Common Places

Nathan Johnson, Provost of Davenant Hall, interviews Professor Ryan Hurd about his upcoming courses at Davenant Hall, Reformed Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas, and the love and mercy of God. To learn more about Professor Hurd's courses, and to register, please visit: Thomas Aquinas Seminar I: The Sentences https://davenanthall.com/product/thomas-aquinas-seminar-i-the-sentences/ Master of the Sacred...

A lecture with Q&A entitled "Italy's Forgotten Reformation" by Dr. Chris Castaldo. To the surprise of many, Italy, the seat of Roman Catholicism, underwent a Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century that reverberated throughout the country. From 1511 until 1542, home-grown movements of gospel renewal coalesced with the teaching of northern Protestant Reformers to produce a host of Italian p...

A presentation given at the Fall 2022 Carolinas Regional Convivium entitled "The Place of the Human Body in Natural Law" by Dr. Eduardo Echeverria.

The keynote presentation given at the Fall 2022 Carolinas Regional Convivium entitled "Natural Law and Protestant Social Thought" by Dr. Jordan J. Ballor. Jordan J. Ballor directs the research agenda of the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD), which includes oversight of research publications as well as pursuit of his own scholarship, popular speaking, and writing. He has previously he...

A presentation given at the Fall 2022 Carolinas Regional Convivium entitled "Law, Justice and International Order: Wisdom from Thucydides" by Dr. Nathan Johnson

A lecture with Q&A by Dr. Jason Lepojärvi entitled "C.S. Lewis and the Personal Opinion Fallacy." Perhaps now more than ever, authors can become targets of critics who mistake the views expressed by their characters, plot, or atmosphere for views held by the authors themselves. Authors then begin to censor themselves, fearing that the opinions expressed in their art will be equated with their own....

A lecture with Q&A by Dr. Andrew Messmer entitled "Spain's Forgotten Reformation." The Spanish Reformation has been almost completely forgotten, including by many 16th century specialists. Yet its roots preceded Luther, and it secretly attracted scores of top-level Spanish clergymen and academics across the country. It was insistent on equally stressing orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Had the Spanish In...

A lecture with Q&A given by visiting Davenant Hall Teaching Fellow, Dr. Matt Hoskins. In the fifth century, the Church decisively rejected Nestorianism―the teaching that Jesus Christ is comprised of two persons hitched together, one human and one divine. This rejection was shared by Church Fathers writing across the Mediterranean in different languages, such as John Cassian in Latin, Shenoute of A...

A debate between Jonathan Leeman and Brad Littlejohn on "Religious Liberty and the Common Good," hosted by Colorado Christian University (www.ccu.edu). Christianity in America faces dire threats from two directions. On the one hand, unfriendly government bureaucrats and downright hostile woke activists are tightening the screws on Christians’ freedom of worship, expression, and conscience. At the...

A Q&A discussion featuring Protestant Social Teaching Contributors Brad Littlejohn, Mark LiVecche, and Jake Meador discussing their respective chapters at the Protestant Social Teaching launch event, hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. A full recording of the event featuring individual remarks from each speaker can be found here: https://youtu.be/Ea3PvhAJADw

Some remarks by Marc LiVecche on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "Just War," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Marc LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence. He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics. Marc co...

Some remarks by Jake Meador on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "Environmental Care," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy and is a writer and editor from Lincoln NE. His work has been published in First Things, National Review, Books & Culture, Commonweal, Plough Quarterly, Chri...

Some remarks by Davenant President ,Dr. Brad Littlejohn, on his chapter in Protestant Social Teaching, "The Civil Magistrate," at the book launch party hosted by the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington D.C. Dr. Bradford Littlejohn (Ph. D., University of Edinburgh) is the Founder and President of the Davenant Institute. He also works as a Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center...

A lecture with Q&A with Davenant Teaching Fellow Tim Jacobs entitled "Duty or Virtue: Which Does the Church Need More?" Many Christians assume morality starts with duty to commands. We search the Bible looking for commands to obey. Yet swiftly we invent new rules, and eventually accidental legalism is born. Even healthy churches struggle with this subtle moralism that breeds Pharisaism, with hones...

A synthetic session titled “The Task Ahead of Us” led by Brad Littlejohn, Colin Redemer and Joseph Minich. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. The synthetic talk at our convivia is traditionally a final discussion that brings together key ideas from the various talks presented. The value of this discussion is in how the presented papers r...

A Guided Discussion titled “C.S. Lewis and the History of Religion” led by Dr. Joseph Minich and Colin Redemer. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Minich is a teaching fellow for Davenant Hall and co-host for the Pilgrim Faith podcast, a Davenant Institute podcast available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Colin Redemer is...

A presentation titled “Re-evaluating Mark Noll, Scottish Common Sense Realism, and Charles Hodge” by Mark Hallman (Dallas Theological Seminary). This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC.

A presentation titled “Theology’s ‘Gardner’: Yielding the Fruit of Bavinck’s Theological Encyclopedia” by Dr. Gregory Parker. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Parker received his Ph. D. in systematic theology at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of James Eglinton. He joined the Cairn University, School of Divinity f...

A presentation titled “Intellectus Quaerens Fidem: John Locke’s Reading of Romans 1” by Dr. Clifford Humphrey. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Dr. Clifford Humphrey is the director of Troy University’s Institute for Civic and Global Leadership. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic...

A presentation titled “Theology as a Science: Aquinas on How Philosophy Transforms Theology” by Tim Jacobs. This talk was delivered at the 2022 National Convivium hosted at Davenant House in Landrum, SC. Tim Jacobs is a teaching fellow with Davenant Hall. He is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of St. Thomas.

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 contrib...

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 Via...

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 an...

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 ba...

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...