5th Annual
Ad Fontes Academic Week
Formerly known as Florovsky-Newman Week
"What Weight Is Sin?"
Patristic Views of Sin
May 30 - June 4, Anno Domini 2022 - Wichita, KS
Ad Fontes Academic Week 2022
May 30 - June 4, 2022
What Weight Is Sin? Patristic Views of Sin
Co-sponsored by St George Orthodox Christian Cathedral and the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies, the Ad Fontes Academic Week promotes a “return to the sources for Christian unity.” Heeding Fr. Florovsky's advice, rather than simply overlooking differences, this conference seeks to overcome the different views of sin. And we do so by returning to the common Tradition, by learning to read the Fathers as living masters, rather than as historical documents.
In years past, this conference has been known as the Florovsky-Newman Week. This year we have decided to broaden our perspective by honoring Thomas F. Torrance together with our other two patrons. Torrance was a Protestant who, like the Orthodox Fr. Georges Florovsky and Catholic St. John Henry Newman, called for a return to patristic sources as a guide for the modern Church..
Join us for this unique event as we return to the sources—ad fontes—in order to explore, challenge, and encourage one another to better love God and neighbor, and to work towards unity by way of the Fathers.
CLICK HERE to skip to the schedule or CLICK HERE to skip to the abstracts or CLICK HERE to skip to theme-related content.
Man is still spreading death and desolation. One may expect even worse things to come. For the root of death is sin. No wonder that there is, in many and diverse quarters, a growing understanding of the seriousness of sin. The old saying of St Augustine [actually Anselm!] finds anew echoes in the human soul: Nondum considerasti quanti ponderis sit peccatum, "you never understand of what weight is sin". ~Fr. Georges Florovsky
Eighth Day Seminar
Sin in the Bible, the Fathers, the Liturgy, & Literature
This four-session Seminar will be conducted in a Shared Inquiry format, the method of approaching texts used in the classrooms of St. John's College, Thomas Aquinas College, and other "great books" curriculum schools.
A good friend once said, "shared-inquiry is a way to read a book with more than one brain." This is an apt description, because one often discovers that a passage which proves difficult is illumined by someone else, and vice versa. Shared-inquiry facilitates a communal engagement with a given text so that we are informed and transformed together.
Seating is limited to first 12 registrants.
Notebook of readings will be delivered upon registration. See schedule below for details.
PLENARY DIALOGUE PRESENTERS
Peter Bouteneff
St Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary
Dr. Peter Bouteneff teaches courses in ancient and modern theology and spirituality at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, where he is professor of Systematic Theology. He worked for many years in theological dialogue, notably as executive secretary for Faith and Order at the World Council of Churches, and has written extensively on Orthodox relations with other churches. He has broad interests in theology and is committed to exploring the connections between theology and culture. He conceived of and edits the Foundations Series for SVS Press, to which he has contributed a volume called Sweeter than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma and Truth. In 2008 he authored a study of how early Christians read the Genesis creation accounts, called, Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives. Professor Bouteneff is director of the Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir's Seminary, and his book, Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence, has been hailed as "a must-read for any listener or performer of Pärt's music." As of 2016 he also directs the Seminary’s Sacred Arts Initiative. His most recent book, How to Be a Sinner, is an SVS Press bestseller, and Dr. Bouteneff has given dozens of talks and parish retreats on the subject.
Joshua Papsdorf
Newman University
Dr. Joshua Papsdorf is a Professor of Theology at Newman University in Wichita, KS where he also serves as the director of the Graduate Program in Theology and the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies. Since coming to Newman in 2007, he has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses. He also maintains an active research interest in patristics with a particular focus on St. Augustine, Ambrosiaster, and Julian of Eclanum. He is a Wichita native and was brought up in a local Baptist church. He entered the Catholic Church in 2002 and is currently a member of St. John’s Catholic Church in Clonmel, KS, where he attends with his wife, Jill, and four children.
Shane J. Wood
Ozark Christian College
Shane J. Wood completed his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (UK) and published his dissertation entitled: The Alter-Imperial Paradigm: Empire Studies & the Book of Revelation (BINTS 140; Leiden: Brill, 2016). Most recently, Shane published his widely acclaimed book Between Two Trees: Our Transformation from Death to Life (Leafwood, 2019). In addition, Shane was recognized by Theology Degrees Online as one of the “100 Remarkable Professors & Scholars Theology Students Should Know About.” Shane’s other publications include: Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand: Essays on the Book of Revelation (Joplin, MO: College, 2011) and “God’s Triumphal Procession: Re-examining the Release of Satan in the Light of Roman Imperial Imagery (Revelation 20:7-10)” in Currents in British Research on the Apocalypse (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015).
Shane and his family live in Joplin, MO where he is Professor of New Testament Studies and the Associate Academic Dean at Ozark Christian College.
