Common Places

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 to wrestle with these important questions.

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