God. There was some overlap with my paper (more in a bit), but Matt did a superb job of exploring men and women in the Old Testament, with genuinely useful usage of powerpoint, Hebrew, and technical things! The thing that stuck with me, and has resonated in other conversations and thoughts I've been involved in over the last week, was his beautiful definition of shalom, the orginal and future state of things:
This theme was arguably the hook on which the conference as a whole hung - even across disagreement. In that way, even as we disagreed and discussed, worshipped and wondered, we enjoyed signs of the Kingdom in prayer and praise, sandwiches and coffee, and in interactions with different brothers and sisters across the body of Christ.
"Genesis 1 offers a picture of a world created in shalom: right-relating wholeness"
Lucy Peppiatt being prayed for before her New Testament keynote.
The second keynote came from Lucy Peppiatt, Principal of WTC, someone whose blend of New Testament and Systematic Theology has been of interest to me for a while. It was a privilege to meet Lucy, and her keynote was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the way she inverted traditional presentation styles - we began by her asking us about our questions/comments on men and women in the New Testament, questions and comments she then interwove into her keynote. This inversion grabbed attention from the outset - and means I will be re-watching the keynote when it goes live online, both for theological reflection purposes, and shameless appropriating of presentation style! Lucy offered a spirited defence of a biblical egalitarianism, challenging a range of readings and perspectives, and tying it together with a holistic understanding of what Paul and other New Testament authors were doing:
Lucy's paper was a stirring challenge to those who would ignore or misinterpret Galatians 3:28, providing much food for thought. I'd recommend watching and digesting what she said when the video is released.
I was privileged to be sharing my paper, 'With specific reference to the Imago Dei, to what extent are gender relations in Genesis 1-3 'egalitarian'?', at the conference. I was in a panel alongside a chap from WTC talking about Judges, and a fascinating woman from the USA talking about some research she'd done regarding how we talk about women in ministry. Being in a panel meant I missed out on the other three short papers - which look like being diverse perspectives on the New Testament. I hope to catch them online soon! My paper considered what it means to be made in the Image of God. My tentative conclusions are quite challenging, including to my own thinking; that pre-fall there was nothing but equality between male and female, yet at the same time this challenges modern gender theory and androcentric understandings of being human. I'd encourage you to read the paper, and would love your comments.
All in all, WTC's 2016 Kingdom Theology Conference was a wonderful success. I really appreciated the blend of genuinely spirit-filled worship, prayer and hospitality, and the breadth and depth of theological discussion. I had one coffee break talking about obscure issues of interpretation (that acutally really do matter), and spent serious time after my paper talking about real life issues that theology helps us to grapple with. WTC has curated and created something really rather marvellous in its Kingdom Theology Conference, and I'm hoping it will continue. Do keep an eye out for recordings and papers from the conference - I'll be updating this post when they are live online.
"Galatians 3:"8 is not 'just a verse', but part of temple theology, that in Christ there is no inferior or superior"
I was privileged to be sharing my paper, 'With specific reference to the Imago Dei, to what extent are gender relations in Genesis 1-3 'egalitarian'?', at the conference. I was in a panel alongside a chap from WTC talking about Judges, and a fascinating woman from the USA talking about some research she'd done regarding how we talk about women in ministry. Being in a panel meant I missed out on the other three short papers - which look like being diverse perspectives on the New Testament. I hope to catch them online soon! My paper considered what it means to be made in the Image of God. My tentative conclusions are quite challenging, including to my own thinking; that pre-fall there was nothing but equality between male and female, yet at the same time this challenges modern gender theory and androcentric understandings of being human. I'd encourage you to read the paper, and would love your comments.
All in all, WTC's 2016 Kingdom Theology Conference was a wonderful success. I really appreciated the blend of genuinely spirit-filled worship, prayer and hospitality, and the breadth and depth of theological discussion. I had one coffee break talking about obscure issues of interpretation (that acutally really do matter), and spent serious time after my paper talking about real life issues that theology helps us to grapple with. WTC has curated and created something really rather marvellous in its Kingdom Theology Conference, and I'm hoping it will continue. Do keep an eye out for recordings and papers from the conference - I'll be updating this post when they are live online.
WTC's collage of photos, showing worship, presentations, and the brilliant venue.
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Thanks for this, sounds like an interesting event.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit confused though: surely there has never been any real question in Christian theology about the equality of male and female made in the image of God? But that doesn't mean that male and female don't differ in certain respects, and so can be better and worse at certain things (as a matter of generalisation). You need to do more than establish equality of status to establish uniformity of characteristics and hence of suitability for roles. Presumably contributors recognised that, but it just doesn't come through in the review.
Hi, Will J.
DeleteThanks so much for commenting!
As ever, anything I write a post about may or may not reflect reality. I'd encourage you to check out the recordings of the Keynotes and Short Papers - http://admiralcreedy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/wtc-conference-audio-and-video-now.html
Thanks for commenting!