Biblical Interpretation in a Postmodern World is the February topic for the Vineyard Theological Consultants for Vineyard Bible Institute
You may have heard talk about Postmodernism for a while. Is it such a big deal? For those of us who spend our time in the safe circles of evangelical Christians, who all have a high view of scripture, we could be pardoned for believing it is not. However, our kids will come back from schools and Universities, increasingly, with a different worldview to our own, where many of the things we have assumed are questioned. This happens in every generation, but we live in one where the very idea of a bible, with a fixed meaning, which we can actually convey in the preached and taught word, is being fundamentally challenged.
The shift, or “turn” as they say, affects many things: the way we see Jesus, the way we read the bible, the way we teach from the bible, and the way we do church and ministry, but perhaps the issue where it is most urgent is how we read our bibles.
Once one has realized the challenge, the next problem is where to start. There is a plethora of books coming out all the time. That is why the topic for the month of February will be on Biblical Interpretation in a Postmodern World. Derek Morphew has chosen two books that are being widely recognized as particularly helpful. He will be doing a book review on these two as well as having a webinar on Feb 22nd. Leaders and scholars from all around the globe will be helping in this discussion.
The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, by Scot McKnight, is simple, tells stories and uses illustrations, and does not attempt to grapple with French deconstructionist philosophers. However, one can see that the author is fully aware of the issues. This is a book that deliberately simplifies a rather complicated shift in thought.
Is there a meaning in this text? by Kevin Vanhoozer, does really grapple, thoroughly, with French deconstructionist philosophers and all the issues that have to be addressed. It uses the classic model of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but applies it to the author, the text, and the reader. With the writer we are “deconstructed” to the point of death, but then we are carefully and skillfully put back together again.
The two together tell the story from the “top end” and the “bottom end.”
Our whole aim at the Vineyard Theological Consultants from Vineyard Bible Institue is to equip those who are called to understand, believe and communicate the word of God into our changing society.
Last year Gary Best, who heads up AVC Canada, facilitated a seminar at his retreat centre attended by a number of Canadian pastors and two faculty members of St. Steven’s University. I gave five presenations on Hermeneutics as the Issue of our Era, which analysed the nature of postmodern thought and its implications for the way we view Jesus, read the bible, write theology and do church/ministry.
This year Gary and I plan to repeat the seminar, but we will assume the first three sessions are “done” and take the last two as the basis for enlarging on the subject. We want to move much more towards the implications for praxis.
A key figure here is Frank Emanuel, one of our associate consultants, because Frank did his Masters thesis in this field, and is currently doing his PhD in the same field.
This new service is a monthly membership and if you sign up this month you will also have access to last month’s webinar, book and book review as an added bonus. The topic was on revivals and revivalism in the world today and how the Vineyard movement has interacted with it. Did John Wimber respond to what he saw God doing or did he lead and focus in that direction, or did he do both? A membership will give you access to this presentation along with a free book download and a book review from Derek Morphew.
Another great benefit is that if you join this new service, you will have the chance to interact with theological consultants from around the globe during the webinar and discussion forums. We will be adding more over the next month:
Introducing Theological Consultants
These are listed first in alphabetical order, where their details are shown, and then in the Forums they have an interest in.
Associate Consultants By Name
Wayne Bouwer
Johannesburg, South Africa
Honours in Greek (University of Johannesburg Classics Department)
Lectured in New Testament Greek for four years there.
Senior Pastor, Hillside Vineyard, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Facilitates weekly exegesis workshop with local pastors (Reformed and other churches).
Frank Emanuel
Saint Paul, Canada
MA Saint Paul University
David Hendrix
Georgia, USA
LaGrange College (B.A. in Religion), EmoryUniversity (M.Div) and Vanderbilt University (Doctor of Ministry)
Derek Morphew
Cape Town, South Africa
BA Rhodes University (majors in Biblical Studies and Systematic Theology)
PhD University of Cape Town, dissertation in field of New Testament Studies
Glen Taylor
Tajikistan
PhD in Old Testament Studies, University of Gloucestershire
Andrew Wallis
BA in Theology from the University of Wales (St. David’s University College), his dissertation was on Paul and Israel.
