The Henry Center Archive

Lecture Title - Humans Consist of Two Parts: Body and Soul

The cerebral cortex of the human brain, on which all our beliefs, memories, and conscious life depend, consists of two hemispheres—a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere. Recent neuroscience has discovered that humans continue to have much the same conscious life, memories, and beliefs if either their left hemisphere or their right hemisphere is removed. Suppose the cerebral cortex to be removed from the brain of each of three humans; and the cortex of one of these humans, Alexandra, to be divided into its two hemispheres, and one of these hemispheres to be integrated into the brain of one of the other humans, Alex, and the other hemisphere to be integrated into the brain of the other human, Sandra. Then both Alex and Sandra would have some of the brain and almost all of the memories, and type of conscious life of Alexandra and would both claim to have been Alexandra. For each of these persons, for example Alex, it is totally compatible with everything we could ever know about the brain and mental life of the earlier Alexandra and the subsequent Alex, that Alex is Alexandra; and it is also totally compatible with everything we could ever know that Alex is not Alexandra. But there could only be a difference between Alex being and Alex not being Alexandra if there is something extra beyond the brain matter and beyond the mental life which makes that person Alexandra, and that must be an immaterial soul. I go on to develop the consequences of this scientifically possible experiment for the nature of humans, and to reject philosophical objections to my interpretation of it.

Richard Swinburne (Diploma in Theology University of Oxford) is Emeritus Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of Christian Religion at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is author or editor of over two dozen books, including The Existence of God (Oxford University Press, 2004) and The Coherence of Theism (2nd edition) (Oxford University Press, 2016). His work has been translated into twenty languages.

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - Nature, Contingency, and the Spirit: A Conversation with Wolfhart Pannenberg

Wolfhart Pannenberg was involved in the dialogue with the natural sciences from the beginning of his theological formation. His engagement with the sciences is characterized by the determination neither simply to incorporate scientific findings into a theological account of reality nor to adapt theological reflection to the state of scientific theory, but to challenge scientific methods, hypotheses, and theories from a theological perspective. Pannenberg has attempted to develop a theology of nature in which the concept of contingency plays a crucial role—both for science and theology. In Pannenberg’s magisterial Systematic Theology (1988–1993) the different aspects of his theology of nature are integrated into the framework of a comprehensive view of the Spirit as a field of force. This essay will build on Pannenberg’s achievements and offer them as an encouragement to explore further aspects in the dialogue between theology, philosophy, and the sciences.

Christoph Schwöbel (PhD Philipps Universität Marburg) was Chair of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. His publications include Word and Spirit: Renewing Christology and Pneumatology in a Globalizing World (De Gruyter, 2014), Der entgrenzte Kosmos und der begrenzte Mensch (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016), and Luther Heute: Ausstrahlungen Der Wittenberger Reformation (Mohr Siebeck, 2017).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - John Polkinghorne on the Doctrine of Creation

After outlining Polkinghorne’s scientific understanding of the way the world is, this paper notes his commitments to critical realism and natural theology before giving an account of his theological understanding of creation. It notes the influence of two seminal figures—Jürgen Moltmann and W. H. Vanstone—with particular emphasis on their role in the formation of Polkinghorne’s central idea of creation as kenosis. The exposition draws on a range of his work with particular reference to the first and second editions of Science and Creation and The Work of Love. In conclusion, it raises critical questions on the role of science in theological construction.

Stephen N. Williams (PhD Yale University) is Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen’s University and served as a Senior Research Fellow with the Creation Project. His books include Revelation and Reconciliation: A Window on Modernity (Cambridge University Press, 1996), The Shadow of the Antichrist: Nietzsche’s Critique of Christianity (Baker Academic, 2006), and The Election of Grace: A Riddle without a Resolution? (Eerdmans, 2015).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - Creation by the Triune God: Colin Gunton’s Doctrine of Creation

Among the prominent features of Colin’s Gunton’s extensive writing about the Christian doctrine of creation, three are of seminal importance. These are: first, that the Christian doctrine of creation is an article of the creed, second, that God creates out of nothing, and third, that creation is the work of the triune God, Father, Son and Spirit. This paper explores the reasons for Gunton’s insistence on these three features of the doctrine of creation and discuss their importance in rendering the world accessible to scientific enquiry.

Murray A. Rae (PhD Kings College, London) is Professor of Theology at the University of Otago. He is author of Christian Theology: The Basics (Routledge, 2015) and Architecture and Theology: The Art of Place (Baylor University Press, 2017). He is also co-editor of the T&T Clark Handbook of Colin Gunton (T&T Clark, 2021).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - Another World: William Burt Pope on Primary and Secondary Creation

William Burt Pope’s three-volume Compendium of Christian Theology (ca 1881) is a carefully-wrought dogmatics emphasizing the organic unity of Christian thought and the deep continuity of the entire Christian tradition. Pope’s doctrine of creation programmatically distinguishes between the divine act of primary creation (God calling all things into existence) and the divine work of secondary creation (the formation of an ordered universe). The former is the realm of metaphysical inquiry and apologetic argumentation; Scripture chooses to say little about it, and science can say nothing in principle. Secondary creation, on the other hand, is the domain of both the biblical account and of scientific investigation, and also stretches forward into the doctrine of providence. This paper examines how Pope deploys the distinction in order to preserve the main lines of a Christian systematic theology.

