I have recently being doing some work on what it means to offer supervision to international, part-time, theological PhD students in a largely distance learning environment. What follows is one reflection on this: IBTSC is not an international study centre because we are a national institution with international students which is the way the term is often used in Higher Education discourse. Rather, for us the term indicates something more complex than that. It represents the fact that we are a meeting place of students and supervisors who come from different countries, often researching in their own local situations but bringing their contextual work into conversation with others from different…
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Brexit
As a UK passport holder and rector of an European institution set up post war as an ‘experiment in Christian internationalism’, I watched the unfolding referendum results in the UK with some dismay. Perhaps too much history makes me nervous when the common destiny of European countries is not formally linked even as I might be critical of EU bureaucracy. The uncertainty which this decision has created seems somewhat tangible in the UK if not in other countries of Europe. Both campaigns have unleashed expectations and created fractures that are likely to take some time to re-settle. Perhaps one theological reflection on this is that all political structures and arrangements are…
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Visiting Scholar Reflection
Here is a personal reflection on the recent visit to IBTSC Amsterdam of Prof. Louise Kretzschmar.
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Compassion and the Mission of God
We are pleased to announce the publication of this book. Dr. Rupen Das is employed as a part-time member of the IBTSC Amsterdam Faculty. This has become possible through a secondment from Canadian Baptist Ministries. In this role Rupen who has relocated with his wife to Amsterdam will work primarily in the area of missiology in relation to our MA programme. This role also allows him to participate in teaching and research activities related to partnership activities with the European Baptist Federation. We are deeply grateful to CBM for this gift and look forward to developing our partnership with them.
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Nordenhaug at Herdenkingskerk
As mentioned in other posts, on Monday 2nd November 2015 the Nordenhaug lectures will take place. Josef Nordenhaug was between 1950 and 1960 the inspirational President of the first incarnation of this institution then located in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. These lectures are delivered in his memory. Last year we were delighted to receive this Photographic Biography of Josef Nordenhaug from his daughter Karin Nordenhaug Ciholas. For those interested in the history of European Baptist Church life and indeed the Rüschlikon Seminary this is a fascinating and informative book. Yesterday a former volunteer at Rüschlikon visiting the IBTS Centre looked through the book with great interest. This year the lectures to be delivered by Dr David…
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Canada
I am presently in Canada to participate in a ministers conference organised by the Canadian Mennonite University. It seems to me that there is a strong resonance in the reading of Baptist via McClendon/Stassen or just plain old anabaptist roots with Mennonites, although I am leaning what a varied group that they like we actually are. As part of my trip I attended the launch of this book which offers some fascinating insights and may well make a contribution to the thinking of those who wish to come at issues from an Anabaptist (dare we say baptistic) perspective and yet engage with wider society and its institutions. I have bought…
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Rector Update
On the 1st June 2014 I took over as the Rector of IBTS as it transitions to IBTS Centre Amsterdam. I come to this post after being a Scottish Baptist minister in two Churches over a fifteen year period and teaching at the Scottish Baptist College for the last nine. Since June I have managed to be in Prague for some important endings: the last graduation service, the last exam Board, the last shared prayers in the Chapel. I was grateful to be given the opportunity to offer the graduation address. Then as now I would suggest that worship, mission, and discipleship do not belong in one world whereas…
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Rift as a Space to Meet God
Henrikas, one of our Research students, reflects on the student-led conference we enjoyed in Amsterdam during the research colloquium: The conference on migration and dislocation invited creative look at the practical implications of my research. I wondered: can the dislocation, rift and rupture become a space to meet God? Besides, can our action (which suggests newness and rift) be a meeting place with God? God’s presence in Scriptures is strangely hidden in the cloud, near and yet distant. In terms of place or space, there is an image of the temple. According to Yves Congar, the temple is to be viewed in the history of growing interiority and intimacy with…