Upcoming Conference

Let me remind folk of the upcoming 2006 Scottish Postgraduate Conference in Theology and Religious Studies held at New College, The University of Edinburgh on 8 June from 9:30am - 4pm.

Here is a summary of the event:

"The 2006 Day-Conference for Postgraduate Students in Scottish departments of Theology & Religious Studies will be held in New College (Edinburgh), Thursday 8 June 2006. The conference is primarily intended to offer research students an opportunity to develop experience in presenting academic conference-papers and participate in critique of their work and that of fellow students.

Proposals for papers are welcome. These should include a title, an abstract of 200-400 words, and a short statement from the student's supervisor confirming the student's status."

Let me encourage you to attend and even give a paper! If any of the Conventiclers are presenting, could we possibly get a preview? Also, if any of our readers will be at the conference and/or are giving a paper, please feel free to gives us a sample of your work in the comments section.

Allow me to get the ball rolling. Below is my abstract:

A Sure Foundation: Christ as the Fundamentum Scripturae in John Owen’s Exposition on Hebrews

In 1668 John Owen published the first volume of his An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews – a work which consisted of a series of preliminary exercitations and an exposition of the first two chapters of the epistle. Owen’s commentary represents the apex of his literary career and exemplifies many of the exegetical techniques of the post-Reformation. However, scholarship on Owen has paid little attention to his exposition.

Owen’s exercitations function as a prolegomena to his commentary and serve as an a priori template for his exposition. In these discourses he endeavoured to outline the main interpretive and theological themes of Hebrews. Central to his argument is the foundational role of promise and fulfilment in the epistle and throughout the Scriptures. More specifically, like many of the Protestant orthodox, Owen identified the person, office, and work of the Messiah as the fundamentum scripturae. This promise/fulfilment axis, which finds its consummation in Christ, provided Owen with a common hermeneutical tool of the seventeenth century to examine the text of Hebrews, bring theological cohesion to the biblical narrative, and defend the fundamental principles of Christianity against Jewish and Socinian errors.