GFCF Speaker Series for 2025-26 Season

1.Thursday, October 2, 2025, @ 4:00 PM, Martin P. de Wit,  Responsible Creation Care in an Age of Conflicting Ideologies.

Abstract:  Based on a rigorous understanding of the biblical discourse, there is no credible evidence to support the claim that authentic Christian spirituality conflicts with a responsible view of creation care. Some scholars do agree, however, that a critique is called for: This includes certain perspectives on God’s relationship with creation, on humankind’s spiritual, but also earthly, bodily and material value, on the implications of salvation for all of creation, and on certain future escapist expectations. Biblically, the narrative clearly articulates this world as God’s creation from Genesis to Revelation. Guidelines for an effective response are that creation care needs to arise from the core of Christian faith and that Christians cannot responsibly act as if there is any part of creation or human action that falls outside the scope of the gospel as revealed in Scripture.

Biography:  Martin de Wit is Professor of Environmental Governance at Stellenbosch University, South Africa and coordinates the School of Public Leadership’s Postgraduate Diploma and Master’s Programmes in Environmental Management. His research work focuses on care for creation, the interactions between the economy and the environment (notably climate, ecosystems, energy, and waste), and on the place of the human person in environmental governance and social order. His latest book, written in Afrikaans, is called Skeppingsorg: ‘n Aanset tot interpretasie van sekere Bybeltekste oor die mens se verhouding tot die natuurlike omgewing [Creation Care: An Onset to Interpreting Certain Biblical Texts on Humanity’s Relationship to the Natural Environment] (Durbanville: AOSIS, forthcoming). He serves on the Board of Directors of the creation care organization A Rocha. 

2. Tuesday, November 25, 2025, 12:00 PM, John Owen, International Authoritarian Challenges to Democracy.

Abstract:  Democracy is wobbling in a number of countries at once. This is no accident, because no democracy is an island: countries share a complex social environment that, depending on its content, can “select for” either democracy or authoritarianism. One reason why the environment has lately come to favour authoritarianism is the rise and reassertion of the authoritarian giants, China and Russia. Dr. Owen will discuss the effects of these countries and their policies on world politics, recent developments in the United States, and finally why Christians today ought to cherish constitutional democracy and work for a world that enables its flourishing.

Biography:  John M. Owen IV (A.B., Duke; M.P.A., Princeton; A.M., Ph.D., Harvard) is Taylor Professor of Politics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, at the University of Virginia.  Owen is author of The Ecology of Nations (2023), winner of the 2025 Grawemeyer Award in World Order. His other books include The Clash of Ideas in World Politics (2010), and Liberal Peace, Liberal War (1997). He is co-editor of Religion, the Enlightenment, and the New Global Order (2011). Owen has published essays in First Things, Providence, Christian Scholars’ Review, Foreign Affairs, The Hedgehog Review, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.  He has held fellowships at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Oxford, the Free University and WZB (Berlin), and the University of British Columbia.  In 2015, he received a Humboldt Research Prize (Germany). He has served on the boards of the Consortium of Christian Study Centers and the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, Virginia.

3. Tuesday, January 27, 2026 @ 12:00 PM Kevin Vanhoozer, Three Documents of the University: Reading Nature, Culture, and Scripture Theologically.

Abstract: Universities arguably exist to make the universe legible (readable) and intelligible (understandable). In Christian tradition, what the Second Helvetic Confession calls the “Book” of nature is as readable as the book of Scripture, for both ultimately precede through the Logos in whom all things hang together. The “book” of culture, human history, is similarly legible, because it is written by those created in the image of the Logos. Modern secular universities, however, struggle to make sense of these three documents. What Hans Frei termed the “eclipse” of biblical narrative led to a “great reversal” in hermeneutics in which the biblical narrative gave way to other frames of reference. This presentation argues that the prevailing metaphysical frames of reference used today in the natural and human sciences, as well as in biblical studies, are ultimately unable to read rightly their respective texts. Brief examples from each of the three books – the laws of nature; human dignity; the historical Jesus – illustrate both the problem and also the way forward.  This involves a retrieval of a theological frame of reference that privileges biblical narrative and enables faith-fueled scholarship to gain a deeper understanding of reality.

Biography:  Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Ph.D., Cambridge University on Paul Ricoeur) is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Previously, he served as Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1990-98) and as Blanchard Professor of Theology at the Wheaton College Graduate School in Chicago (2009-2012). He is the very articulate author of twelve books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology; plus Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine, and his impressive 2024 volume Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What it Means to Read the Bible Theologically. He is presently at work on a three-volume systematic theology. In 2017, he chaired the steering committee and drafted A Reforming Catholic Confession to mark the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation. He is currently Senior Fellow of the C. S. Lewis Institute. He is an amateur classical pianist, and finds that music and literature help him integrate academic theology, imagination, and spiritual formation.

4. Wednesday, March 18, 2026 @ 12:00 PM, Rev. Dr. Yohanna Katanacho, Unleashing Palestinian Christian Orthopathos: Empowerment and Missional Justice Amidst Suffering.

Abstract:  This lecture unveils the transformative power of Palestinian Christian Orthopathos – a potent understanding of suffering that fuels empowerment and missional justice. The lecture will delve into the Sermon on the Mount, explore the profound suffering of the Apostle Paul, and illuminate other scriptural insights. The exploration forges a powerful connection between missional justice and radical peacemaking within the crucible of Palestinian suffering, revealing Christ’s suffering and teachings as a vital orthopathic worldview for navigating immense challenges.

Biography:  Yohanna Katanacho is currently the academic dean at Nazareth Evangelical College in Israel. He is a Palestinian Israeli Evangelical Christian who studied at Bethlehem University (B.Sc.), Wheaton College (M.A.) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Master of Divinity & Ph.D.). He has taught at colleges and seminaries in many countries. He has authored or contributed to dozens of books and numerous articles in Arabic and English. Professor Rev. Katanacho is also the Lead Translator of the Colloquial Galilean Bible which is in the North Levantine Arabic dialect.