Andrew is the Senior Pastor of Bristol Vineyard, an Area Leader and Council Member for Vineyard Churches UK, and has a background in Retail Senior Management, Project Management and Business Analysis.
His areas of interest are Social Justice, the environment, and the “de-westernisation” of the gospel. He has studied Liberation Theology, Black Theology (S Africa and USA) and New Religious Movements. He has founded a charity to combat human traffiking called Unseen UK.
Unseen UK
Associate Consultants by Forums
The Kingdom and Jesus Research
Derek Morphew
Andrew Wallis
The Kingdom and Socal Justice
Andrew Wallis
The Kingdom and the Old Testament
Glen Taylor
Biblical Exegesis and Preaching
David Hendrix
Wayne Bouwer
Postmodernism, Emerging and Emergent Churches
Frank Emanuel
To sign up for this service, please go to our website at: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org
Alexander Venter will be teaching three courses for Vineyard Bible Institute
Vineyard Bible Institute is proud to offer these three practical courses from Alexander Venter. Doing Church, Doing Healing and Doing Reconciliation will be filmed live in Urbana, Illinois at the Champaign Vineyard on April 12th – 17th, 2010. These courses will then be available on the VBI website in many formats (MP3 – audio, Quicktime – video as well as in a DVD set) and will be offered at the School of Ministry, Diploma and Advanced Diploma level.
Alexander Venter is a Vineyard pastor in South Africa. He is the author of three companion books, Doing Church, Doing Reconciliation and Doing Healing. Alexander also oversees a number of Vineyard churches in his region; and is on the national leadership of the Association of Vineyard Churches in South Africa. Since 1975, he has pastored churches in Zimbabwe, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Soweto.
Doing Reconciliation by Alexander Venter is a comprehensive study (406 pages) about the urgent need to dismantle racism and work for reconciliation in both the church and world. It is about making peace between people, groups and structures, and building an environment of mutual respect, human rights and Shalom (the Hebrew concept for God’s societal harmony, order, blessing and prosperity).
The book has come out of Alexander Venter and Trevor Ntlhola’s journey in dealing with their own racism and seeking reconciliation through the 1980s and 1990s in apartheid South Africa, through a community called åJohweto’s the symbolic reconciliation of Johannesburg and Soweto. They begin with their stories, and then Alexander addresses the apartheid history with its legacy of pain, and our need to deal with it in order to capitalize on the miracle that we have lived through (the 1994 elections).
The main body of the book is a Biblical understanding of racism, reconciliation and transformation, and it presents practical models of how to do one-on-one, group and structural reconciliation. This includes 19 suggested actions and programs for both individuals and churches to bring healing and reconciliation in society. Alexander also gives guidance on how Christians can think about and respond to 4 international social-ethical issues, and 7 more South African based social challenges the latter are the 7 SACLA giants (the South African Christian Leadership Assembly, that met in July 2003, identified 7 giants that we must defeat in South Africa in order to have a meaningful future together).
Dr Derek Morphew concludes the book with an excellent exposition of Christians and Human Rights, and how we can work to create a societal culture of basic human rights. Although the book comes from the South African context, it clearly addresses a theology and confronts challenges that are internationally applicable, for all churches in all nations. Doing Reconciliation is intended for all who concerned about the church?s integrity and witness in society for those who want to make the world a better place to live in.
Doing Church: Building From the Bottom Up by Alexander Venter will help you determine or discover vision, values, priorities and practical principles for developing a Church. The book is written in a style that helps one reflect instead of feeling coerced into thinking in a certain way. The concepts in Alexander’s book will encourage you and motivate you to build in a positive, directed and value-driven way.
If you want to be healed, and especially if you want God to use you to heal others, this book is a must-read!
