Announcing the June 18-19, 2018 IWS Worship Seminar, Enchanted Worship: Sacramental Ontology and Christian Liturgy, taught by Dr. Hans Boersma. This event will take place during our summer on-campus intensive and is open to the public but requires registration.
Hans Boersma (PhD University of Utrecht) holds the J. I. Packer Chair in Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia where he teaches doctrinal theology and history of doctrine. Before going to Regent in 2005, he taught at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC (1999–2005). He has also served as a pastor (1994–1998).
Dr. Boersma’s interests range across a variety of areas: patristic theology, twentieth-century Catholic thought, spiritual interpretation of Scripture, and Christian mysticism. In each of these areas, he is driven by a desire to retrieve the ‘sacramental ontology’ of the pre-modern tradition. Read more here. As we will see in these lectures, whether or not one holds to the sacramental ontology of the Christian tradition has tremendous implications for how we understand what happens in corporate worship.
Boersma’s books include Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church (2017); Sacramental Preaching: Sermons on the Hidden Presence of Christ (2016); and Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (2011); Boersma is also the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Sacramental Theology (2015). Later this year, Eerdmans will publish his book Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition.
Hans grew up in the Netherlands and moved to Canada in 1983. He his wife Linda attend Saint Matthew’s Anglican Church in Abbotsford, BC. For more info, see www.hansboersma.org.
| Bookstore Spotlight |
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| Preview Dr. Boersma’s books in the IWS Bookstore. |
Register now online or by mail.
Seminar Description
This seminar grounds worship within a sacramental ontology—that is to say, a way of looking at the world that acknowledges the real presence of God in earthly realities. In worship we go up to heaven to join the angelic choirs, while heavenly realities become present here on earth. We will ask how we can ground such assertions metaphysically. And we will turn in some detail to the two specific elements of sacramental worship that have always been regarded as central to Christian liturgy: Scripture and Eucharist. The seminar aims to contribute to a theology of worship that is grounded in a participatory outlook on life that re-enchants both the cosmos as a whole and our liturgical Sunday morning worship of the triune God.
Seminar Objectives
- Appreciate the link between Christian Platonism and Christian liturgy
- Gain a deeper understanding of time and space through a sacramental perspective
- Learn how late medieval and seventeenth-century developments in metaphysics rendered the divine liturgy unintelligible.
- Learn what it means to interpret the Scriptures sacramentally in the light of Christ
- Learn what is at stake in understanding the Eucharist as sacrifice and as real presence
- Arrive at a renewed appreciation of the significance of a sacramental ontology for Christian worship
Seminar Schedule
| Monday, June 18 | |
|---|---|
| 7:30 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 8:30 a.m. | Chapel |
| 9:15 a.m. | Seminar Session 1 Enchantment and Christian Worship |
| 10:30 a.m. | Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | Seminar Session 2 Telos and Time in Sacramental Worship |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch (provided) |
| 1:00 p.m. | Seminar Session 3 Sacramental Worship and Modernity |
| 2:15 p.m. | Break |
| 2:30 p.m. | Seminar Session 4 Scripture as Sacrament, Part 1: Origen, Hobbes, and Spinoza |
| 3:45 p.m. | Free |
| 5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
| 6:30 p.m. | Practicum Presentations |
| Tuesday, June 19 | |
|---|---|
| 7:30 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 8:30 a.m. | Chapel |
| 9:15 a.m. | Seminar Session 5 Scripture as Sacrament, Part 2: Christ in Isaiah |
| 10:30 a.m. | Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | Seminar Session 6 Eucharist and Time: Why Participation Means Sacrifice |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch (provided) |
| 1:00 p.m. | Seminar Session 7 Eucharist and Space: Why Participation Means Real Presence |
| 2:15 p.m. | Break |
| 2:30 p.m. | Seminar Session 8 Music as Sacrament |
| 3:45 p.m. | Free |
| 5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
| 6:30 p.m. | Healing/Communion Service |
Session Descriptions
DAY ONE
Session 1—
Enchantment and Christian Worship
Christian worship assumes that this-worldly, created realities are open to the life of God. We look at how a sacramental ontology, based on Christian Platonism, helps in understanding corporate worship.
Session 2—
Telos and Time in Sacramental Worship
In worship we join heavenly realities. This session explores what this means for how we understand our purpose (telos) and the concept of time.
Session 3—
Sacramental Worship and Modernity
Not every way of explaining the creator-creature relationship is equally friendly to Christian worship. We will discuss how early modern changes in metaphysics rendered traditional Christian worship implausible.
Session 4—
Scripture as Sacrament, Pt. 1: Origen, Hobbes, and Spinoza
This lecture presents a case for a reappropriation of the “sacramental hermeneutic” common among the church fathers. We will see how seventeenth-century philosophical developments have obstructed a sacramental reading of the Bible.
DAY TWO
Session 5—
Scripture as Sacrament, Pt. 2: Christ in Isaiah
Jesus Christ is the original truth or reality (the archetype) on whom ancient prophecies (as types) are patterned. This lecture explains that, more than just fore-telling the future, prophecy engages in a forth-telling of the real presence of Christ.
Session 6—
Eucharist and Time: Why Participation Means Sacrifice
What does it mean to offer up everything we have received from God, in thanksgiving, in Eucharistic worship in the Upper Room? This lecture shows how the biblical teaching of time helps us to understand the Eucharist as sacrifice.
Session 7—
Eucharist and Space: Why Participation Means Real Presence
The reconfiguration of space through participation in Christ means that we need a doctrine of real presence. If in and through the Eucharist our spatial categories are transcended, this can only be because Christ is truly or really present in our midst.
Session 8—
Music as Sacrament
Music is far more than ornamentation in Christian worship. This session looks at how music, in some important way, may also be regarded as sacramental in character.
Make it a Spiritual Retreat
You are welcome to craft your own schedule to incorporate additional time on campus to take in chapel sessions, visit classes, read and research in the library, or spend time alone in quiet meditation. You may plan to come early and stay longer if you’d like. Contact the IWS office. Let us know how we can help.
Registration
Full Seminar Cost: $175
One Day Only Cost: $90
Lunch is included in the registration fee.