Fieldstead & Company Funded Summer Seminar 2003

Revisiting the Reformed Confessions:
Everything You've Wanted to Know but Were Too Busy to Ask

Frank Roberts
Professor of History, Emeritus, Calvin College
June 16 - 27, 2003

This seminar is one in a series of Classic Christian Books seminars, made possible with funds from Fieldstead & Company.

Course description:
Faculty at Calvin College and other reformed institutions of higher learning subscribe to three confessional statements: The Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordt. Although these three statements are foundational to work inside and outside the classroom, faculty rarely find the time to reflect intensively on what they mean. This reading seminar provides the opportunity for collegial discussions about the context, meaning, and significance of the reformed confessions.

The seminar will focus on the historical and theological contexts in the development of creeds and confessions. Here we will begin with the fourth-century Nicene Creed and apply the insights gained there to the specifically Reformed confessional statements of late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Historical and theological contexts will constitute an important part of the seminar since confessions and creeds never arise in a vacuum. We will also discuss the specific theological content of the three Reformed confessions and try to sort out where they share a common Christian heritage and where they are distinctively Reformed. In looking at the content of the confessions we will also want to address the question of whether these confessions can be relevant for our educational enterprise today, given the fact that they are all several hundred years old. This, of course, will lead us to the Form of Subscription and what it means to sign such a document as professors at Reformed colleges.

In addition to presentations by seminar participants and the director of the seminar, guest-experts Don Sinnema, Lyle Bierma, and Michael Hakkenberg will make presentations to the seminar and lead discussions.

Program Description:
This seminar, one in a series of Classic Christian Books Seminars sponsored by a grant from Fieldstead & Company, provides an opportunity for Calvin faculty and faculty from other colleges and universities in the Association of Reformed Institutions of Higher Education, to deepen their understanding of Reformed faith and thought and to develop the implications of Reformed worldview for their respective disciplines. Applicants to this seminar must be faculty members at Calvin College or at an institution in the Association of Reformed Institutions of Higher Education; preference will be given to members of the Calvin College faculty.

For further information contact:
Seminars in Christian Scholarship
Calvin College
1855 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids MI 49546-4402
616.526.8558
fax 616.526.6682
seminars@calvin.edu