Insight Magazine - Winter 2018 Edition

Insight WINTER 2018

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“CELEBRATING THE PAST...”

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“A RISKY FAITH”

Suitable for its time 10 13 18

NEW STUDENT SERVICES...

ALUMNI UPDATES

“THE TIME IS NOW”

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Suitable for its time

By The Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen G.W. Andrews

seek to train up leaders suitable to the time between our past and our future, we are cautioned that we “cannot find out what THE THEME FOR THIS ISSUE of Insight God has done from the beginning to the is “Suitable for its time.” It is a phrase drawn end.” While we know that we are the Lord’s from Ecclesiastes 3:11, and it is a fitting agents in the good and wholesome kingdescription of the kind of space we are in at Wycliffe College at the close of the semester.

The challenges are daunting, to dom breaking into our wayward and needy world, it is nevertheless his rule, and not For what we are seeking to do here is equip ours, and his ways are often unexpected leaders for Christ’s Church who are “suita- be sure. But this simply means that the opportunities are ever greater. and surprising. We rejoice in what God is ble” for the time in which we live. And God has put “a sense of past and future” into our doing in us today, but at the same time we minds, such that we realize that it is a time The “suitable” leaders we seek to prepare want to be attentive to the promptings of of great challenge and great opportunity. will graduate with a firm grounding in the his Spirit and ready to respond with the The challenges include the steady decline fundamental convictions of the Christian resources he has given us. in church attendance among the mainline faith, and they will understand how the And this is why we are grateful for you. denominations, and the difficulty many divinely revealed truth of the Scriptures It is the Wycliffe community that upholds congregations face in keeping the doors can address and transform individuals and us in prayer and by its generosity. And it is of their churches open. This is matched communities. Practically speaking, this from you that we learn what God is up to in by the marginalization of the Christian means that they will know how to share our world. May God continue to give us all faith in our culture and the growing num- the Good News of Jesus in a secular con- grace to be suitable for our time. ber of those, especially young people, who text, and they will have the skills to help a describe themselves as having no religious church understand and live out his mission With every good wish in Christ, affiliation. in the world. And our graduates are being The current state of the Church is effective. I spoke with one alumna just yesenough to lead to despair. And yet people, terday who told me that her congregation many of them young, continue to come to had grown to the point that they were havWycliffe College because God has called ing to start a new service.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews them to give their lives to this same Church.

But it is important that we don’t take Principal and Helliwell Professor of Biblical It brings hope to me—and I hope to you Ecclesiastes 3:11 out of context. While we Interpretation Dear Friends,

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too—that our enrolment continues to grow, and that the number of those seeking a Master of Divinity degree in preparation for congregational leadership is steady when, in many seminaries, it is waning.

TRUSTEE PROFILE

Celebrating the past, looking to the future When a list of the most recent recipients of the Order of Canada (our nation’s highest civilian honour) was published earlier this year, appointee Dave Toycen was described as “a promoter of humanitarian relief and international development.” They ought to have said “the promoter,” for after 42 years with World Vision—including 19 as president of World Vision Canada (this country’s largest relief and development organization)— Toycen’s is one of the most recognized faces in the field. as you do your research, and listen for the Holy Spirit through Scripture and the witness of the other committee members? You consider, “What could our future be if we do X, Y, Z? What’s the mission? What drives us? What are we actually trying to do as a seminary? What are our key values?”

And then you’ve got to come up with the strategy—the key objectives that will fulfill your mission and move you towards your vision, trying to move closer to God’s vision for the institution. Basically, you ask, “What do we need to expand because it’s working well? What do we need to diminish because it’s not working well? What do we need to start that we’re not doing at all?” And finally, “Is there anything we need to stop?”

KNOWN FOR HIS PASSION, positivity, and advocacy for the poor, under his strategic leadership, more than $4 billion was raised to improve the lives of children and families living in poverty around the globe.

Now retired, Dave is a member of the Wycliffe College Board of Trustees. He is chairing the committee charged with drafting Wycliffe’s new Strategic Plan, which will guide the activities of the College for the next five years. We asked Dave to reflect on the Order of Canada, and on his work with Wycliffe.

Q: What does it mean to you to receive the Order of Canada?

DT: The honour really affirms my life’s work with World Vision and my desire to be a voice for children who are marginalized, oppressed, and denied opportunity.

It’s a reflection of my Christian faith.

But I’ve been part of a great team of people that’s included World Vision staff, donors, the church community, and overseas partners. So I see it as recognition of a team effort. I also want to pay tribute to my wife Diane and to our local church, Trinity Streetsville, where Diane has worked on staff for 25 years. It has been our family, and an important anchor in all of my experiences.

Q: How and why did you first become involved with Wycliffe?

DT: My engagement with Wycliffe goes way back. Our previous rector at Trinity Streetsville, Harold Percy, was the founding director of the Institute of Evangelism.

Dave Toycen I’ve attended conferences and lectures here, and I read published material by Wycliffe professors. My MDiv is from Fuller Seminary in California, but I was very blessed to receive an honorary doctorate from Wycliffe several years ago.

Q: You’ve been instrumental in guiding the committee that crafted the new Strategic Plan. What is involved in such a task?

DT: A strategic plan looks to the future.

You start by looking at the [organizational] vision. What kind of future do you discern

Q: As you think about Canada today— and how our culture has shifted over the course of your own lifetime—comment on the role you see Wycliffe playing now and into the future.

DT: The greatest challenge we have is that the church is declining in numbers and influence in our culture. I think our response has to be a combination of being anchored in the things that don’t change, but being open to being more innovative wherever we can. We can’t keep doing the same things in the same way and expect better results.

Wycliffe is really well placed with its solid academic and evangelical reputation. I believe we have a strategic role to play, and I believe that in the future, Wycliffe can do even more.

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WISDOM FROM WYCLIFFE

Life after a PhD

By By Amy MacLachlan and Patricia Paddey

Wycliffe’s PhD program trains candidates to carry out innovative research. Graduates go on to teach in universities, liberal arts colleges, and theological schools. They are also equipped for positions of leadership in ecclesiastical and related organizations, or for academically enhanced ministerial practice. But in addition to the practical learning and training that happens at Wycliffe, graduates comment on the impact the College had on their spiritual development, and the support and community they found here. Meet three recent graduates from the PhD program: Laura Vander Velden defended her doctoral dissertation, After Barth: Stanley Hauerwas’s Reception of Karl Barth’s Theology as a Test Case in Modern Theological “Method,” earlier this fall. She has secured a position as Assistant Professor in Counselling Psychology at Providence Theological Seminary.

