Public Lecture
Scripture, Sacrament, and Metaphysics: Origen, Hobbes, and Spinoza
Thursday, Feb 4, 2016 at 7:30 PM –
9:00 PM
(Pacific Time)
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Hans Boersma will be at Regent on February 4 to give an evening public lecture titled "Scripture, Sacrament, and Metaphysics: Origen, Hobbes, and Spinoza". A Q&A will follow the lecture.
Abstract
The way we understand the relationship between heaven and earth (metaphysics) is directly linked to the way in which we read Scripture. Both the earthly created order and the Scriptures are sacramental in character. That is to say, they participate in a greater, more important reality. Christians believe that Christ is this reality to whom both soil and Scripture point. Both, therefore, thrive only with a metaphysics that is participatory or sacramental in character. I hope to show that this is so by turning first to Origen (as someone whose participatory view of reality made him read the Scriptures sacramentally) and then to Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza, who lie at the origin of a modern, non-sacramental way of reading Scripture (that is to say, a historical-critical way of reading the Bible, which assumes that history is a “purely natural” affair, completely separate from otherworldly concerns).Location
Regent College Chapel
Parking
Paid parking is available at Regent College
