Top scholars including N.T. Wright headed to Australia in July

From Eternity Newspaper

NEWS | Sophie Timothy

Thursday 4 April 2013

Writer and popular New Testament theologian N.T. Wright will be among hundreds of scholars visiting Perth in July for the largest gathering of New Testament specialists ever to be held in the southern hemisphere.

It will be the first time the Society for New Testament Studies has met in Australasia, and a number of local scholars have been selected to present papers alongside their international counterparts.  Among them are Ridley Melbourne’s Principal Brian Rosner (formerly of Moore College, Sydney) and Theology Lecturer Mike Bird (previously of Queensland Theological College).

Mike is currently working on a New Testament Introduction co-authored with N.T. Wright and he’s organised for N.T. Wright to spend a week in Melbourne before heading to Perth.

N.T. Wright will speak at three public conferences in Melbourne during the week of July 16-20, the first of which will be held at Ridley, where he will speak on “Paul, Jesus, and the Mission of God’s People”, while the second conference is based on his new book: “Paul and the faithfulness of God”. He’ll then finish his visit to Melbourne with some filming and a two-day conference for the Uniting Church of Australia on “Wisdom’s Feasts” before leaving for Perth.

N.T. Wright is a Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and was the Bishop of Durham until 2010.  Not afraid to challenge the status quo, N.T. Wright has made ripples in evangelical circles in the last 20 years by questioning the reformed/traditional understanding of the relationship between salvation and the law in the Apostle Paul’s writings. This so-called “New Perspective” aims to take into account a more positive view of Jewish beliefs at the time of Christ. The traditional view is seen as oversimplifying their relationship to God, as based on keeping the law. The most outspoken critics of the New Perspective include John Piper and D.A. Carson. It is a topic which will no doubt be canvassed during Tom’s time in Melbourne.

If you happen to be near the University of St. Andrews in the UK

Paul's Letter to the Galatians & Christian Theology

10-13 July 2012

We are pleased to announce the fourth St Andrews conference on Scripture and
 Christian Theology. Since the first conference on the Gospel of John in
 2003, the St Andrews conferences have been recognized as amongst the most
 important occasions when biblical scholars and systematic theologians are
 brought together in conversation about a biblical text. With the book of Galatians as our key text, biblical scholars and theologians of the Christian tradition will gather to work out how exegesis and theology meet, critique and inform each other.

 
 

Richard Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina

N.T.Wright, Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, University of St Andrews (St Mary’s College)

Oliver O’Donovan, Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh (New College)

Main Papers

• Jean-Noël Aletti - Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome
• Lewis Ayres - University of Durham
• John Barclay - University of Durham
• Ivor Davidson - University of St Andrews
• Beverly Gaventa - Princeton University
• Bruce McCormack - Princeton University
• Volker Rabens - University of Bochum
• Thomas Söding - University of Bochum
• Kendall Soulen - Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington D.C.
• Timothy Wengert - Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
• Simeon Zahl - St John's College, Oxford

Conference Programme now available

Registration and accommodation Full registration (includes 4 nights stay, full meals, conference registration and refreshments): £470 Discounted rate for full-time students (includes 4 nights stay, full meals, conference registration and refreshments): £360 (limited space so book early) Day delegate registration (includes conference registration and refreshments only, accommodation and meals must be arranged privately): £41 per day Guest registration (includes 4 nights stay, full meals - can only be booked in conjunction with a full registration, excludes conference registration and refreshments): £122.40 (inc. vat). Online registration now open. Register here.

For further questions email: galatians@st-andrews.ac.uk

Convenors

Mark W. Elliott, Senior Lecturer in Church History at St Mary's College, author of Isaiah 40-66 in the Ancient Christian Commentary series (IVP, 2007); The Reality of Biblical Theology (Peter Lang, 2007).

N.T.Wright, Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, University of St Andrews (St Mary’s College), author of Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Fortress, 2009); Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today (HarperOne, 2011).