Common Places

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Institute Vice-President, Colin Redemer, entitled "Old Aristotle, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Aquinas." Everyone knows that Aristotle left us a completed ethical system. What this lecture presupposes is, maybe he didn't? A close reading of Aristotle shows that his theory is constantly friscalating near the edge of completion, but that the author is se...

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Hall Teaching Fellow, Dr. Michael J. Lynch entitled "Calvinism and Thomism: Friends or Foes? An Early Modern Consensus on Predestination, Reprobation, and Free Choice." Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians alike have assumed and even argued that one of the differences demarcating these two traditions concerns the hotly debated doctrines of predestination and free...

“Calvin on Divine Love and Human Litigation” with Eric G. Enlow (Dean, Handong University Law School)

“21 Disputed Theses on the Subject of Religious Liberty”, Bradford Littlejohn (President, the Davenant Institute)

“A Protestant Integralism? Lessons from Puritan New England” with Timon Cline Law Clerk (Office of New Jersey Attorney General)

“The Virtues and Vices of Private Property” with C. Scott Pryor (Professor of Law, Campbell University)

“Originalism and Judicial Restraint: Lessons from the Lutheran Reformation" with John Ehrett (Counsel, Office of US Senator Josh Hawley)

Modern politics has often sought to create coalitions through shared objects of fear and anger. Yet, we know that a political community can not survive with these emotions turned up to 11. How can the ancient concept of friendship, particularly expressed in Aristotle provide a better understanding of political relationships, and how can it bring about the goal of a limited power in the political o...

Modern politics has often sought to create coalitions through shared objects of fear and anger. Yet, we know that a political community cannot survive with these emotions turned up to 11. Having set the background beginning with concepts from Aristotle in Session 1, in this episode Dr. Higgins answers what role that forgiveness and repentance have in the political order when friendship seems so di...

In the 500+ years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, few aspects of his subsequent theological reformation remain as contentious and debated as the distinction between law and Gospel. Indeed, to this day the discussion divides not only Roman Catholics from Protestants, but is hotly debated within Protestantism itself; there is an agreement on the importance...

In this episode, Dr. Sam Negus uses the biblical accounts of the construction and dedication of the Tabernacle and the Temple, looking at the Scriptures themselves and at the religious “worldview” of Israel and Judah's ancient near-eastern neighbors, as a case study in how to read the Bible with the eyes and ears of its original hearers. Although God is transcendent, unchanging, and eternal, He re...

What does Proverbs teach us about what it means to be human? In this episode, Dr. Quinn shows that Proverbs (and Scripture on the whole) is more concerned with being human than with answering the many questions concerning what is a human being, important though these questions are.

Can we ever know that we are saved? If so, how? Find out why the doctrine of assurance was called the most dangerous doctrine of the Protestant Reformers, and why it still matters for Christians today.

Can we ever know that we are saved? If so, how? Find out why the doctrine of assurance was called the most dangerous doctrine of the Protestant Reformers, and why it still matters for Christians today.

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Hall Teaching Fellow, Ryan Hurd. The sheer and utter delight of the theologian is knowing and speaking of God. As we consider the development of theology as a science or formalized discipline, we find that two things are especially important: the making of categories in theology, and of habits in the theologian. Analogous to Aristotle’s "Ten Categories", or even the...

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Press Editor-in-chief (and Davenant Hall instructor) Onsi Kamel entitled "The Birth of Secularity: Henry More, Metaphysics, and the Battle for God's Spirit." In recent decades, intellectual historians have attempted to chart the development of “secular modernity,” generally locating its origins in medieval or Protestant metaphysics. Key claims of these genealogies cr...

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Teaching Fellow, Dr. Matthew Hoskins Today, Christians must defend the idea that Christ is God. Yet for much of church history, they had to defend the idea that he is human. How, and why, did they do it? In this lecture, Dr. Matthew Hoskin explores how the last four of the Seven Ecumenical Councils upheld the truth that God really became flesh. Beginning with the con...

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Teaching Fellow, Rev. Dr. Matthew Colvin entitled "The Real Jesus Code: Subtlety and Indirection in Jesus' Communication. Given how familiar Christians are with the Gospels, it is remarkable how much of Jesus' communication - both spoken and unspoken - still puzzles us. How can we make sense of Christ's most puzzling moments of teaching? In this lecture, Dr. Matthew...

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Teaching Fellow, Eric Hutchinson entitled "Maps of Misreading: The Hidden Influence of Horace in Augustine’s Confessions." Augustine's engagement with the poet Virgil in the "Confessions" has been much researched. On the other hand, his engagement with another great Roman poet, Horace, has been almost entirely neglected. Yet we know Augustine read Horace; at key poin...

"Teaching Books, Teaching Arts: A View of Classical Christian Literary Training" - Joshua Patch by Davenant Institute

Keynote Seminar - "The Reformation of Paedagogy: Lessons from Johann Strum" - Dr. Gene Edward Veith by Davenant Institute

Discussion on Plato's Theory of Education - Dr. Al Harmon & Colin Redemer by Davenant Institute

Guided Discussion with Joseph Minich on "The Classics, the Protestant, and the Proletariat" by Davenant Institute

"Dante and the Servile Revolt of Modernity" - Dr. Patrick Downey by Davenant Institute

"A Confessional Education: Abraham Kuyper, J. Gresham Machen, and the Christian Academy" - Eli West by Davenant Institute