Cultural Transformation: A Proposed Model - Bob Osburn - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures

A Senior Fellow with Wilberforce International Institute, which he founded in 2009, Bob Osburn trains international students as redemptive change agents and writes and teaches about international development, comparative worldviews, corruption, education policy, and wealth creation. For seven years he taught courses on religion and educational policy and religion and international development at the University of Minnesota, and currently teaches courses with The New International University and Wilberforce International Institute. He has a PhD in comparative and international development education from the University of Minnesota, a ThM from Dallas Seminary, and a BA from the University of Michigan. He is the author of Taming the Beast: Can We Bridle the Culture of Corruption? (2016) and, most recently, Developing Redemptive Change Agents: Discipleship That Helps Nations Flourish Rather Than Flounder (2021). Bob and Susan have been married for 49 years, are the parents of four sons, and grandparents to 13.

This lecture explains why corruption is so rampant in the international aid sector, tracing much of the problem to faulty diagnoses and remedies rooted in naturalistic and postmodern worldviews. Dr. Bob Osburn, who has worked in international student and academic campus ministry for 40 years and has authored Taming the Beast: Can We Bridle the Culture of Corruption?, recommends a rejection of Christian sentimentalism and a simultaneous fulsome embrace of the Christian worldview in order to bridle corruption in the international aid sector while also enhancing international development outcomes centered on human flourishing.

This talk considers the involvement of medical professionals in intentionally lethal acts in several historical and contemporary contexts (beyond abortion or medical experimentation under National Socialism). Contexts include medicalized capital punishment (from 18th C. France to 21st C. Florida); assisted suicide and euthanasia (from Hippocratic proscription to contemporary prescriptions); transplantation (forced organ harvesting in totalitarian China / the intersection of euthanasia and transplantation among European liberal democracies), as well as, oddly and astonishingly, medical lethality as a backstop solution for failed housing policy in Canada! In economic terms, a 'perverse' incentive accomplishes the opposite of the stated intent. But, a morally or spiritually perverse incentive may also fulfill intent. When medical(ized) lethality is normalized, 'the trouble with normal is it always gets worse' (B. Cockburn) - including for the coherence of medicine per se.

Kirk C Allison, PhD, MS directed the Program in Human Rights and Health at the U of M School of Public Health from 2007-2016 and taught in the Health Humanities Program of the College of Saint Scholastica from 2017-2025. (Previously he served as Chair of the American Public Health Association's Ethics Special Primary Interest Group and testified on forced organ harvesting in China before a U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee).

Throughout its history, Evangelicalism has neglected to consider the spiritual lives of people with profound intellectual disabilities and how their experiences might contribute to a fuller understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Both the historic and modern constructions of evangelical discipleship have led to particular ministry strategies and practices that rarely consider the presence of people with profound intellectual disabilities. A broader theology of discipleship that includes the spiritual lives of people with profound intellectual disabilities can only be achieved through embracing a renewed emphasis on a theology of the cross, and the conviction that we are held in the trustful love of God that seals our eternal purpose in the divine kingdom.

Dr. Phil Letizia is a theologian and pastor who holds a Ph.D. in Theology and Disability from the University of Aberdeen. After 20 years of pastoring and church planting, Phil has joined Anselm House's Center for Faith & Learning as the inaugural Director of the Healthcare Initiative. The initiative aims to provide intellectual and relational support to the significant number of healthcare students, faculty, and providers at the University of Minnesota, in the Twin Cities, and at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Phil also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Disability and Religion. Last fall, his book Held in the Love of God: Discipleship and Disability was published by Baylor University Press.

Postmodernism's Failure to Assuage Your Fears - Greg Jesson - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures

Greg Jesson’s long journey from Los Angeles to Iowa took him to Switzerland, where he studied at L’Abri with Francis Schaeffer, to UCLA where he finished his undergraduate degree in philosophy, to USC where he completed an MA in philosophy under Dallas Willard, and finally to the University of Iowa where he received a Ph.D. in philosophy focusing on philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, phenomenology, and philosophy of religion.

He has published books and articles on the nature of thought and knowledge, consciousness, philosophy of mathematics, Francis Schaeffer, the portrayal of ultimate issues in modern film, defending Christianity in the marketplace, and the philosophical and religious thought of Dallas Willard. Over the years he has taught at eight colleges and a seminary, and has lectured widely in America and Europe.

Most recently, he was a professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics and Public Life at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Having decided to leave the university, he now spends his time writing, lecturing, restoring an old home, and looking after his dog, Dr. Watson.

You Say You Want a Reformation: Cultural Engagement or Cultural Resistance? Evaluating the Benedict Option - Mike Sugimoto - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures 

Mike Sugimoto is Professor of Asian Studies at Pepperdine University with a focus on cinema, sociology and philosophy.

The Transformative Power of Art: Story in Film - Denis Haack - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Culture

Denis and Margie Haack co-directed Ransom Fellowship from 1983-2020. They continue a ministry of conversation and listening, as well as writing, no longer in print (Critique & Letters from the House Between), but on their website (https://www.critique-letters.com/). They are enjoying being grandparents while Margie collects eggs laid by her four hens, Pecorino, Brie, Fontina, and Velveeta. They live in Savage, MN and are members of Church of the Cross (Hopkins, MN).

Abraham Kuyper A Model for Transformation - Wim Rietkerk - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures

Wim Rietkerk was educated at Leydon University in Philosophy of Religion and graduated in Theology at Kampen. He has worked as a pastor for many years along with leading L’Abri Fellowship in Holland. He is the author of several books including co-authoring What in the World is Real: Challenging the Superficial in Today’s World.

Can the Bible Reform the 21st Century West - Vishal Mangalwadi - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures

Vishal Mangalwadi is an Indian philosopher and social reformer who has written several popular books on the Bible’s seismic influence. Vishal has lectured in over 40 countries, published seventeen books (including The Book That Made Your World), and contributed to many more.

Developing a Reformed Theology of Culture - Doug Groothuis - 2017 Conference Highlights: The Power of God's Word to Transform Cultures

Dr. Groothuis holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy (University of Oregon, 1993) and in the fall of 2024, he will become Distinguished University Research Professor of Apologetics and Christian Worldview at Cornerstone University. He is the author of twenty books, beginning with the best-selling Unmasking the New Age (InterVarsity Press, 1986) and including the popular and voluminous textbook, Christian Apologetics, 2nd ed. (IVP Academic, 2022), as well as a memoir, Walking Through Twilight: A Wife’s Illness—a Philosopher’s Lament (InterVarsity Press, 2017), an introduction to philosophy, Philosophy in Seven Sentences (InterVarsity, 2016), and a book on the controversial topic of Critical Race Theory, Fire in the Streets (Salem Books, 2022). He co-authored the introductory textbook on apologetics, The Knowledge of God in the World and in the Word (Zondervan-Academic, 2022) with Andrew Shepardson.