14 March 2013 Bracknell, United Kingdom [John Baildam / Bjorn Ottesen, BUC News] Fifty participants at an all-day Bible Conference travelled from as far as Wales, Scotland, the Midlands, London and the North of England to enjoy five thought-provoking presentations by lecturers in the Department of Theological Studies at Newbold College of Higher Education.
Dr Philip Brown, Principal, opened the conference on Sabbath, 9 March. It was a follow-up to last year’s successful inaugural venture.
The first speaker was Dr Aulikki Nahkola, Principal Lecturer in Old Testament and Biblical Languages, who presented the topic ‘What is Prophecy?’. She explored who the prophets were, what their task was, and why they were needed. She noted that prophets do not necessarily foretell the future, but rather pronounce truth for their own time through visionary preaching.
With attendees wondering how Dr Nahkola’s thinking might relate to the Church and Ellen White, Dr Michael Pearson, Principal Lecturer in Philosophy and Ethics, then spoke on that very topic, namely ‘Disturbing the Peace: Ellen White, the Prophecies and the People’. His doctoral research examined the Church’s attitudes to aspects of Ellen White’s writings. Of particular interest was his exploration of historical context and our response in 2013.
Dr Radiša Anti?, Principal Lecturer in Systematic Theology, spoke for an hour without notes on the subject ‘Transformed through His Promise of the Second Coming’, empathising with those who describe and experience ‘spiritual pain’ as they await the second coming of Jesus. His paper was underpinned by references to philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Hume, Voltaire, Leibniz, Hegel, Goethe and Sartre.
Pastor Gifford Rhamie, Lecturer in Pastoral and New Testament Studies, presented ‘The Prophetic Voice: A Lived Reality’. This enabled participants through group discussion and formal lecture to think through a balance between giving appropriate pastoral responses and providing prophetic leadership to the challenging demands of our Church community and beyond.
The final paper was given by Pastor Bjørn Ottesen, Lecturer in Pastoral Studies. He examined in practical and often humorous terms our attitudes to Ellen White through his contextualising presentation ‘Rediscovering Prophetic Roots’.
Participants noted a clear thread running throughout the day with regard to our reception of the writings of Ellen White. Bisser Stykov and John Baildam took advantage of the coffee breaks to interview a number of attendees, some of whom had also attended last year’s conference.
All those interviewed expressed delight with the organisation of the day and the presentations and had clearly benefited from what they had heard. Edited clips of these interviews will be available on the College website at http://www.newbold.ac.uk/bible-conferencethis week.
Several participants had not been back to Newbold for almost 50 years and were excited to find an expanded campus boasting a vibrant academic community – they even commented on the delicious lunch which far surpassed anything served up in their day!
As is often the case, the closing question and answer session, hosted by Dr John Baildam, Deputy Principal, provoked unpredictable questions and provocative responses from each of the five panel members.
A number of visitors are keen to attend Newbold College of Higher Education either as regular students from this coming September or as participants in the published summer programme – and many are already looking forward to the 2014 conference. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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