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In our current economic climate, especially in this city, people are constantly thinking about their work. What does the church have to say? In the mid-twentieth century, essayist Dorothy Sayers wrote:

"In nothing has the Church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation.  She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world’s intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion.”  

  

These are bold words, but many would agree that they are as true now as they were then. Christians ought to be able to present a powerful vision of work that extends far beyond its pragmatic value and passionately connects with the sovereign nature and redemptive purpose of Christ. The need for the church to engage and provide vision for the meaning and significance of work is greater now than it has been for generations.

We cling to the hope and theology that the gospel changes everything - our hearts, our relationships, and the way the world works.

The lecturers who have been selected to be part of this series have all become thought-leaders through their writing, teaching, and work in the world focused on this area of gospel & culture engagement.

Each month features a renowned speaker who will help us understand:

Our hope is that through these events the church will be awakened to the critical role of work in redemption, broadening our understanding of the gospel beyond the walls of the church.  

Please join us each month for this exciting and needed series.

GOSPEL& CULTURE SERIES AUDIO AVAILABLE HERE

SCHEDULE

LOCATION: Hunter College Auditorium, E. 69th St. btwn Park & Lexington
TIME: All lectures begin at 1pm and conclude with a time of Q&A.
ADMISSION: Lectures are FREE OF CHARGE and open to the general public.

April 20, 2010: BISHOP N.T. WRIGHT, After You Believe [download audio] [watch video]

N. T. Wright is the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. Previously, he was Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Gregorian University in Rome and many other institutions around the world. Dr. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. A leading scholar in New Testament studies and the mission of the church (authoring over 40 books), Dr. Wright is a significant voice in bridging theology and practice. His most recent book is After You Believe, the third in a series following Simply Christian, and Surprised by Hope.

October 24, 2010: JEFF VAN DUZER, Why Business Matters to God [download audio] [watch video]

Jeff Van Duzer is in his tenth year as the Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of Why Business Matters to God, and his areas of research include the ethics of wealth creation and distribution and the applied integration of business and theology. Prior to his appointment to SPU, Jeff was a partner with the international law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine where he practiced for more than 20 years.  Jeff received his undergraduate degree from U.C. in rhetoric and his J.D. degree from Yale Law School. 

November 21, 2010: ANDY CROUCH, Creating Power [download audio] [watch video]

Andy is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today’s 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership. A senior editor at Christianity Today International, he has served as executive producer of several documentary films. His writing has appeared in various editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

January 30, 2011: TIM KELLER, Why Work Matters [download audio] [watch video] [article]

Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller attended Bucknell University, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and Westminster Theological Seminary. He has ministered and taught in Boston and Philadelphia. Tim and wife Kathy moved to New York City in 1989 to begin planting what is now Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Redeemer has become especially effective in reaching Manhattan professionals from many diverse occupations and cultural backgrounds. Tim and Kathy are committed to help incite a movement of church planting that will spawn dozens of new multi-ethnic congregations throughout the urban areas of the world, continuing into the next decades. Author of several books, including The Reason for God, Counterfeit Gods, The Prodigal God, and Generous Justice. His most recent book, King's Cross, was released February 2011.

February 27, 2011: ADRIENNE CHAPLIN, Art Matters for God's Sake [download audio] [watch video]

Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin gained her doctorate in philosophy from the Free University in Amsterdam where she also studied art history and violin. From 1999 until 2007 she taught philosophical aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in Toronto, Canada, part of which time she served as president of the Canadian Society for Aesthetics. She has published articles and chapters in various books and journals and is co-author of Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts (IVP, 2002). She is married with two children and currently lives as a free-lance writer and speaker in Cambridge, UK.

March 20, 2011: ROBERT GEORGE, Natural Law, God, and Human Dignity [download audio] [download Q&A] [watch video]

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University.  He has served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the President’s Council on Bioethics. He was a Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award.  A graduate of Swarthmore, he holds J.D. and M.T.S. degrees from Harvard, and a D.Phil. from Oxford, in addition to many honorary degrees.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal and the Honorific Medal of the Republic of Poland for the Defense of Human Rights. *Suggested reading: Clash Of Orthodoxies: Law Religion & Morality In Crisis

April 17, 2011: OS GUINNESS, Challenging the Darkness - Towards a New Christian Renaissance [download audio] [download Q&A] [watch video]

Os Guinness is an author and social critic. Great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. Os has written or edited more than twenty five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth, The Call, Invitation to the Classics, Long Journey Home, Unspeakable, and A Case for Civility. His latest book is The Last Christian on Earth, published in February, 2010. He lives with his wife Jenny in McLean, Virginia. *Suggested Reading: The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. **Suggested Listening: Civility in the Public Square and Why Truth Matters from the Lausanne Conference, Cape Town, 2010.

May 22, 2011: JAMES K.A. SMITH, Culture as Liturgy [download audio] [watch video]

Jamie Smith is the Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College. An expert in French philosophy and postmodern thought, Jamie draws on philosophy for his real passion: cultural criticism.  He is an award-winning author whose books include Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?; Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation; and, most recently, Letters to a Young Calvinist.  His writing has also appeared in magazines such as the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Christian Century, First Things, and Books & Culture.  He and his wife, Deanna, have 4 children and are committed urban dwellers who make their home in the East Hills neighborhood of Grand Rapids, MI.Website: www.jameskasmith.com

 

June 5, 2011: DOUGLAS M. JOHNSTON, Faith-Based Diplomacy: Bridging the Religious Divide [watch video]

Douglas M. Johnston is president and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. He is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. He has served in senior positions in both the public and private s ectors. Among his government assignments, he was deputy assistant secretary of the navy; director of policy planning and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and planning officer with the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness. Prior to his current position, Dr. Johnston served as Executive Vice President and COO of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Dr. Johnston's hands-on experience in the political/military arena coupled with his work in preventive diplomacy, has guided the work of ICRD since its inception. In 2007, he received The Founding Spirit Award for Faith by The Washington Times at its 25th anniversary celebration and in 2008 was identified in a leading Christian journal as “The Father of Faith-based Diplomacy.” His most recent book is Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement. *Suggested Reading: Faith-Based Diplomacy Trumping Realpolitik