“I have always studied theology because I want to know more of who God is in relation to a suffering world, and how I can serve. I have not always or even often had a clear picture of the end goal—how and where I could serve—but working as a therapist as well as a theologian is a great gift. And now I have the wonderful opportunity to work in an academic setting where I can do interdisciplinary research while teaching in a collaborative and growing counselling psychology department at Providence.”

“To start, I will be teaching courses like psychopathology and human development, which are subjects in which I would like to pursue further interdisciplinary research. I think there is a need in the church and in the broader culture for trained clinical practitioners who are aware of the bio-psycho-social (and spiritual!) complexity of mental illness, but who are also deeply rooted theologically.

I feel honoured and humbled by the opportunity, which I hope to continually grow into.”

Early this summer, Chilean Jose Luis Avendano defended his dissertation, Luther’s Theology of the Cross as a Response to the Mystery of Human Suffering and Evil. It was the final stage in the seven-year-long process of earning his PhD. He plans to return to Chile in the near future.

“My faith took a radical turn during my time here at Wycliffe.

Without my normal support network of family and friends from back home, I experienced divorce, 4

sickness, economic uncertainty, anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

But I also greatly experienced (and I still experience) the hand of God full of grace, and how he put people in my life of great heart and compassion to help me. Certainly, I now believe in a different way, because now I have my own story with God. Of course, this does not mean that I do not sometimes feel fear due to adverse circumstances, but when that happens, I remember the many times that God has saved and kept me. My time here at Wycliffe has been a time of growing in life and faith.”

“The help of donors and of Wycliffe have meant everything to me. In fact, without this help, I would never have been able to continue studying. It has been for me a sign of the unmerited grace of God.” “I plan to return to Chile, where I will seek God for his direction.

My wish is to be able to work in the theological education of my country. God will say.”

Ian J. Vaillancourt defended his dissertation, The Multifaceted Portrayal of the Figure of Salvation in Psalms 110 and 118: A Canonical Study, in May 2017. After 14 years in pastoral ministry, on July 1, 2018, he began his new role as Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, ON. “At Heritage Theological Seminary, I teach all of the core Old Testament and Hebrew language courses.

I love the teaching and the mentoring of students. I also love the thought that impacting one future pastor is tantamount to impacting hundreds of people in their future congregations.”

“I am extremely thankful for my time at Wycliffe. I think of the opportunity to be stretched academically. I think in particular of Glen Taylor as an academic mentor. Glen was available, whether over email, phone, or in person. Glen has modeled for me what it looks like to be a scholar who is committed to students, committed to the Lord, and actively serving in a local church. His timely feedback and the care with which he approached his role as my doctoral supervisor helped me to finish quickly and successfully. I thank God for his enduring impact on my life; I already see his influence on me in the way I approach my own students!”

STUDENT FOCUS:

“All my relatives”

By Raymond C. Aldred

MANY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS of North America have adopted the Lakota phrase “all my relatives.” This is an acknowledgment of our reality within God’s creation, but it is also the cry of the heart, to be in good relationship with all my relatives.

Wycliffe College was a place for me to think about my relationships. What I appreciated about Wycliffe was that it allowed me to explore the complicated nature of the relationship between my Indigenous identity and the Western Church.

My wife and I lived in residence at Wycliffe College, in the middle of a city where, to coin a phrase from J. R. Miller’s book Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens, the relationship with mother earth was brought into stark reality. This ache for the sky and land helped me to think through a relationship that I often

STUDENT FOCUS:

How does a Baptist pastor’s kid end up at Wycliffe?

By Ruth Bartlett

M Y FAT H E R H A S M I N I S T E R E D I N M A N Y d i f f e r e n t chu rch se t t ings. T h e f i r s t i n m y l i f e t i m e was working with youth at St. Bride’s Anglican Church in Mississauga. I do not remember life at St. Bride’s, for we moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland, before I was three years old.

My years in Newfoundland were spent in a loving Baptist church, attending the youth conference put on by the Pentecostal church (PAONL). Later, in my teens, I followed my parents to an Anglican church where they both worked.

After we left St. John’s, I continued to find people that fit into these “Baptist,” “Pentecostal,” and “Anglican” categories. When I started at Wycliffe, we were asked to state our denomination. I called myself a Bapticostalcan. I was grateful for the biblical foundations of the Baptist church, happy to have discovered the Holy Spirit’s role in worship through Pentecostal influences, and had come to appreciate the liturgy of the Anglican Church.

took for granted. Sitting in chapel for the morning and evening office, staring at the stained-glass window of Rev. John West, early CMS missionary, thinking about the difficult reality that the Church had done good in Indigenous Canada, but it had also been the source of much wounding. This helped me to frame my own understanding of how to hold together Indigenous identity and Christian faith.

I now am the head of the Indigenous Studies Program of the Vancouver School of Theology, where I continue, as so many of my relatives have, to try and see relationships understood and perhaps slowly put back together. So we continue to say, “All my relatives.”

Reverend Ray Aldred, is status Cree from Swan River Band, Treaty 8. He and Elaine live in Richmond, British Columbia. As director of the Indigenous Studies Program at Vancouver School of Theology, he seeks to partner with the Indigenous Church and communities so the gospel can be heard in people’s heart language. He is in the final stages of completing his PhD at Wycliffe College.

As I have studied at Wycliffe, I have come to realize that the way people relate to God is not determined by denominational assumptions. I now know liturgical Baptists, charismatic Anglicans, and people from all sorts of denominational backgrounds who have deepened my understanding of the Bible.

The ecumenism of Wycliffe College is one of its strongest features. I have loved the privilege of learning alongside people from all sorts of Christian backgrounds, hearing their perspectives in and out of the classroom. These brothers and sisters in Christ are challenging me, inspiring me, encouraging me, and preparing me for pastoral ministry in the Baptist church.

Who knows, maybe someday if I have children of my own, they will be fortunate enough to be Baptist pastor’s kids studying at Wycliffe College.

Ruth Bartlett is the Senior Student for the 2018-2019 academic year at Wycliffe College. She is doing the combined-degree program consisting of the MTSD and the MDiv Pioneer programs. Her hope is to be ordained with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec for pastoral ministry.

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STUDENT FOCUS:

From resident to student

By Mimi Kam

IT WAS THE SPRING OF 2014, and I was searching for a campus residence to call home for the upcoming academic year. I wanted to live in a studious environment, within close proximity to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education where I was enrolled as a doctoral student. Wycliffe College became my residence of choice when my friend (a former Wycliffe resident) highly recommended it. After an email correspondence with the residence don, a college/residence tour with the floor don, and a dinner in the refectory with the students, residents, and staff, I quickly filled out and submitted my application.

Living at Wycliffe for the past four years has been a great blessing to me. I was welcomed to participate in chapel worship, the advent choir, and the Wycliffe Israel trip.

