Institute Of Biblical Studies

IBS 2012 : February 3-5
Dr. Steven Garber
Director of the Washington Institute

Can We Know the World and Still Love the World?

"Knowledge is power!" was the promise of the Enlightenment. Yes, in a thousand ways, and the great universities of the modern world have birthed that reality And yet, even as it was coming into being there were those who saw knowledge differently. The poet Byron lamented that “those who know the most mourn the deepest.” More recently the Librarian of Congress has wondered if our unprecedented access to information has made us wiser as a people? Why is knowing the world so full of promise and peril at the very same time? What is it about knowing people and places that more often than not leads to cynicism or stocism? Different responses as they are, both are ways to protect ourselves from the implications of what we know, both allow us to say, “Yes, I know but….” Is it possible to honestly know the world, and to still love it? Only if our vision of vocation—of what we do and why we do it --is rooted in the reality of common grace for the common good.

2012 IBS Schedule:

FRIDAY NIGHT, February 3 at Cornell University

Call Auditorium in Kennedy Hall

FREE and public is welcome!

7:30pm - Message 1 - Getting All As and Still Flunking Life

As a Hungarian Jew living coming of age in the first half of the 20th century, the chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi wondered how people could be brilliant and bad at the same time? A few years later the American novelist and essayist Walker Percy wrote about the danger lurking around the corner of everyone’s life, viz. that we can master learning and yet at the same time miss the point of life. What does it mean to be educated? What is education about, anyway?

SATURDAY, February 4, MORNING and AFTERNOON sessions

Registration Required for Saturday.

Bethel Grove Bible Church, 1763 Slaterville Road, Ithaca

9:00am – Message 2  -Seek the Flourishing of the City

Known both for the clarity of his critique and for the weight of his lament, the prophet Jeremiah called the exiled people of God to “seek the flourishing of the city,” viz. Babylon. And people like Daniel took that vocation seriously, mastering the learning of that culture and serving its rulers over the course of his life. How do we make sense of a life like that in the globalizing political economy of the 21st-century? And what might a more modern voice like Wendell Berry teach us about our relationships and responsibilities to the worlds that are ours?

10:45am – Message 3 - Storied Lives, Storied Living

After reading Bible a Hindu scholar wondered, “How can this book be just one more book of religion? Its views of history and the human condition are completely unique.” What did he mean? What is the story that Scripture tells about life for everyone, everywhere? Is it true? And what difference does it make? The words cult, cultivate, and culture define each other, and define our lives—for blessing and for curse.

1:30pm – Message 4 - Words Have to Become Flesh

The Incarnation is the central doctrine of the Christian faith. But it is more than that too, viz. a pedagogical reality. We do not learn anything that matters without seeing “over-the-shoulder and through-the-heart” of people who can show us how ideas have legs, how worldviews can become ways of life. From farming to philosophy, from brick-laying to business, words have to become flesh for us to understand them. The gospel of John offers a compelling vision of this kind of learning and life.

SUNDAY MORNING, February 5

Combined services with New Life Presbyterian Church

To be held at Bethel Grove, 1763 Slaterville Road, Ithaca

9:00am and 10:45am Worship Services
Message 5 - The Complex Tears of God

The great Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel maintained that Stoicism was the cultural context that made sense of the proph-ets. The equally great Christian theologian Benjamin Warfield argued the same for the gospels. What is it about Stoicism—in both its philosophical and sociological forms –that is such a challenge to people of biblical faith, living in the ruins of a wounded world as we do? And is there a word from God that guides us?

Learning to think Biblically Through Study, Interaction, and Reflection
The Institute of Biblical Studies began in 1992 with the goal of stimulating Biblical thinking in our local community. Each year a distinguished theologian is invited to Ithaca to teach from the Scriptures, challenging participants to deepen their knowledge and understanding of God’s Word. This is accomplished through lectures, informal discussions and question & answer opportunities. This event is sponsored by Bethel Grove, New Life Presbyterian Church and Chesterton House- A Center for Christian Studies at Cornell University.

Past Institutes and Speakers:

Many of the following lectures are available to borrow on cassette or cd in the Bethel Grove Library.

2011 "The Way It’s Supposed To Be: A Breviary On Christian Virtue" - Dr. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., President of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI.

2010 "The Weakness Of God" - Dr. Joseph Skip Ryan, Chancellor and Professor of Practical Theology at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas.

2009 "Identity and Idolatry"- Dr. Richard Lints, Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Wenham, MA

2008 "Gospel Freedom: Ancient Words, Modern Wisdom- Dr. Stephen Um, Professor, Author, and Pastor of Citylife Church, Boston, MA

2007 "Afraid? Of What? The Fear of Failure, Death, and God" -Dr. Drew Trotter - President of The Christian Study Center in Charlottesville, VA

2006 "Christ and Culture: The Good, Beautiful, and True" - Dr. William Edgar - Professor of Apologetics and Coordinator of the Apologetics Department at Westminster Theological Seminary.

2005 "Communicating Grace And Doing Justice: Being the Church in Every Culture" – Rev. Paul Borthwick – Gordon College Wenham, MA and Development Associates International; Mr. Stephan Fairfield – CEO of Covenant Community Capital, Houston, TX

2004 "Soulcraft" - Dr. Douglas Webster - pastor of First Presbyterian Church of San Diego, CA

2003 "Designed For Dignity" - Dr. Richard Pratt - Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL and founder of Third Millennium Ministries.

2002 "Who Is This Jesus? Studies in John's Gospel" - Dr. D. A. Carson – Trinity Evangelical Divinity School , Deerfield, IL

2001 "Wrestling With The Difficult Issues Of Life: Themes From Ecclesiastes"- Rev. David Deuel - Educational Ministry Consultant in Tampa, FL

2000 "What Controls The Future" Rev. Dick Keyes - L'Abri Fellowship, Southborough, MA

1999 "Yearning For God: Reading The Psalms Today" - Dr. Iain Provin- Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

1998 "Portraits Of Grace In The Gospel Of Luke" – Dr. David Fisher – The Colonial Church of Edina, MN

1997 "The Spirit And The People Of God" – Dr. Gordon Fee – Regent College, Vancouver B.C.

1996 "The Sovereignty Of God In Matters Great And Small" - Dr. Walter Kaiser - Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA

1995 " Mission In The Marketplace: Studies in the Acts of the Apostles" - Rev. David Prior – Public Preacher in the Diocese of London, UK

1994 "Living Wisely In An Age Of Foolishness" - Dr. Bruce Waltke - Regent College , Vancouver, B.C.

1993 "Understanding The Word" - Chris and Marli Brown – International Students Ministry, Ithaca, NY

1992 "The Authority of Scripture" - Dr. Roger Nicole - Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL