Wisdom from Daniel: Post-Election Reflection FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4TH, 6-9PM Come enjoy fellowship, a dessert or snack, beverages, and timely discussion with us as we hear from Pastor Peter Van Doodeward. Our times appear dark and confused, and American Christians accustomed to religious liberty, social stability and prosperity now face the increasing possibility of a very different […]

Join us for a great time of fellowship and discussion on such an important and pertinent topic to our time. Dr. Nick Higgins will be our guide as we look to the past for wisdom in how to go forward. Modern politics has often sought to create coalitions through shared objects of fear and anger. […]

Sojourn: Entering the Path of Wisdom. May 10-14, 2021. So many choices. Every young adult wonders what they’re supposed to do with their life. “What career should I pursue? Who should I marry/should I marry? Where should I live? What kind of person am I going to be?” The seemingly smaller questions are also really […]

Wisdom Capstone Course - Politics and Faithful Citizenship: Living as Dual Citizens, July 26-30, 2021. Taught by Dr. Bradford Littlejohn. What does it mean to be a citizen of the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world? What is the nature and scope of the authority that God has delegated to civil authorities […]

When Christ proclaimed that he would destroy the temple and raise it up in three days, and when Paul taught his converted Christ-followers that they were each God's image and their bodies were his holy temples, what did such statements mean to their hearers? How did the ancient Hebrews understand the meaning of their temple, and of God's presence within it? To answer such questions, we must look both at the Scriptures themselves and at the religious "worldview" of their ancient near eastern neighbors--the cultures with which ancient Israel and Judah lived "in dialogue". Although God is transcendent, unchanging, and eternal, he reveals himself to mankind in time through human institutions, human language, and human culture. Thus, without understanding the culture, institutions, and symbolic language of the ancient near east, we may struggle to hear all the resonances of God's self-revelation. In this Davenant Discussion, I will use the biblical accounts of the construction and dedication of the Tabernacle and the Temple as a case study in how to read the Bible with the eyes and ears of its original hearers.

In the 500+ years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, few aspects of his subsequent theological reformation remain as contentious and debated as the distinction between law and Gospel. Indeed, to this day the discussion divides not only Roman Catholics from Protestants, but is hotly debated within Protestantism itself; there is an agreement on the importance of the distinction, but a decided lack of consensus about how it should be understood and implemented. Far from a merely academic dispute, how one understands this important theological concept will largely determine his or her reading of scripture, the purpose and nature of the church, and—according to Luther—the Gospel itself. "I lacked nothing before this ” . . . he wrote, “. . . except that I made no distinction between the law and the gospel. I regarded both as the same thing and held that there was no difference between Christ and Moses except the times in which they lived and their degrees of perfection. But when I discovered the proper distinction – namely, that the law is one thing and the gospel is another – I made myself free.”

Come learn about how this debate over how to understand this important distinction is taking place today and the various arguments concerning how this distinction can help combat (or perpetuate!) the errors of legalism, antinomianism, and gnosticism.