I met wonderful people, had enriching conversations, and felt truly cared for. Towards the end of my doctoral studies, it became evident to me that I should pursue further studies in theology. There was not a glimmer of doubt that Wycliffe would be the ideal place for me to continue that journey. As such, I commenced the Master of Theological Studies in the fall of 2017. I believe what I am learning and experiencing here will better equip me for the seasons ahead. I am truly grateful for my time at Wycliffe.

Mimi Kam is a fifth-year resident and a second-year MTS student. She serves as Mission Chair on student council for the 2018-2019 academic year. She attends New Hope Fellowship Church.

STUDENT FOCUS:

A truly beautiful thing

By James Sholl

AS SOMEONE INCREDIBLY HURT by the Church of England nearly a decade ago, the idea of loving my time at an Anglican college whilst seeking ordination is not a path that I envisioned my life taking. But I do always say that God has a great sense of humour.

It’s difficult to pinpoint just one thing that has been important to me during my time here. The teaching is superb, the variety of courses I’ve been able to take has combusted an already hot passion for learning new ideas, and the setting in the city of Toronto itself is a beautiful thing. But perhaps the most important thing for me has been the sense of community at Wycliffe.

Community dinners and shared worship time all contribute. But truly it is the willingness of both the professors and students to listen to one another in an honouring way that makes Wycliffe both special and really quite subversive. I’ve lost count of the

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number of times I’ve ended up in a professor’s room for far too long, hanging on to every word, even if I disagree with some of them. And they, in turn, listen gently and intently to my cumbersome responses.

But in a culture that seems to think disagreement is tantamount to stupidity or evil, being surrounded by folks who are both more intelligent and far kinder than myself, but who are willing to listen, nevertheless is a truly beautiful thing. In a world that doesn’t want to celebrate differences, that has been the difference that Wycliffe has made for me: being pushed by people who disagree, but being able to honour them as a fellow sibling in Christ regardless.

To end in a shameful prooftext which I’m certain would have many faculty outraged: The world will know that we are his disciples because we love one another. So we should do that.

James Sholl is a third-year MDiv Pioneer student and currently a postulant for the Diocese of Canterbury for the Church of England. He loves Jesus, people, sleep, and curry. In that order.

ALUMNI PROFILE

A risky faith Brian Stiller (MRel, W’75) remembers Wycliffe College as being the only evangelical school in Eastern Canada where he could pursue graduate theological studies in the early 1970s, when he, a Pentecostal raised on the prairies, began his parttime studies here. He recalls the environment as “warm and friendly,” and remembers being one of a handful of students in Richard Longnecker’s first class. “His prayer at the beginning of each class was quite out of the ordinary,” Brian reminisces, “simple yet profound, forecasting the kind of lecture he would give, scholarly but with a pastoral touch.”

FOR DECADES, BRIAN HAS BEEN one of this country’s most prominent evangelical leaders, and since 2011 he has held the position of Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance, a global alliance that serves some 600 million evangelical Christians (www.worldevangelicals.org).

Q: You’ve had a long and accomplished career. But that career was already well underway by the time you came to Wycliffe.

What hopes laid behind doing the MRel? BCS: I had a deep hunger for further studies.

I did some graduate work in Montreal with a former Jesuit, Dr. Charles Davis. His assumption was that orthodoxy was of the past. This generated in me a longing for serious study that would tax my abilities to think and write. I also wanted to locate my faith within a more disciplined and historic setting.

Q: What impact did your Wycliffe studies have on your faith in Christ?

BCS: They introduced me to a wider array of church thought through the ages, helping me understand that I was in a direct line of centuries of Christian thought, doctrine, and spiritual movements.

Q: What is the value of pursuing graduate theological education for evangelicals today?

BCS: Such study deepens one’s life in so many ways. The very discipline of more demanding work sharpens one’s ability to think through issues and put forward your case. Then there is the matter of biblical understanding. There is no substitute for working more deeply in the biblical text, and that discipline is deepened by graduate studies.

Q: What are you currently working on?

BCS: I just finished From Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A Global Tour of the Spread of Christianity. While I continue to visit up to 20 countries a year as global ambassador of the WEA, I visit some of our 130 National Alliances (in Canada that’s the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada). There are two current projects. One is to refresh the global organization. It began in 1846, and it is the second largest global Christian association, representing some 600 million Christians.

Second, I’m beginning to research and write a kind of autobiography with special interest in reviewing the growth of evangelicals in Canada as seen out of my life experience.

Brian Stiller

Q: From your current, globally rich perspective, where do you think today’s Christian leaders ought to be focusing their efforts?

BCS: Western society assumed that with a rise in education, the improvement of living standards, and a more sophisticated society, Christian faith would go by the wayside. This seems to be happening in our Canadian and Western world. The mysterious, the transcendent is being diminished. The church can get caught up in taking to a banal form of faith, one that is framed by our search for pleasure and ease rather than discovering a call to rigorous faith.

[This is] so antithetical to the biblical call and so out of step with what is going on globally. The Global South—Africa, Asia and Latin America—has exploded in faith. These regions are becoming the sending places of faith, the hearts from which the missionary movements begin and from which they spread.

When younger clergy and Christian leaders ask me what they might do, I suggest trying something that calls for a risk of faith.

Not necessarily to leave home and go elsewhere (although maybe), but find within their community something that needs doing, that stretches them past their training and comfort, so we might see the hand of the Lord in ways we would never see it otherwise.

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STAFF PROFILE

Excited about Wycliffe “Are you excited?” The question is Steve Hewko’s go-to conversation starter as he passes colleagues in Wycliffe’s halls. It is typically posed with a mischievous grin, often punctuated with a fist bump.

By Patricia Paddey

AS THE COLLEGE’S PROGRAM Director, Steve’s role involves developing programs and special events to heighten Wycliffe’s engagement with the university, the church, and the general public. A self-described “extrovert with a short attention span,” he is well suited to the role, for it has him operating in his sweet spot of strategic planning, meeting new people, and generally thinking up creative ways to promote the College.

These days, he has much to feel excited about: he is just wrapping up work on his PhD (in Comparative Islamic and Christian Theology); he recently stepped up to fulltime hours (from his previous part-time position); and he has gained his first office space at Wycliffe—in the newly opened Student Services Centre—with room for all of his books and some to spare. “My wife was just happy to finally have them all out of the house,” he chuckles.

It’s no wonder. “The house” he refers to is actually a cozy family apartment at Wycliffe, where he and Sheryl, his wife of 15 years, make their home with their three children, 8

Hannah (14), Micah (11), and Owen (8). It has been his young family’s home for a decade, but living in the same building in which he works hasn’t yet become old. “I love the community,” Steve concedes. “Living downtown is great too. But the best part is the commute.” Another grin as he ponders the daily two-minute trek to his office.

