Lectures

Upcoming Lectures

An Introduction to Anglicanism: Saint Thomas Church is pleased to announce an upcoming lecture series featuring our Guest Historian-in-Residence, Dr. Christopher Wells. Throughout the coming program year (2019-2020), Dr. Wells will travel from his home in Dallas, Texas to present his lectures series in Andrew Hall on the theme: “An Introduction to Anglicanism.” Over the course of a total of nine lectures following Evensong, he will paint a broad and engaging picture of our Anglican history and heritage. Join us for this extraordinary journey together.

Past Lectures and Interviews

Many of these lectures and interviews are available as on-demand webcasts.
How to be a Sinner
Thursday, September 27 at 6:30m
In this lecture, Dr. Peter Bouteneff of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary reflects on the language of guilt and sin common to much Christian prayer. While not without its risks, a faithful Christian understanding of a “sinner identity” is in fact a prerequisite for the good news of the gospel message, and can help lead the believer into the way of Christ’s mercy, grace, and salvation.

Of Dr. Bouteneff’s new book, How to Be a Sinner: Finding Your Self in the Church’s Language of Repentance (SVS Press, 2018), Rowan Williams writes, “Crisp, practical and searching, this excellent book combines a solid theological perspective fully informed by the depths of the Christian spiritual tradition with a vigorous and very contemporary insight into a culture that has largely forgotten what sin means.”

For more information on the book, see www.howtobeasinner.com.

The Emperor and the Bishops: Politics of Language and Faith in the Fifth-Century Church On Wednesday, January 31, at 6:30 p.m., the Rt. Rev. Allen K. Shin, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of New York, discussed the complex interaction between politics, religion, and national identities in the Church of the patristic age. While debating fundamental theological doctrines about Christ, the bishops were also speaking different languages, living in different cultures, and negotiating different relationships with the emperor. The result was a heated controversy which nevertheless formed the Christian tradition as we know it today.

God is One: The Perfect Unity of the Triune God
The 2017 Fall Theology lecture was given by the Rev. Dr. Katherine Sonderegger, the William Meade Chair in Systematic Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). .

The Expressive Augustine: Making Scripture New Again
On Wednesday, September 27, at 6:30 p.m. in Andrew Hall, we welcomed Dr. Sarah Ruden, an esteemed classicist who recently produced a fresh translation of Augustine’s Confessions.

2017 Spring Theology Lecture
Condemned into redemption: Understanding the Crucifixion
Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at 6:30pm
The Rev. Fleming Rutledge was the speaker for the 2017 Spring Theology Lecture. Her book, Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ, has been highly praised across the ecumenical spectrum.

2016 Fall Theology Lecture
The End of Sacrifice: Violence, Ritual and Redemption
Tuesday, November 15, 2016, at 6:30pm
The Very Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan, Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University, speaks in this lecture about the origin and meaning of sacrifice as it is reflected in Scripture and in the practices of the early church.


Thinking Theologically About Love and Disease
Wednesday, May 25, 2016, at 6:30pm
Victor Lee Austin, Theologian-in-residence at Saint Thomas since 2005, reflects on the process of writing a theological memoir concerning his late wife, Susan.

2016 Spring Theology Lecture
Biological and Theological Explanations of Morality
Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at 6:30pm
Dr. Neil Arner of Notre Dame and, this term, the Center of Theological Inquiry

2015 Fall Theology Lecture
2 Esdras: The Apocryphal Apocalypse
Wednesday, September 30, 2015, at 6:30pm
Karina Martin Hogan, Associate Professor of Theology at Fordham University

2015 Spring Theology Lecture
Our Violent World: Christian thinking on just war and how that applies today
Wednesday, April 22, 2015, at 6:30pm
The Rev’d Dr. Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford University

Faith and Fiction
Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 6:30pm
Christopher Beha, author of What Happened to Sophie Wilder

2014 Spring Theology Lecture
Should a Christian Sell Everything? Insights from the Early Church
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Dr Stephen Hildebrand, Professor of Theology, Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio

2013 Spring Theology Lecture
What is Christian Ethics?
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Fr Victor Austin, Theologian-in-residence, Saint Thomas Church

2012 Fall Theology Lecture
Aquinas on God and Evil
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Professor Brian Davies, OP, Fordham University

2011 Fall Presentation to the Parish
Canterbury Tales — A Journey with the Saints of Canterbury for All Saints Tide
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The Very Rev’d Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral

2011 Fall Theology Lecture
A Church without a Bible? The Emergence of the New Testment
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Professor Joseph Lienhard of Fordham University author of The Bible, the Church, and Authority

Interview
Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio interviews Fr Victor Austin of Saint Thomas on the topic of Authority
Summer 2011

2011 Winter Theology Lecture
What’s Up with Authority?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Fr Victor Austin, Theologian-in-residence, Saint Thomas Church

Joseph G. Fortner, M.D. Memorial Lecture
Can a Scientist Pray?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Rev. Dr John Polkinghorne KBE FRS