Does a God who suffers in the divine nature retain sufficient majesty and independence from creation? Does a God free from suffering in the divine nature adequately respond to human suffering? How does the cross relate to such questions? Join Gordon-Conwell faculty for a discussion of this major modern debate in theology.

The Dean’s Forum discussion is free and is open to the public. Lunch is included. RSVP is required for those who are planning to attend in person, or you can watch the livestream on Facebook.

Register by Monday, September 9

Dean’s Forums exist to explore topics of church, culture, and theology. To learn more about upcoming events and to watch recordings of previous events, visit the Dean’s Forum page.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dr. Glenn Butner comes to Gordon-Conwell after serving for eight years on the theology and ministry faculty of Sterling College in Kansas, where he also directed the honors program. Dr. Butner’s research and writing is focused on dogmatic theology and social ethics. His dogmatic writings, including Trinitarian Dogmatics and Christological Dogmatics (forthcoming), draw from a wide range of Christian traditions throughout history and across the globe with analyses rooted in the inerrant text of Scripture. In his social ethics writings, like Jesus the Refugee and Work Out Your Salvation, he seeks a nuanced analysis informed by detailed recognition of the social, legal, and economic contexts within which moral decision making occurs.

Dr. Mateus de Campos‘ scholarly work focuses on Christology and discipleship in the Gospels, and the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament. He is the author of Resisting Jesus: A Narrative and Intertextual Analysis of Mark’s Portrayal of the Disciples of Jesus (Brill, 2021), and has written commentaries on 2 Peter and Jude (The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Commentary, IVP 2024), and Ephesians (Hendrickson, forthcoming), among other works. Currently, he is writing commentaries on the Gospel of Mark and on the discipleship narratives in the Gospels.

Dr. Sean McDonough came to Gordon-Conwell in 2000 from Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji, where he had served as the Chair of the Biblical Studies Department and as a lecturer in New Testament. He remains active in ministry and is a Sunday School teacher and occasional preacher at First Congregational Church in Hamilton. He is also a speaker for Medair, a Christian relief organization based in Switzerland. His research interests include creation/cosmology in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy and religion and the Book of Revelation.

Dr. Autumn Ridenour‘s primary interests are in the areas of theological, philosophical and social ethics, with attention to Scripture, history, and systematic theology. Her book Sabbath Rest as Vocation: Aging toward Death with Bloomsbury/T&T Clark (2018) explores the meaning of death and aging in the theologies of St. Augustine and Karl Barth. Her more recent research concerns technology and digital devices given their impact on moral development, spirituality, and relationships. She is passionate about the foundations of theological ethics and looks forward to exploring this theme further in the classroom. Ridenour also participates in her local faith community of First Baptist Church Sudbury, MA where her husband serves as the senior pastor.

Dr. Adonis Vidu came to Gordon-Conwell from his native Romania, where he previously taught at Emmanuel University and the University of Bucharest. He is a constructive theologian who is involved in a recovery of the patristic and medieval Trinitarian theology for the contemporary church, with an eye to its conceptual clarity and validity. Having done previous work in theological epistemology (Theology After Neo-Pragmatism, 2009), hermeneutics (Postliberal Theological Method, 2005), and the doctrine of the atonement (Atonement, Law, and Justice, 2014), his latest research focuses on a recovery, clarification and defense of the ancient rule of the inseparable operations of the Trinity (The Same God Who Works All Things, 2021). This project also generates a fundamental rethinking of several loci of systematic theology through the doctrine of ‘divine missions.’