Everyday Theology Conference Videos – Liberty University – Ben Witherington and Craig Evans – Sessions 1 & 2

Chad Thornhill: Two of the worlds finest New Testament scholars Ben Witherington and Craig Evans speak about some of the Current issues going on right now in New Testament Studies. The purpose of the annual Everyday Theology Conference is to address critical issues in Christian theology, while also exploring what this means  for everyday life and every day Christians. We believe very deeply that what we believe about God matters, not just for our intellectual endeavors, not just so that we get it right, but this also impacts how we live. This has true implications for day to day Christianity and  too often, those connections are not sufficiently explored. We have theologians  and we have practitioners and they don’t make the connections often enough. So what we hope to do is to present  the data, the arguments, the material and then get some of the practical download.

Everyday Theology Conference Session 1

Ben Witherington – questions related to Jesus, the New Testament, the first century, how is it that we can have confidence today, 2000 years later in an ancient faith that actually began 2000 years ago? And how do we know we’re getting it right and making the right kind of a connection?

VIDEO by Liberty University

Everyday Theology Conference Session 2

Having the Mind of Christ – Ben Witherington, PhD

Central Baptist Bearden (April 27, 2014) – Lecture by Ben Witherington.

Philippians 2:4-11

VIDEO by Christianity Reason and Science

Ben Witherington: The Self-Understanding of Jesus – Biola University

 

From „To everyone an answer: 10th Annual EPS Apologetics Conference”.

VIDEO by BiolaUniversity

 

The Historical Jesus – Ben Witherington

VIDEO by Myers Park United Methodist Church

Ben Witherington – The Freedom of God and the Free Will of Human Beings

Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.

Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website.

Here are some excerpts from his post:

One of the more interesting subjects to discuss is the freedom of God. What exactly is God free to do or not to do? Is God’s will the primary and controlling divine attribute such that even God’s knowledge is dependent on God’s will in the first place? Are there things that a sovereign God cannot do? For example, is God free to sin? Or is God’s behavior determined by the unalterable divine nature? That is, is God subject to the same sort of determinism some Christians believe applies to human beings? These sorts of questions and their answers all have a bearing on how we ask and answer the question about human freedom and its nature.

…….I assume that when human beings were created in the image of God this meant, among other things that Adam had libertarian freedom to either obey God or not. It is not appropriate to judge this matter on the basis of the attributes of fallen human beings who indeed in various ways can be said to be in bondage to sin or addicted to sinful behaviors. No the question is, how did God make us in the first place, and how in Christ does God restore us in Christ as we are renewed in the image of Christ? Does grace restore the power of contrary choice in redemption or not?

…..In short, the discussion of the freedom of human beings should never be undertaken in isolation from the discussion of the freedom of God, and the ways God has chosen to limit himself in order to allow us to be beings with a limited measure of freedom, and so a small reflection of the divine character.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

Ben Witherington – quote from Claude Galen

Written in 2nd century but mirrors our times- from Witherington’s site:

The reason I deferred in writing this is because of „the danger of wasting my time, since pretty much no one cares about truth these days; rather they eagerly chase after money and political power and insatiable enjoyment of pleasures, and to such an extent that they think you are crazy if you spend your time on any serious pursuit of knowledge.” Galen, 2nd century A.D. (Emphasis mine- …and the more things change, the more they stay the same). Read more at: http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/