He first arrived at Wycliffe in 2008 in pursuit of a Master of Theological Studies, having completed a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Alberta (U of A).

A “pastor’s kid” (his father is a pastor with the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada), Steve says that in spite of pursuing science at the undergrad level, he always knew he wanted to do theological studies of some kind. “One of my former professors at U of A and my pastor were both [Wycliffe] alumni,” he explains. “After researching options, Wycliffe just seemed like the best fit for me.”

He began with online courses, and one thing led to another, as things often do. “I can definitely see how God uses all the dif-

ferent pieces of my life,” he says when asked how his time spent working in a carbohydrate lab and for a biotech company helps him in his role as Program Director. “My science background helps me be analytical and evidence-based.” That science background, combined with a stint working in campus ministry and another overseas in Africa, helps round out his experience and fuel his passion for Kingdom work.

But he is also a great connector of people. “I think the College has been a little bit insular in the past, so there’s an opportunity to build relationships with people we haven’t had relationships with before.”

Even-keeled and easy going, he admits to being “a little overconfident” at times. But it is his confidence in Wycliffe that attracts partners, and helps to build the kinds of relationships that are so critical to Wycliffe’s future and to its ongoing mission to resource the Church. And those are definitely things to be excited about.

What does it mean to be human?

Ghosts and machines

By Steve Hewko

The Religion and Society Series is about to embark on an exciting adventure: a number of events that will explore the theme of what it means to be human.

THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES, along with rapid developments in artificial intelligence, are pressing at the core of human identity, that intrinsic part of who we are, our very soul. The question of the soul, a perennial favourite among philosophers and theologians, has now become a scientific, social, and even a technological question. The relevance of identity is more apparent than ever as we as a society begin to navigate unexplored territories in technology, ethics, politics, personal privacy, and liberty.

A guiding scripture verse for this issue speaks about how God has “put a sense of past and future into [our] minds.”

In his trilogy, Yuval Harari writes about the history of humanity, its future, and in his

most recent book—21 Lessons for the 21st Century—our present. He powerfully demonstrates our fascination with the questions of “where have we come from?” and “where are we going?” In this book, Harari talks about the urgent issues of our day. It is a time of rapid change and disorienting pace; we are looking for answers.

But where Harari sees the answer as the collective focus of our society to address these questions, I see the answer as being rooted in the Christian message. The profundity of the Gospel is that it has been telling us the answers to these questions all along, and in the particular challenges we face today, the solutions can be found in Scripture.

We bear the image of God. Our identity and value are not a product of our own efforts but come as a result of being objects of God’s love. That we are called to love our

neighbour provides the foundation to face our present challenges.

What does it mean to be human? On January 25, at Convocation Hall, we will explore this question with three qualified speakers – an atheist cognitive scientist, an artificial intelligence pioneer, and a Christian neuroscientist. They will discuss what it means to be human, explore what fundamentally makes us unique, and probe questions that technology and science are pressing upon traditional definitions and categories. Save the date and come to the University of Toronto to see it live, or watch it via live-stream at https://www.youtube. com/user/wycliffeUofT. The crowd at U of T’s Convocation Hall looks on attentively during a previous Religion and Society Series event.

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New Student Services Centre Evolving Full accessibility is one of the ways new Centre will serve students better.

By Amy MacLachlan

Reg Stackhouse

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“I HOPE IT’S AN ORGANIC PLACE THAT GROWS,” says Paul Patterson, Director of Operations at Wycliffe. “Student needs are always changing and our hope is that the space will continue with that.”

The space that Patterson is referring to is the new Student Services Centre, formerly Crux Books. The brand new Centre opened in September and meets student needs in a more holistic manner.

“I’d like it to keep evolving. We’ve talked about changing the space to make it community focused,” continues Patterson. “We’re trying to keep students at the forefront of our thinking, to continue to engage the students in what they are looking for.”

The new Centre offers a meeting room, fully equipped to allow for video conferenc-

ing, cubicles for part-time staff and adjunct faculty, recruiting, admissions, and the registrar’s office. The adjacent Blackwell Lounge, which was also given a facelift, now provides study space for students who don’t live in residence, and a small common area for coffee and chatting. “A one-stop shop for students,” says Patterson.

Perhaps most importantly, the space is now fully accessible—something that presented a problem when the registrar’s office and admissions were at their old location, on the second floor.

“One of the biggest changes was from a somewhat confusing arrangement of mixed faculty and staff offices to a warm and inviting place where both prospective and current students can come to gather information and have their questions answered,” says Jonathan Clemens, admission and recruitment coordinator. “The admissions office now feels like a comfortable place to talk with students about their future and current needs, rather than

simply another office located somewhere in the faculty wing.”

Wycliffe’s assistant registrar, Jeffrey Hocking, agrees. “I know that students are much more likely to stop by my office now than they were when I was upstairs.”

The space also features the beautiful glass art installation “Figure at Prayer,” generously donated by its creator, Sarah Hall, one of North America’s most celebrated stained glass artists.

The image of a woman standing in prayer, arms outstretched, is inspired by a fourth-century painting on the floor of Domus Ecclesia in Rome’s catacombs. It is one in a series of pieces that the artist has described as “meditative images that evoke the experience of the catacombs themselves, of quiet darkness, of depth, of connectedness to our collective witness and to eternal hope.”

Demolition of the old space began May 8 and the new space was fully functional when the 2018 school year began. An in-

terior designer (STEPdesign) was hired to help with the vision, and contractors (Revive Contracting) were hired. The budget was set at over $300,000 and the project was completed on time and on budget.

Funds came from the John Wycliffe Trust, on approval of the Board. Moving the Centre to its new location allowed the College to juggle staff and faculty offices, reclaim residence rooms, and repurpose the former (Crux) space.

Patterson says that during the demolition process, it was interesting to see outlines on the floor of where old offices used to be, and to be reminded that the space had been used as a library until 1999.

The summer of 2018 will be remembered by Wycliffe staff as a season of renovation and change, but Patterson says the new space is already serving students better.

“It’s a space with their needs in mind.”

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Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology Fall Colloquium

By Ephraim Radner

The Wycliffe Centre for Scripture and Theology’s twice-yearly Colloquium met for its fall gathering on October 19, addressing the subject of “Martyrdom and its Scriptural Shape.”

By Marion Taylor

Four outstanding scholars—Anglican, Eastern, Evangelical—presented papers on this topic, one so important in the midst of a century in which the number of Christian martyrs has exploded even as confusions about martyrdom’s meaning have deepened for many.

Bringing together biblical, theological, and historical study, presenters persuasively clarified the essential divine calling to courageous witness that martyrdom constitutes, and examined martyrdom’s lived experience in the early Church, China, the Ukraine, and elsewhere.

Wycliffe hosts Canadian American Theological Association

By Marion Taylor

On Saturday October 20, 2018, Wycliffe College cosponsored the annual fall meeting of the CanadianAmerican Theological Association (CATA). It was by all accounts a successful day as it offered a rich Babette’s Feast of papers on a wide variety of topics that spanned the theological disciplines.

Presenters included graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars from a number of colleges and seminaries in the greater Toronto area, as well as from the University of Notre Dame, Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College, the University of Aberdeen, Thorneloe University, Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo De Manila University, and the University of Scranton.

More than half of the 28 presenters were current students or graduates from Wycliffe’s various doctoral programs.

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The high point of the day was Dr. Gord Oeste’s provocative keynote lecture, Feasting with the Enemy: Redemptive Readings of Biblical War Texts. Gord Oeste completed his doctoral program at Wycliffe College in Old Testament.

We look forward to reading the forthcoming book he co-authored with William Webb, Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric: War Texts that Trouble the Soul (IVP).

Alumni news of life we would be drawn deeper into the mystery of God’s love for It is amazing how much can us in Jesus Christ and renewed in change in just a short span of our passion to proclaim this gospel time, isn’t it? In my own life the to the world. One last note on an last year or so has brought a important change to your Alumni Asfew significant changes. First, in sociation, namely, that on July 27, the summer of 2017 my family 2018, the Association voted to apand I left Toronto, our home of prove the proposed amendments to nearly a decade, so that I could the Association bylaws. Our vision and work take charge of a two-point parish in the has now shifted from fiduciary responsibilnorth end of the diocese. Second, in June ity to that of community building, service 2018 we welcomed our fourth child, Samto alumni, and attracting future students uel Paul. I am so thankful for those of you called to ministry. that took the time to update us on your life and ministry. Let us pray for one an- Grace and peace, other, that through the joys and the trials The Rev. Jonathan Turtle (MDiv, 2012)

FROM THE 1990s

From the 1970s

James Beverley (W ’94) has served as a Professor at Tyndale Seminary and now has a timeline/guide on Jordan Peterson on Amazon Kindle plus a timeline/guide on Pentecostal & Charismatic prophecies about Donald Trump, also on Kindle.

Beloved in Christ!

The Rev. Canon Bill Kibblewhite (W ’72) has been retired since 2007, after serving as a curate and an incumbent in the Diocese of Toronto for 35 years. He came out of retirement in 2009 to serve as an associate priest for three years at St. Peter’s, Erindale. For the past seven years, he has continued as an active Honorary Assistant at St. Peter’s. Since graduation, he has served on a number of Wycliffe committees, including two in leadership roles.

The Rev. Canon Jim Woolley (W ’77) was ordained deacon in 1971 and priest in 1972.

In January 1981 he became the incumbent of St. Thomas à Becket in the Erin Mills area of Mississauga and was there for more than 37 years, retiring at the age of 72 in June 2018.

Over the years Jim enjoyed his ministry serving our Lord, interacting with many families both in and outside the parish. He continues to have close friends in the area. This fall Jim has become an honorary assistant at St. Chad’s at Dufferin and St. Clair, helping each week with the morning congregation.

The Rev. Canon George H. Rogers (W ’78) was named as one of the Honourary Canons of the Cathedral Chapter in Peterborough, UK, on Easter Sunday 2018.

He will continue as the Vicar of St. John the Baptist with Emmanuel Werrington in the Peterborough Diocese, where he has served for the past 15 years.

FROM THE 1980s

The Rev. Canon Kim Beard (W ’89) In August 2018, Kim led a team of 11 volunteers to serve with the Karen people border ministry in Mae Salit, Thailand. This is an Anglican ministry of the Deanery of Thailand serving the Karen people on the border between Myanmar and Thailand. His team worked with local volunteers to undertake the following projects: 1. Install new ceramic tiles in a children’s home and train eight local young men in the skill of laying ceramic tile.

2. Two volunteers served in a local refugee camp teaching English.

3. Other team members worked with local volunteers to paint a newly constructed Anglican worship and training center.

4. The team raised funds to purchase locally made mosquito nets to distribute to families living in small villages where malaria is a major health issue.

He is preparing to lead a team to India in August 2019 to work with the Missionaries of Charity and their homes in Calcutta. The team is open to anyone interested. Contact Kim by email at beard3300@rogers.com

The Rev. Canon Vicars Hodge (W ’90) has announced his retirement from Trinity Church, Sarnia, as of December 31, 2018.

He says that he has loved his time as Rector of Trinity Church—“an amazing and thrilling parish in the Anglican Evangelical Tradition. The past six years have simply flown by since our return from New Brunswick.” An active search for his successor is underway. Those interested should contact Bishop Linda Nicholls, Diocese of Huron.

He and his wife Carole plan to continue living in Sarnia, ON. They will be taking an extended trip in their RV starting in January 2019 “heading South with no particular destination in mind.” From May 2 to 11, 2019, he will lead a Dual Narrative tour of the Holy Land, his sixth pilgrimage.

The Rt Rev. Susan Bell (W ’98) was installed as the twelfth Bishop of Niagara on October 21, 2018 at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton, ON. Bishop Bell grew up in Hamilton and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree from Wycliffe College in 1998. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Church History at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Alan Hayes.

The Rev. Dr. Craig A. Carter (W ’99) has served as Professor of Theology at Tyndale University College & Seminary since 2000. He recently published a book on hermeneutics, Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition: Recovering the Genius of Premodern Exegesis (Baker, 2018). The book is dedicated to the memory of John Webster. Dr. Carter also serves part-time as Theologian in Residence at Westney Heights Baptist Church in Ajax, ON. 13

FROM THE 2000s

The Rev. Dr. Robert Darrenbacker (W ’01) will be taking up new responsibilities as the Dean of Trinity College Theological School on the campus of the University of Melbourne in Australia. Bob was previously President of Thorneloe University in Sudbury, ON, for nine and a half years. He and his wife Cindy (librarian at Wycliffe from 1992 to 1998) will be moving “Down Under” in late December 2018, and would welcome any Wycliffe alumni as visitors to Melbourne!

Shelia Martin (W ’03) retired from elementary teaching and taught four terms in Uganda at a small start-up university in Central Buganda, teaching Bachelor of Education courses. She has participated in 11 mission trips. On her Wycliffe education, Shelia says her “Lay Ministry diploma has been invaluable in living here and abroad.”

Her son Ian graduated from Wycliffe College in 2009 with an MDiv. The Rev. Dr. Michael Peterson (W ’04) is currently a Major and Course Development Officer at the Canadian Forces Chaplain School at CFB Borden, and is the honorary associate at St. Margaret of Scotland, Barrie, ON. Michael’s wife, Kay Brown, passed away in November 2017 after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer. She died serenely in great faith and assurance.

Vanessa Rottner (W ’05) During both the spring and summer Vanessa engaged in educational pursuits at the Cathedral of St. James, Toronto. First of all, the Diocese of Toronto supported the “Meeting of Jesus through the Gospel of John” through the brothers of SSJE. Secondly, in the summer months she was involved in the Vicar’s Scripture Circle in the eschatological study of the weekly Sunday readings. Both pursuits were empowering and insightful, delving into the Bible and making it relevant in our lives today. During Pentecost, Vanessa volunteered at the Hillary Rice Exhibit under the auspices of the St. James Cathedral Archives and Museum.

The Rev. Chris Harper (W ’05) was elected to be the thirteenth Bishop of Saskatoon on September 8, 2018 at the cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Saskatoon, SK. He began his new duties in the Diocese of Saskatoon in October and he is to be conse14

crated and installed as bishop on November 17, 2018. Chris will succeed Bishop David Irving, who is retiring from his duties after eight years of service.

Rev. Sheila Van Zandwyk (W ’08) has been the Rector of St. Michael’s in Hamilton, ON, for the past eight years and it has brought her such joy.

On her education from Wycliffe College, Sheila says that while there have been times when she thought “seminary definitely didn’t prepare me for this, on the whole the foundations, faith, and friendships I experienced at Wycliffe have continued to sustain me. I am eternally grateful to God for guiding me to Wycliffe and am humbled each day by God’s calling me to ministry in the church. Blessings to all!”

The Rev. Chris Roth (W ’09) has continued to direct people towards Wycliffe for study since his graduation in 2009. Chris is now serving St. Leonard’s-on-the-Hill in Red Deer, Alberta, in the Diocese of Calgary. He and his wife Crystal have three boys—Zander (11), Seth (8), and Levi (5).

They have recently learned that they have another one on the way.

FROM THE 2010s

The Rev. Robert Porter (W ’11) is serving as associate priest of the Anglican Region of Grenville North, mainly in Kemptville, ON. He and his wife, Tira, are expecting a new baby in March 2019, and their two-yearold Audrey is flourishing and excited to meet her new sibling.

Robert and Tira Porter with daughter Audrey

Angela King (W ’11) After five and a half years as a chaplain caring for people living with dementia in Good Samaritan Society (Lutheran) Long Term Care facilities in British Columbia and Alberta, Angela has accepted a position with Alberta Health Services as Spiritual Health Practitioner Team Lead, Central Alberta Zone, and will be based at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in the city of Red Deer as of October 9, 2018.

James Pedlar (W ’05, W ’13) was installed as the Donald N. and Kathleen G. Bastian Chair of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary on October 16, 2018.

James has been doing the work of the Wesley Chair since 2013, but he has now been granted the official title following his successful application for tenure and promotion. He is currently researching revivalism and Christian unity in British Methodism, and he presented some of his work at the Oxford Institute for Methodist Theological Studies this past August. James, his wife Samantha, and daughter Moira continue to worship at Wesley Chapel Free Methodist Church in Scarborough, where James is part of the pastoral team.

Orvin Lao (W ’17) is currently a postulant to be ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Toronto in May 2019. He has been serving as a lay pastoral associate at St. Paul’s Bloor Street since January 2018.

Sam Cho (W ’17) and his wife moved to Seoul, Korea, in June 2016.

Since then, he has been working as the director of Interserve Korea, and his wife has been working with North Korean defector girls. Interserve is a 166-year-old global mission organization focused on the neediest peoples in the Arab and Asian world. He and his wife used to work in China and North Korea before they moved to Canada in 2010.

On his time at Wycliffe College, Sam says that he has “lots of fond memories and could reflect my past works and future directions.

Classes and discussions were insightful and spiritual-forming. I cannot convey enough appreciation to faculty, staff, and colleagues.

I really miss chapel and the beautiful campus. One day, I will be back—maybe for the summer. Bless you all!”

Seeking to Serve a Spiritual Movement

By The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop

Wycliffe’s annual Indigenous Leadership Week has become an important feature for Indigenous leaders across the land.

L-R, listed with their dioceses: Ms. Sheba McKay (Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh) The Rt. Rev. Adam Halkett (Diocese of Saskatchewan) The Rev. Gladys Matoush (Diocese of Moosonee) Ms. Patricia Pratt (Diocese of Qu’Appelle) The Rev. George Matoush (Diocese of Moosonee; ordained deacon this fall, after ILW) THERE ARE A NUMBER OF HAPPY aspects to this work that are easily perceived: opportunity for people preparing for ministry or engaged in ministry to receive instruction in matters that are crucial to their work; a time of refreshment for people who serve in contexts that are often challenging; the creation of a learning community across a wide variety of experiences and contexts; important opportunities for the creation and deepening of an Indigenous network of ministry; and the possibility for people immersed and expert in the faith and language of their local Indigenous ministry to learn the faith and language of other contexts and communities within our Anglican Church. For all of these, we are grateful to Wycliffe for the creation of a safe and supportive environment that serves the needs of people who are or will be important leaders in the Indigenous network of churches.

There are some aspects of the Leadership Week that are not as obvious, but are every bit as important. I identify two. 1) The influence of Indigenous People on the Wycliffe community. Wycliffe has a long tradition of sending missionaries out to the remote parts of this land. Today, we see a back and forth movement. A group of Indigenous People,

serving in some of the most challenging environments on our continent, are taking their place in the worldwide fellowship represented in the Wycliffe family—bringing a fresh expression of the Gospel to this vital network. 2) Serving a growing spiritual movement among the Indigenous Peoples of North America.

This second aspect’s importance needs to be underlined. We can lose sight of the critical role that a seminary can and should play as a servant of the movement of the Gospel, in the power of the Spirit, to touch, heal, and transform the nations. In the past, this impulse of the Spirit was obscured among Indigenous Peoples by the attempt to “civilize” them—a project of an alliance between government, culture, and church that was a dangerous distraction from the work of the Gospel and so very damaging to Indigenous communities. Today, this project is being undone, both in society and church. This undoing allows us to join in service to a movement that is witnessing the Incarnation of the Word of God into Indigenous life towards the renewal of life among Indigenous Peoples (as

opposed to reconstructing a foreign culture in Indigenous communities).

In the work of the Indigenous Leadership Week, we can begin to trace a broader trajectory of a contemporary movement of God among Indigenous Peoples. It is important to underline this work, celebrate it, and commit to it. This urgent and wonderful work is emerging among us. We must consecrate our minds, hearts, and efforts to it.

Editor’s note: Indigenous Leadership Week is provided free of charge to all participants. Generous program patrons Jim and Edna Claydon cover the majority of program costs, including: travel to and from Toronto, accommodations and meals in transit and while in Toronto, class fees, field trips, and the optional sight seeing day.

