Major international conference to look at hope in the new millennium
A major conference looking at how Christians think of the future will take place at the University of Aberdeen this week.
Delegates will give papers on a wide variety of current and topical issues, including a case study of Northern Ireland, and Hollywood versus the Bible on the end of the world. Eric Stoddard, a postgraduate student at the University will also speak about his research, which involved a survey of Scotland’s clergy to find out their views on the end of the world and whether it affects their practice, if at all.
The conference, A Biblical Theology of Hope, is a pilot venture of a new research institute, the Centre for Biblical Theology that has been set up and co-directed by Dr Brian Rosner and Professor Francis Watson of the Department of Divinity with Religious Studies.
Dr Rosner said they anticipate a lively and stimulating gathering of some 55 scholars and postgraduates from a variety of disciplines, who will consider issues of broader theological, historical, philosophical and sociological interest.
“As people look forward to the new millennium, how many expect a future better than the present and on what grounds? Hope is a subject of ultimate importance to all of us and one that the Bible and the Christian faith have much to say,” he said.
“This conference aims to reflect upon this teaching and its relevance at the end of the twentieth century.”
The four main speakers at the conference come from T?bingen, Oxford, Princeton and Aberdeen. There will also be another 24 short papers delivered by delegates from Australia, New Zealand, America, Switzerland, Ireland, Wales and England.
The conference will take place in the Linklater Rooms, Old Aberdeen, from 19-22 August.