Christian parents should be viewed as modern day “missionaries” according to one of the papers due to be delivered at a major divinity conference in the Granite City.
Around 40 postgraduate students from Scotland's ancient universities and beyond will gather at the University of Aberdeen tomorrow (Thursday, June 21) for the annual Divinity and Religious Studies event.
Dozens of papers will be given at the conference, including 'What do Christian Parents Owe Their Children?' by Aberdeen postgraduate Amie Vaughan, who will discuss how Christian parents go about raising their children in an increasingly secular, privatised world.
"How we raise our children is as important as our need for evangelism, since the church only grows through conversion," said Amie.
"For this reason, parents are missionaries simply by raising children. This makes parenting not just a difficult task, but one with abiding consequences for individuals, the church and the world."
A number of other Aberdeen postgraduates will lecture at the conference, including Andy Draycott, who will give a paper on 'Preaching and the Politics of Immigration'.
He said, "The paper seeks to redeem the notion of preaching from the negative associations described in the media of 'preaching' with reference to racial hatred, or the glorification of terrorism."
In total, 40-plus papers covering the fields of biblical studies, church history, theology and ethics, and religion and culture will be delivered. The closing keynote address – entitled 'The Clash between Images and Writing in Ancient Israel – will be given by Aberdeen's Joachim Schaper, Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.
The one-day event runs from 10am-4pm on Thursday, June 21 at King's College.
Event co-ordinator Dr Philip G. Ziegler, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, said, "It's wonderful to be able to host an event like this that brings together so many academics from the four ancient universities and beyond. A huge amount of ground will be covered and important papers presented on what promises to be a fascinating day."
For more information on the conference visit www.abdn.ac.uk/divinity/documents/2007PGconferenceprogramme_001.pdf