We are thrilled with the ESN Conversations we have lined up for this fall and winter. Our topics range from the philosophy of personalism, to dispensationalism, to re-envisioning the church and rethinking the police. That’s just our fall schedule. For December, we focus on a new book on Christmas; as the new year begins we will focus on living a non-anxious life; and then in February we’ll have a conversation about re-constructing faith. We wanted to let you know so you could plan your schedule or even gather a group of friends over lunch to watch together. So here’s the line-up complete with links to sign up for those you know you want to be a part of.
ESN Conversation: More Than Things with Paul Louis Metzger
September 14, 2023 at 3 pm ET
We live in a culture of commodification. People are too often defined by what they do or own; they’re treated as means to an end or cogs in a machine. In a world dominated by things, Paul Louis Metzger argues, we must work hard to account for one another’s personhood.
Paul Louis Metzger (PhD, King’s College London) is professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at Multnomah University and Seminary and director of The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins.
ESN Conversation: The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism with Daniel G. Hummel
October 5, 2023 at 1 pm ET
In The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism, Daniel G. Hummel illuminates how dispensationalism, despite often being dismissed as a fringe end-times theory, shaped Anglo-American evangelicalism and the larger American cultural imagination.
Daniel G. Hummel is a historian of US religion and the author of Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations. He works at Upper House, a Christian study center located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
ESN Conversation: What Jesus Intended with Bishop Todd D. Hunter
October 25, 2023 at 1 pm ET
After four decades of ministry, Anglican bishop Todd Hunter is no stranger to betrayal and pain in the church. Still, he has hope. He believes more than ever that Jesus is who the world needs and that Jesus has plans for his followers.
Bishop Todd D. Hunter (DMin, George Fox University) leads Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, and was the founding pastor of Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
ESN Conversation: Rethinking the Police with Daniel Reinhardt
November 16, 2023 at 1 pm ET
In Rethinking the Police, Reinhardt lays out a history of policing in the United States, showing how it developed a culture of dehumanization, systemic racism, and brutality. But Reinhardt doesn’t stop there: he offers a new model of policing based not in dominance and control but in a culture of servant leadership, with concrete suggestions for procedural justice and community policing.
Daniel Reinhardt (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) served as a police officer near Cleveland, Ohio, for twenty-four years. After retiring from the police force, he was assistant professor at the Heart of Texas Foundation College of Ministry at the Memorial Unit, a prison in Rosharon, Texas.
ESN Conversation: “Christmas” with Emily Hunter McGowin
December 12, 2023 at 1 pm ET
At the first Christmas, God exchanged the glories of divinity for the vulnerability of human existence, uniting himself to us in order to unite us to God. In this short volume, priest and theologian Emily Hunter McGowin invites us into the church’s celebration of that great exchange, in all its theological and liturgical splendor.
Emily Hunter McGowin (PhD, University of Dayton) is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College. She is also a priest and canon theologian in the Anglican diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others.
ESN Conversation: A Non-Anxious Life with Alan Fadling
January 16, 2024 at 3 pm ET
Anxiety leads us to succumb to fear and fight peace. Anxious living is a distortion of good motives, blocking the clarity of stillness and rest. Alan Fadling has also felt mastered by worry, but he brings counsel on how to learn a better way and who to look to for it: Jesus, “the ultimate non-anxious presence.” He constructs a posture from which we can rest more deeply, live more fully, and lead better.
Alan Fadling is president and founder of Unhurried Living, Inc. in Mission Viejo, California. He speaks and consults internationally. He is the award-winning author of An Unhurried Leader and An Unhurried Life
ESN Conversation: Land of My Sojourn with Mike Cosper
February 14, 2024 ar 12 pm ET
“In the years since leaving local church ministry, I’ve devoted an enormous amount of time and resources to examining the church’s often troubled witness, its ongoing crisis of leadership, and the epidemic of narcissism, abuse, and cover-up that has continued to emerge year after year.”
Mike Cosper is a writer and podcaster for Christians in a post-Christian world. He’s the director of podcasting for Christianity Today, where he hosts The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated: A Podcast about Faith and Work.
In addition to the chance to interact with these authors, one of the other benefits of participating in conversations is that the authors’ books are available at a special discount through our co-sponsor, InterVarsity Press. Of course, we understand if you are unable to attend the live conversation due to schedule conflicts. Recordings of the conversations are posted shortly after the event on our YouTube channel, to which we hope you will subscribe. There are currently 48 videos available on the channel.
The Emerging Scholars Network is always seeking opportunities to identify, encourage, and equip the next generation of Christian scholars to be a redeeming influence in the academy, church, and the world. As you have an announcement, a “call for papers”, an event, a prayer request (e.g., campus, field, higher ed), a resource suggestion, a review, etc., which is in concord with our Kingdom of God endeavor, please send materials (marketing/sales material not accepted) for consideration to post via email or the ESN Writer Survey. Thank-you. To God be the glory!