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N E W FA C U LT Y B O O K S

Percy successfully employed tactics that called a slumbering national and local church to find its true identity in Christ.

John Bowen is Professor Emeritus of Evangelism, Wycliffe College. Michael Knowles is Professor of Preaching, McMaster Divinity College.

Thomas P. Power (ed.). A FLIGHT OF PARSONS: THE DIVINITY DIASPORA OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2018.

Faculty book launch, October 10, 2018.

Christopher R. Seitz. THE ELDER TESTAMENT: CANON, THEOLOGY, TRINITY. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2018.

This book is a theological introduction to the canonical unity of the Scriptures of Israel. Seitz demonstrates that, while an emphasis on theology and canonical form often sidesteps critical methodology, the canon itself provides essential theological commentary on textual and historical reconstruction.

Christopher R. Seitz (Ph.D. Yale) is Senior Research Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto.

Ephraim Radner. CHASING THE SHADOW—THE WORLD AND ITS TIMES: AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN NATURAL THEOLOGY. VOLUME 2. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2018.

Christian natural theology is founded on the proper coordination of Scripture and the created world, what was once called “The Two Books” of God. Carrying forward the work he began in The World in the Shadow of God, Radner here reflects on the way that Scripture’s creative relationship with temporal experience—ordering history rather than being ordered by history—opens up the natural world to its essential scriptural meaning.

Ephraim Radner is Professor of Historical Theology, Wycliffe College Toronto.

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Annette Brownlee. PREACHING JESUS CHRIST TODAY: SIX QUESTIONS FOR MOVING FROM SCRIPTURE TO SERMON. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2018.

This book approaches preaching as a theological practice and a spiritual discipline in a way that is engaging, straightforward, and highly usable for busy preachers. Bringing to bear almost three decades of practical experience in the pulpit and the classroom, Annette Brownlee explores six questions to help preachers listen to Scripture, move from text to interpretation for weekly sermon preparation, and understand the theological significance of the sermon.

Annette Brownlee is Chaplain, Professor of Pastoral Theology, and Director of Field Education at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.

John Bowen & Michael Knowles.

GOOD NEWS CHURCH: CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF HAROLD PERCY. Burlington, ON: Castle Quay Books, 2018.

In this collection of essays on leadership, discipleship, spirituality, congregational ministry, and missional outreach, over twenty pastoral practitioners engage in lively dialogue inspired by the life, legacy and many contributions of Harold Percy to the life of the church today. Throughout more than forty years of effective and faithful ministry, Harold

These essays address the formative influences and circumstances that informed the mental world and disposition of Irish Anglicans, particularly clergy who were graduates of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), an institution pivotal in the formation of attitudes among the Irish Anglican elite. In common with the Irish as a whole, TCD graduate clergy exerted an influence on colonial life in the religious, cultural, intellectual, and political spheres out of all proportion to their numbers. Two were founders of Canadian dioceses, and one was among the founders of Wycliffe College.

Thomas P. Power is Adjunct Professor of Church History and Theological Librarian at Wycliffe College.

Andrew C. Witt. REDEMPTION AND RELATIONSHIP: MEDITATIONS ON EXODUS. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2018.

Redemption and Relationship is an edited collection of essays written by Wycliffe College faculty, originating as homilies.

Each meditation follows the narrative in the book of Exodus, centering on two principal aspects of Israel’s experience with the Lord during this significant period in its national life: their redemption from Egypt and their discovery of the Lord’s identity through their relationship with him.

Andrew C. Witt is an Adjunct Professor at Wycliffe College, where he has taught courses on the Psalms, the Old Testament, and Biblical Hebrew.

DONOR PROFILE

Rev. Canon Dr. Thora Wade Rowe

Ahead of her time

By Patricia Paddey

“For three years I was the only woman in the full course at Wycliffe College.

It was the mid-fifties. I belonged. I was at one with my brothers in spirit and vision . . .

I even won the preaching prize one year! By osmosis I was preparing in mind and heart, to say nothing of skills, for the ordained ministry.”

AT 87, THE REV. CANON DR. THORA WADE ROWE realizes that she can likely only look forward to a few remaining years on this earth. But recent challenges with her physical health have necessitated a certain slowing down that she has not welcomed. “I’m a little at loose ends,” she concedes. “I’ve had a number of medical concerns recently that are making me less able to respond to the demands of keeping involved. So I’m looking and praying for where I might fit into the scheme of things, and I haven’t found it yet.”

It is a startling confession coming from a woman in her ninth decade of life who has just disclosed that she still serves as a guest preacher in Anglican pulpits, is a mother of two, stepmother of three, grandmother of six, prays regularly for persecuted Christians around the globe, and is a longtime supporter of Wycliffe College. Her life has been rich and full. But it has also included its fair share of challenges; she has certainly earned a respite.

But Thora is “one of those people who gets my sense of worth from contributing and being involved,” she explains. And so she is content on this day with granting an interview in which she is asked to reflect on her long and storied life.

She holds the honour of being the first woman to have earned an MDiv at Wycliffe College. That was in 1977. Twenty years earlier, in 1957, she graduated from

Wycliffe with a Licentiate of Theology, an event she recounts in an essay published in Partners in the Dance: Stories of Canadian Women in Ministry (Patricia Bays, ed., Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1993).

Rev. Canon Dr. Thora Wade Rowe But it was the 50s. The church was not yet ordaining women. When graduation and ordination arrived, Thora found herself sitting on a side aisle, feeling unanticipated distress and grief as her classmates processed up the cathedral aisle. (She would go on to be ordained in 1986 after 21 years working as a social worker and being active in her first husband’s parish ministry. She recalls her ordination as “a day of joy beyond words,” as she was finally permitted to

fulfill a calling she had felt God place upon her life decades earlier.)

In 2006, Wycliffe recognized Thora’s role as a trailblazer for women in ministry with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity.

With a Wycliffe LTh, MDiv, and DD, the College has clearly played a significant role in her life. But its significance goes beyond the academic. She married her first husband and father of her children—Rev. Edgar “Ted” Wm. Fuller—here, speaking her marriage vows in Founders’ Chapel. (Thora is twice widowed. Ted died in 1969. In 1974, she married layman John Rowe, who died in 2006.)

“Wycliffe is a place where I feel at home,” she says. “Where I love to visit. It’s been a huge part of my life. It’s been a place where I feel I belong.”

For three decades, she has given annually to the College in memory of her first husband (whose ministry was cut short by his early death) because, she says, it is important to her that Wycliffe is well cared for. But there is another reason she gives. “I know that there are people who are feeling the call to train for ministry who don’t have the resources,” she explains. “I want to encourage those who have a calling to be able to fulfill it.”