Fred Sanders (PhD Graduate Theological Union) is Professor of Theology in the Torrey Honors College of Biola University. He is the author of multiple books, including The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010), The Triune God (Zondervan Academic, 2016), and Fountain of Salvation (Eerdmans, 2021).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - Karl Barth on Human Dignity in a Natural World

This paper examines the status and stature of the human in Barth's doctrine of creation and covenant. Barth clearly advances some strong claims for human uniqueness and dignity in his doctrine of creation. He interweaves covenant and creation, so that the doctrine of creation is shaped by human, historical aims and laws. He considers the human relation of encounter the imago Dei, and even more, that Christ in his incarnate life is the goal and pattern and agent of the whole of creation. But there are other notes as well. Barth minimizes traditional claims that the human being is especially prized as creature above others, or that rationality and inwardness are gifts to honor above all other creaturely powers. Barth is more open to biological continuity in the whole natural realm than many traditionalists, and shows more interest in embodiment than those who focus on mind-body dualism or strong accounts of a separable soul. Barth is also well known as a critic of all things bourgeois, and considered elevated claims to human culture and the moral life so much puffery and self importance.

Katherine Sonderegger (PhD Brown University) is William Meade Chair of Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary. She is author of a three-volume series in constructive dogmatics published by Fortress Press: The Doctrine of God (2015), The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity: Processions and Persons (2020), and Divine Missions, Christology, and Pneumatology (forthcoming).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - B. B. Warfield on Evolution and Theology

Evangelicals wanting good precedent to embrace evolutionism alongside a robust doctrine of biblical authority often cite Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield as their prime example. J. I. Packer called him a theistic evolutionist, but Warfield in his day expressly refused that position, finding it insufficiently supernaturalistic and impossible to square with scripture on key points. His qualified acceptance of biological evolution is the subject of renewed interpretive disagreement today, and requires careful discrimination of concepts and terms—but the larger and more interesting story concerns the pervasive developmentalism in his theology.

Bradley J. Gundlach (PhD University of Rochester) is Affiliate Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of Process and Providence: The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845-1929 (Eerdmans, 2013).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - "From Mirror to Window:" Balthasar’s Reflections on Theology, Science, and Creation

Drawing on Auguste Comte, Balthasar traces historical “progress” from an earlier epoch in which humanity conceived itself as “being spirit within nature” to a modern, scientific epoch that sets humanity against nature. In the first, humanity is a “mirror” of nature, in the second it is a “window.” Philosophy becomes anthropology rather than cosmology. The study of the human individual opens a window to limitless possibilities for uniting humanity but also the peril of destroying it. What science needs, suggests Balthasar, is an “integrally human” absorption of it into philosophy and theology, one that works against a strong distinction between nature and supernature, and resists the reduction of creation to utility by interpreting it with the transcendentals of truth, goodness and beauty.

D. Stephen Long (PhD Duke University) is the Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University. He is author of Hebrews (Interpretation) (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), Saving Karl Barth: Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Preoccupation (Fortress Press, 2014), and The Perfectly Simple Triune God: Aquinas and His Legacy (Fortress Press, 2016).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Discussion Topic - Providence, Causality, & Creation

Tom McCall moderates this discussion between Kevin Hector (Schleiermacher), Bradley Gundlach (Warfield), and Fred Sanders (Pope) as part of A Modern Creature conference. They discuss God's providence over primary and secondary creation, the continuity between creation and new creation, and more.

Bradley J. Gundlach (PhD University of Rochester) is Affiliate Professor of Church History and the History of Christian Thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of Process and Providence: The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845-1929 (Eerdmans, 2013).

Kevin W. Hector (PhD Princeton Seminary) is Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor of Theology and of the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is author of many articles, chapters, and books, including Theology Without Metaphysics: God, Language, and the Spirit of Recognition (Cambridge University Press, 2012), The Theological Project of Modernism: Faith and the Conditions of Mineness (Oxford University Press, 2015), and Christianity as a Way of Life: A Systematic Theology (Yale University Press, 2023).

Fred Sanders (PhD Graduate Theological Union) is Professor of Theology in the Torrey Honors College of Biola University. He is the author of multiple books, including The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010), The Triune God (Zondervan Academic, 2016), and Fountain of Salvation (Eerdmans, 2021).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ 

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter

Lecture Title - T. F. Torrance’s Kataphysical Poetics: How the Incarnation Relates Science to Theology

For T.F. Torrance, theological and scientific inquiry stand or fall together. Whereas Western scientists and theologians, ancient and modern, too often depend on universal methods and criteria, Torrance’s fundamental axiom is to think everything, from amoebas to the Alpha and Omega, in ways appropriate to their respective natures. Scientific theology thus begins with incarnation—the self-communication of God in space-time—also the controlling center for the doctrine of creation, insofar as “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). Viewing creation through the lens of Christology allows Torrance to integrate theology and science, and to argue that theology contributes something to our knowledge of the natural world hidden from the natural sciences, namely, its contingent order, triadic relationality, and proleptic conditioning by redemption.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer (PhD University of Cambridge) is Research Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship (Cambridge University Press, 2010), Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), and Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples Through Scripture and Doctrine (Lexham Press, 2019).

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world.

Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/

Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5

Connect with us!

https://twitter.com/henry_center

https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter