Common Places

Some remarks by Marc LiVecche on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "Just War," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Marc LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence. He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics. Marc completed doctoral studies, earning distinction, at the University of Chicago, where he worked under the supervision of the political theorist and public intellectual Jean Bethke Elshtain, until her death in August, 2013. His first book THE GOOD KILL: JUST WAR & MORAL INJURY, was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Another project, RESPONSIBILITY AND RESTRAINT: JAMES TURNER JOHNSON AND THE JUST WAR TRADITION, co-edited with Eric Patterson, was published by Stone Tower Press in the fall of 2020. Currently, he is finalizing Moral Horror: A Just War Defense of Hiroshima. Before all this academic stuff, Marc sp

Some remarks by Jake Meador on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "Environmental Care," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy and is a writer and editor from Lincoln NE. His work has been published in First Things, National Review, Books & Culture, Commonweal, Plough Quarterly, Christianity Today, Front Porch Republic, and the University Bookman. He holds a BA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jake lives in Lincoln NE with his wife Joie, daughter Davy, and three sons, Wendell, Austin, and Ambrose. His first book, IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GOOD: CHRISTIAN FIDELITY IN A FRACTURED WORLD, was published by InterVarsity Press. Find him on Twitter @JAKE_MEADOR.

Some remarks by Davenant President ,Dr. Brad Littlejohn, on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "The Civil Magistrate," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Dr. Bradford Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh) is the Founder and President of the Davenant Institute. He also works as a Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and has taught for several institutions, including Moody Bible Institute-Spokane, Bethlehem College and Seminary, and Patrick Henry College. He is recognized as a leading scholar of the English theologian Richard Hooker and Has published and lectured extensively in the fields of Reformation history, Christian ethics, and political theology. He lives in Landrum, SC with his wife, Rachel, and four children. Follow him on Twitter at @WBLITTLEJOHN The full launch event with Q&A is available here:

A lecture with Q&A with Davenant Teaching Fellow Tim Jacobs entitled "Duty or Virtue: Which Does the Church Need More?" Many Christians assume morality starts with duty to commands. We search the Bible looking for commands to obey. Yet swiftly we invent new rules, and eventually accidental legalism is born. Even healthy churches struggle with this subtle moralism that breeds Pharisaism, with honesty sacrificed for appearances, or compassion for authoritarianism. How can we reform our view of duty? In this lecture, Tim Jacobs will show how biblical commands point us to the more fundamental source of ethics: the natural law based in human nature, which is itself founded on God’s nature. Attendees will learn the sources and dangers of duty-based ethics, the case for New Testament virtue ethics, and how the Reformed tradition has understood virtue. This talk will make use of Aristotle, Aquinas, John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Jonathan Edwards.

A synthetic session titled “The Task Ahead of Us” led by Brad Littlejohn, Colin Redemer and Joseph Minich. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. The synthetic talk at our convivia is traditionally a final discussion that brings together key ideas from the various talks presented. The value of this discussion is in how the presented papers relate to the overall theme of Philosophy and the Christian as well as ways we can put into practice the principles gleaned therein.

A Guided Discussion titled “C.S. Lewis and the History of Religion” led by Dr. Joseph Minich and Colin Redemer.This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Minich is a teaching fellow for Davenant Hall and co-host for the Pilgrim Faith podcast, a Davenant Institute podcast available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Colin Redemer is Vice-President of The Davenant Institute and is a Ph.D candidate with a focus on friendship in the writings of Aristotle.

A presentation titled “Re-evaluating Mark Noll, Scottish Common Sense Realism, and Charles Hodge” by Mark Hallman (Dallas Theological Seminary). This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC.

A presentation titled “Theology’s ‘Gardner’: Yielding the Fruit of Bavinck’s Theological Encyclopedia” by Dr. Gregory Parker. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Parker received his Ph.D. in systematic theology at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of James Eglinton. He joined the Cairn University, School of Divinity faculty in 2022. His dissertation focuses on the relationship between the dogmatics and ethics of the 19th century Dutch Reformed theologian, Herman Bavinck. He also played lacrosse for the University of Edinburgh. He teaches courses in systematic theology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, including Triune God, Narrative of Redemption, and Life and Calling.

A presentation titled “Intellectus Quaerens Fidem: John Locke’s Reading of Romans 1” by Dr. Clifford Humphrey. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Clifford Humphrey is the director of Troy University’s Institute for Civic and Global Leadership. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America and Assistant Professor of Humanities at Thales College.

A presentation titled “Theology as a Science: Aquinas on How Philosophy Transforms Theology” by Tim Jacobs. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Tim Jacobs is a teaching fellow with Davenant Hall. He is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of St. Thomas.

This is a Keynote Seminar titled “Bavinck: Personality and Worldview” presented and led by Dr. James Eglinton. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. More information on Dr. Eglinton can be found in the description of the audio of the Keynote Address of the 2022 National Convivium. In this talk Dr. Eglinton discusses the little known contributions of another Bavinck, J. H. Bavinck and his influence on theology and philosophy of his time.

A presentation titled “Making the Great Tradition Great Again: A Classical Defense of Modern Metaphysics" by Dr. Jordan Steffaniak. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Steffaniak is the President of the London Lyceum. He fulfills several roles, including host and producer of the podcast, editor of the website and journal Theologia Viatorum. He is a research fellow for the Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and an academic tutor for Bible Mesh. He also works full-time in the finance industry as a business intelligence manager. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham (UK).

This is a Guided Discussion titled “Speaking of God: Discerning the Limits of Philosophy” led by Onsi Kamel. Onsi is the former Editor-in-Chief of Davenant Press. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Onsi holds MA degrees from The University of Chicago and Princeton Theological Seminary. Onsi is a first-year Ph.D. student in philosophy and religion. His primary research interests lie in metaphysics and epistemology, the history of philosophy, historical theology, and intellectual history. His prior research has encompassed themes including theological anthropology, Augustinian conceptions of the passions and the soul, early modern and Cartesian metaphysics and physics, Protestant theology and its relation to secularity, and Western missionary endeavors in Egypt.

A presentation titled “Confessions of a Christian Philosopher: St. Augustine’s Complicated Relationship with Greek Philosophy” by Nathan Johnson. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Johnson is Assistant Dean of Academics, Head of Program, and Teaching Fellow at New College Franklin. Originally from Tennessee with family roots going back to the early 1800s, he joins us after 6 years teaching humanities and composition at Greyfriars Classical Academy in Matthews, North Carolina. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Humanities from Faulkner University.

A presentation titled “Wisdom Built a House: The Fear of the Lord as the Governing Principle of Philosophy and Life” by Dr. Shep Shepherd. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Shepherd works as Chief Law Clerk at The Adoption Law Firm in Alabama. He received his Ph.D. from University of Aberdeen in Scotland. His doctoral thesis on the ecclesiology of the Scottish theologian Thomas F. Torrance was supervised by the late John Webster. Shep was a founding faculty member of City View Seminary in Augusta, GA, where he served as Professor of Systematic Theology from 2018-2020. Since 2016, he continues to serve as a part-time Lecturer for Samford University’s Office of Professional Studies, teaching ethics. In addition to teaching, Shep served for over two years as an Assistant Editor for Participatio, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship.

A presentation titled “Christian Platonism in the History of Philosophy” by Dr. David Haines. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Haines holds a Ph.D., Université Laval (Philosophy), an M.A., Southern Evangelical Seminary (Philosophy) and B.Th., Covington Theological Seminary. In this talk Dr. Haines wrestles with recent questions concerning the value of Plato to theology and how various Christian thinkers have benefited over the centuries from key principles set for in Plato's writings and those who have followed from his thought.

This keynote presentation, “Herman Bavinck: Learning to Love Philosophy,” by keynote speaker Dr. James Eglinton was given at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House. Dr. Eglinton is the Meldrum Senior Lecturer in Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh. A specialist in the history and theology of Dutch Neo-Calvinism, Dr. Eglinton has published work as co-editor of Neo-Calvinism and the French Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2014), editor and translator of Herman Bavinck on Preaching and Preachers (Hendrickson, 2017), and co-editor and co-translator of Christian Worldview (Crossway, 2019). His book Bavinck: A Critical Biography was published by Baker Academic in 2020, and won that year’s History and Biography Book of the Year Prize in The Gospel Coalition 2020 Book Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2021 ECPA Book Awards. He also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Reformed Theology, published by Brill. Dr. Eglinton was joined by other scholars and educators from the Davenant network

An address from Revd. Dr. Peter Sanlon entitled "Towards Secure Foundations for the Formative Power of Reason and Tradition," delivered at the UK 2022 Convivium Irenicum, "In Service of Scripture: Rediscovering Reason and Tradition in Evangelical Theology." Revd. Dr. Sanlon issues a plea for Confessional Experiential Calvinism as a secure foundation for integrating reason and tradition into evangelical theology.

An address from Dr. Robert Strivens entitled "Finding Theology in the Biblical Text: Hebrews 1:1-4 Through the Ages" delivered at the UK 2022 Convivium Irenicum, "In Service of Scripture: Rediscovering Reason and Tradition in Evangelical Theology." Dr. Strivens surveys commentaries on Hebrew from St. John Chrysostom to the 21st century, chronicling the decline of theological interpretation in evangelical exegesis since the 18th century.

An address from Graham Shearer, Ph.D student at Union Theological College, Belfast, entitled "'Who Can Declare His Generation?' Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Reason in 4th Century Trinitarianism," delivered at the UK 2022 Convivium Irenicum, "In Service of Scripture: Rediscovering Reason and Tradition in Evangelical Theology." Graham unpacks to counter-intuitive nature of divine incomprehensibility as giving license to the use of theological reasoning. "Who Can Declare His Generation?" Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Reason in 4th Century Trinitarianism