A woman who was ahead of her time is thus today helping others pursue God’s calling on their own lives at just the right time.

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The Time is Now

By Ann Jervis

To those who have heard of him, St. Paul is often thought to be distasteful (he told women to wear hats and be quiet), or musty (he’s the person who talks about original sin and predestination), or frustratingly doctrinaire (what does justification by faith mean anyway?).

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PAUL IS ALSO ONE OF HISTORY’S most interesting and original thinkers. The power of Paul’s originality is evidenced by how generative his thoughts were to thinkers who themselves changed culture and the boundaries of thought (Irenaeus, Augustine, Luther, Karl Barth).

Already/Not Yet One of the more powerful thoughts generated by Paul’s writings occurred in the early 1900s when Albert Schweitzer brought the world of Jewish apocalyptic eschatology into contact with Paul, beginning a seismic shift in how Paul was heard. Subsequent to Schweitzer, one of the fundamentals of Jewish apocalyptic thinking (as scholars then understood it) became the framework for interpreting Paul. That fundamental was the idea that there are two ages/realities: the present age which is wracked with evil and the age to come in which all challenges to God will be gone. Paul

was now heard to have framed his understanding of God’s work in Christ in terms of the old age and the new age.

“Age” (on the basis of the Greek word aeon, which it translates) was understood as both a kind of time and a kind of world or reality.

Compared with Jewish thought, what was unique about Paul was that he believed that the new age had already begun because Jesus Christ had come. The big idea that Paul, the earliest Christian theologian, offered was that the new age had come with the coming of Christ and his resurrection.

The new age overlaps the old age and will do so until Christ returns. Believers in Christ live in two ages at once— partially in the old and partially in the new. This overlap of the ages is often described as “already/not yet.”

It is often said that what sets Paul apart from his fellow Jews is that they wait for the new age in expectation that when it comes the old age will have been obliterated, whereas Paul conceives of the new age having come even while the old age persists.

Does Paul think that believers in Christ live in two ages at once, knowing that when Christ returns the old age will end and then they will live entirely in the new age?

This grand interpretative idea has generated much interest for over 100 years and has had legs both in the church and political sphere. With Paul as one of their warrants, Christians envision themselves as caught between two opposing realities / two kinds of time: one not of God and one that is God’s. The meaning of the Christian life is to resist the old age and to work in and for the new.

This fundamental understanding that there are two ages, one of which is finite (the old age) and another which will, in some fashion, morph into eternal life (the new age), manifests itself in different ways in various Christian cultures: from the attempt to separate from “the world” to radical engagement in the public square on behalf of justice for all, to trying to shape the public square according to particular moral codes. These social projects are because of the tension between the already and the not yet. The implicit agenda is to be or bring the already in the context of the ongoing battle waged by the not yet.

New Approach There is another way to hear Paul—one that I am exploring. This approach takes to heart his claim that believers are liberated from the present evil age, that they both are and are in new creation; that the new has come. It does not frame his thought in terms of two ages. Rather, it takes seriously Paul’s words that those in Christ are able to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God. That is, believers can see the old age for what it is: the old age is already defeated because Christ conquered the rulers of the old age—sin and death. Those who are in Christ do not live in two ages at once— in the overlap of the ages—but in the age of God. Some earlier Christians understood matters this way. In the fourth century John Chrysostom wrote that while on earth Paul spent his time in heaven. Chrysostom was not saying

that Paul was so heavenly minded that he was no earthly good. Rather, Chrysostom heard Paul to think that he had been given the ability to see (and live) from the place of God and God alone.

Interestingly, while Paul claims these things, he also hopes. But what he hopes for is not the end of the kind of time he lives in, but the fulfillment of it. I hear Paul considering not that his life is lived in the tension between “already” and “not yet,” but rather in the certainty of “already” and the hope for still more of it.

This can sound like an infantile naiveté, the enthusiasm of the supreme convert. It can also sound like wisdom and insight, seeing what is real and having the courage to name illusion.

If others want to try on this interpretation of Paul for themselves, it might have bracing results. The idea that believers in Christ now live in the one age/ reality that will not end, rather than in a mixture of two opposing realities/ages might diminish the power and terror of evil. Evil is already obsolete in God’s economy. To live from this idea might take away excuses (our failures of love and justice are because of the power of the old age). It certainly could admonish our lethargy: we are not in a time of waiting for God to set things right at the end, for that has already happened in Christ’s resurrection.

Our participation in God’s work of love and justice may be sourced in the joy and confidence that the time is now.

Ann Jervis is Professor of New Testament at Wycliffe College, on sabbatical.

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Family Advent Liturgy

Explore the significance of the season with readings and family prayers each week of Advent.

Visit www.wycliffecollege.ca/advent for more details.

Nominations Open Nominations are now open for the Archdeacon Harry St. Clair Hilchey Award. This award is presented to one alumnus of Wycliffe College each year who has distinguished himself in service to the Alumni Association, Wycliffe College, and/or the Church.

All nominations are to be submitted

by January 14th. Nominations will be considered by the Wycliffe College Alumni Association Executive Committee and the award presented to the successful nominee at Convocation.

CRITERIA 1. Affiliation: Nominee must be an alumnus or honorary alumnus of Wycliffe College.

2. Evangelical Ethos: Nominee is an outstanding example of Wycliffe College’s evangelical ethos, reflecting these in their social, professional and/or academic circles.

3. Gospel Advocacy: Nominee has demonstrated outstanding service in the name of Jesus in social, professional and/or academic circles.

4. Engagement with Wycliffe College and the Church: Nominee has shown a strong and regular engagement in supporting Wycliffe College. Support can be defined here as spiritual, academic, and/or professional.

Please submit your nomination by filling out the form on the Wycliffe College website at https://www.wycliffecollege.ca/alumni/awards

Insight EDITORIAL BOARD

Connie Chan

Barbara Jenkins

Patricia Paddey

Rob Henderson

Shelley McLagan

Thomas Power

Marion Taylor

Raymond Aldred

Moussa Faddoul

Rachel Lott

Brian Stiller

Stephen Andrews

(fotoreflection.com)

Amy MacLachlan

Marion Taylor

Jose Luis Avendano

Peter Herriman

Patricia Paddey

Dave Toycen

Ruth Bartlett

Steve Hewko

Thomas Power

Jonathan Turtle

Connie Chan

Ann Jervis

Ephraim Radner

Ian Vaillancourt

Dhoui Chang

Mimi Kam

James Sholl

Laura Vander Velden

CONTRIBUTORS

The Wycliffe College Newsletter for Alumni and Friends December 2018, No. 86 ISSN 1192-2761

INSIGHT is published twice yearly by Wycliffe College Communications Connect with us:

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Communications Director

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ppaddey@wycliffe.utoronto.ca

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