Trillions of dollars are spent annually in the health industry, in our daily battle with sickness. In Doing Healing, Alexander Venter gives us an awesome vision of God’s healing power by sharing his story of brokenness and healing, and addressing incisively and provocatively the questions of:
* how we understand sickness and healing
* how our view of reality affects this understanding
* what the Bible says about it
* how Jesus healed people
Please check out our 50 other practical, Biblical and Theological courses on the VBI website. These courses can be used for small groups, discipleship training programs as well as individual learning.
Blessings,
Jeff Augustine
Vineyard Bible Institute
Alexander Venter
Vineyard Bible Institute partners with St. Stephen’s University to offer a Bachelor degree
St. Stephen’s University (SSU) is pleased to recommend the education programs of The Vineyard Bible Institute. SSU has supported the initiatives of VBI for many years and has been increasingly involved in recent years with the development of the academic level of VBI leading to the Bachelor of Christian Studies (BCS) degree from St. Stephen’s University.
VBI offers comprehensive multi-level programs which can be used in home Bible studies, the mission field, and training for church leadership, as well as degree completion. The VBI program taken at the degree level requires additional reading, essays, senior seminar and undergraduate thesis preparation (or directed student project). The BCS degree will then allow the student to continue toward a Master of Ministry (M Min) degree from SSU.
The beauty of the VBI-SSU arrangement is that students may do all their work from home to achieve the BCS. Then the Masters program is delivered by Module, allowing students to study from home and attend three two-week modules in St Stephen plus one two-week Module in Greece and Turkey, or in Israel. It is an ideal arrangement for pastors and missionaries wanting to deepen their ministries with Kingdom-based biblical and theological education. It is also ideal for lay people wanting to prepare for ministries in the church or the life places to which they have been called.
In addition, SSU will provide 30 credit hours of transfer credit to graduates of Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) toward completion of the BCS degree through Vineyard Bible Institute.
Sincerely,
Peter Fitch Bob Cheatley
Dean of Ministry Studies President
St. Stephen’s University St. Stephen’s University
pfitch@nbnet.nb.ca rcheatley@ssu.ca
November 23, 2009
St. Stephen’s University is a private Christian university authorized to grant Bachelors and Masters degrees by the Government of New Brunswick, Canada. SSU offers degrees in Liberal Arts, International Studies, and Ministry.
For more information about VBI contact
Jeff Augustine
Director of Operations
Vineyard Bible Institute
jeffaugustine@mac.com
Alexander Venter, the author of Doing Church, Doing Healing and Doing Reconciliation endorses Vineyard Bible Institute as a major ministry training program for Vineyard pastors and leaders worldwide
Alexander Venter, the author of Doing Church, Doing Healing and Doing Reconciliation endorses Vineyard Bible Institute as a major ministry training program for Vineyard pastors and leaders worldwide
“I am totally sold out on VBI as the primary means of theological education and ministry training for our pastors, planters, leaders and church members, in our Vineyard churches. Derek Morphew and his team have worked hard and long, over many years now, to establish a fantastic curriculum. The courses are on the cutting edge of theological development, yet fully faithful to the Vineyard foundation of Kingdom Theology. It is difficult to find a better balance–that VBI–of cutting edge theology, academically respected, relevant to our changing culture, and accessible to all our people and leaders at whatever level they want to study. I’m a fan!” Alexander Venter, the author of Doing Church, Doing Healing and Doing Reconciliation
Vineyard Bible Institute now has three courses in Spanish
Hola a Todos, VBI now has tres cursos de (three courses) in Español: Nivel de Escuela de Ministerio, Nivel de Diploma and Nivel Avanzado de Diploma. To learn more please visit our website at: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org. More courses in Spanish are coming soon. Adiós
Vineyard Bible Institute announces a new VBI course on Pastoral Counseling
Vineyard Bible Institute is thrilled to inform you that we have now added an extensive course on pastoral counseling, entitled Pastoral Psychology, to our Practical Theology Certificate. This course is now available on Diploma | Advanced Diploma | BCS levels. Check out our website: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org to learn more about this important topic.
An Introduction to Worldviews is now available on MP3 and Quicktime from VBI
An Introduction to Worldviews
In our increasingly pluralistic world, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of religions and philosophies vie for our allegiance, each with its own universe of complex concepts and jargon. This course – a fun, simple introduction to worldviews – cuts through the “blah, blah, blah” and boils all the options down into six basic worldviews. Then it compares and contrasts the biblical worldview to the others, demonstrating how the biblical worldview best answers the deepest questions about what it means to be human. Students who complete this course will learn the core assumptions and “rules” of each worldview and have greater empathy for others who don’t think like them, have boosted confidence in the biblical worldview, be more excited about Jesus, and be better equipped to engage in genuine conversations about the gospel.
BAYARD TAYLOR is an author of two books – Blah, Blah, Blah: Making Sense of the World’s Spiritual Chatter and The Late Great Ape Debate as well as a speaker and teacher who specializes in making complex things (like worldviews) simple. He holds an M.Div. with an emphasis in cross-cultural studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He spent four years working with Campus Crusade for Christ and thirteen years serving as Biblical and Theological editor at a major Christian publishing house. Bayard has also edited such bestselling books as So What’s the Difference? by Fritz Ridenour and Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer Towns. Bayard and his family live in Southern California.
To learn more about Vineyard Bible Institute: www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org
Do you need a pliable and flexible training program? Maybe VBI can help
Vineyard Bible Institute is a flexible and pliable educational program that is designed to meet your personal, staff and church community training needs. Our leaders and congregation are very busy and have a limited amount of time in their work and family schedules. Shouldn’t a training program fit into their schedule and needs and not the other way around? A pliable program like VBI is suited for various uses and needs and a flexible program is characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements. That is what the VBI program has been designed to do; be flexible and pliable to your local church community. Please go to: www.vineyardbibleinstitute to learn more.
Vineyard Bible Institute is flexible to your schedule and training needs.
flex·i·ble: characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements. Why should you have to try to fit your life and schedule into a training program? Why not have the training program fit into your busy life and schedule? Vineyard Bible Institute has flexible courses and schedules to meet YOUR training needs.
www.vineyardbibleinstitute.org
The four levels of study for the Vineyard Bible Institute Program
Levels of Study
To make VBI usable at all maturity levels, we
have instituted 4 levels. Following is a brief
explanation.
Level 1: School of Ministry (Discipleship)
• Text: abbreviated (~30 pages)
• Cohort/Mentor: none
• 30 multi-choice question exam
(optional)
• Price: $15/course + text cost
Level 2: Diploma
• Text: full length (150+ pages)
• Cohort/Mentor: none
• 60 multi-choice question exam
• Price: $50/course + text cost
Level 3: Advanced Diploma
• Text: full length (150+ pages)
• Cohort/Mentor: yes (for 10 courses @
$1000/year)
• 60 multi-choice question exam & 5
page essay
• Price: $100/course + text cost
• Extra reading and assignments
required
Level 4: Bachelor of Christian Studies
• Text: full length (150+ pages)
• Cohort/Mentor: yes (for 7 courses @
$2000/year)
• ~60 multi-choice question exam & 5
page essay
• Price: $100/course + text cost (+ SSU
& other fees)
• Extra reading and assignments
Getting started is simple…
Register today online at www.vbivc.org. Select
the Partner Church that is closest to you
geographically. That church will be available
to assist you if needed.
Once registered, login using your username
and password and begin selecting your
courses.
For individuals:
• Select your level of study
• Select a course you wish to study
• Make your purchase and follow the
download instructions
• Download your course text and begin
studying (see multimedia resources)
• Complete your online assessment when
you’re ready to earn VBI credit
For churches:
• Select a course you wish to offer at the
School of Ministry or Diploma Level
• Have the lead teacher/facilitator
complete a course at the Diploma Level
(or upper levels).
• Ask students to register themselves for
the course at the School of Ministry or
Diploma Level (paying via credit card)
• Use the DVD resources or teach the
School of Ministry materials to students
• Contact your Partner Church for help
General Questions:
Penny Moisson (217)493-3796 or
penny@vineyardbi.org
BCS Degree Program Questions:
Doug Erickson (262)384-1015 or
doug@vineyardbi.org