Schedule
Monday, May 30
5:30 pm - Seminar on Sin at The Ladder - The Bible: Judges (read in your own Bible version)
7:00 pm - Dinner break
8:00 pm - Seminar on Sin at The Ladder - The Liturgy: Canon of St Andrew of Crete
Tuesday, May 31
5:30 pm - Seminar on Sin at The Ladder - The Fathers: The Life of St Mary of Egypt by St Sophronius of Jerusalem
7:00 pm - Dinner break
8:00 pm - Seminar on Sin at The Ladder - Literature: "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor
Wednesday, June 1
6:30pm - Festal Banquet Dinner at Newman University (NU) Dugan-Gorges Conference Center, attached to Library
- Toasts to our three event patrons: Fr. Georges Florovsky, St. John Henry Newman, and Thomas F. Torrance
- Dinner served at 7 pm; Cash Bar; Dressy Casual Attire
Thursday, June 2
8:30am
- Morning Prayer at NU Chapel
9:00am
- Annual Newman Lecture at NU
by Stephanie Mann:
Newman on Hypocrisy & Holiness in the Life of a Christian
10:00am - Break
10:30am - Academic Papers at NU Gerber Rm 105
10:30am - "On the Power of Love & Light" by José Morales
11:00am - "The Understanding of Sin in the Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae" by Jeremy Wagner
11:30am - "The Man Who Was Thursday as Theodicy" by Maxwell Patchet
12:00pm - Lunch Break - Not Provided
1:30pm - Academic Papers at NU Gerber Rm 105
1:30pm - "The Story of Dwight Schrute Considered as Personal Salvation History" by Angie Gumm
2:00pm - "Torturing Jews and Weeping Over Schubert: Have the Humanities Failed to Humanize Us?" by Mark C. Watney
2:30pm - "Simeon the Holy Fool" by Amanda Becker
3:00pm - Cocktail Hour at NU Tarsicia Roths Alumni Center
4:30pm - Break & Dinner - Not Provided
7:00pm
- Convocation, Contemplation & Plenary Dialogue at St George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
- "Oh the Depths!" An Augustinian Approach to the Fall by Joshua Papsdorf
- Orthodox & Protestant Responses immediately following lecture by Peter Bouteneff and Shane Wood
Friday, June 3
8:30am - Morning Prayer at NU Chapel
9:00am - Inaugural Torrance Lecture at NU by Christian Kettler: Why Bother with Sin? Sin & the Vicarious Humanity of Christ - Exploring the Legacy of Thomas F. Torrance
10:00am - Break
10:30am - Academic Papers at NU Gerber Rm 105
10:30am - "Recapitulation Recapitulated: Christ's Reversal of Adam's Sin in Ireneaus, K.H. Ting, and Robert Clarence Lawson" by Glenn Butner
11:00am - "Serpent(s) in the Garden: Natural Evils and the Angelic Fall Reconsidered" by Seth Hart
11:30am - "Sin as Non-Existence in Athanasius and Augustine" by Kyle Nelson
12:00pm
- Lunch Break - Not Provided
1:30pm - Academic Papers at NU Gerber Rm 105
1:30pm - "'Scattered All Over the Lot': Sin and Self-Fragmentation in the Sermons of Johannes Tauler" by Marie V. Schrampfer
2:00pm - "Distinguishing the Son and Holy Spirit in John Duns Scotus" by Matthew Neumann
2:30pm - "Yetzer ha-Ra and Original Sin" by Matthew Umbarger
3:00pm - "The Soteriology of the Lord's Prayer" by Michael Durant
3:00pm - Cocktail Hour at NU Tarsicia Roths Alumni Center
4:30pm - Break & Dinner - Not Provided
7:00pm
- Convocation, Contemplation & Plenary Dialogue - Location & Lecture TBA
- "And the Two Will Become One": On Understanding Sin through Union by Shane Wood
- Catholic & Orthodox Responses immediately following lecture by Joshua Papsdorf and Peter Bouteneff
Saturday, June 4
8:30am - Third Hour Prayer at St George
9:00am - Convocation & Annual Florovsky Lecture at St. George by Peter Bouteneff
10:00am - Break
10:30am - Contemplation & Plenary Dialogue at St George
- The Legacy of Eden by Peter Bouteneff
- Catholic & Protestant Responses immediately following lecture by Joshua Papsdorf & Shane Wood
11:30am - Q-&-A with Plenary Speakers
OUR EVENT PATRONS
Fr. Georges Florovsky
Fr. Georges Florovsky, a 20th century Russian Orthodox priest, is described by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware as the greatest Orthodox theologian of the twentieth century. Florovsky tirelessly insisted on a return to the common heritage of all Christians in the first thousand years of the Church's history as a path to recovering a common language for progress toward overcoming the divisions of Christendom. In his honor, this week is organized to promote such a return to the sources for Christian unity.
St. John Henry Newman
St. John Henry Newman—the 19th century educator, poet, pastor, and theologian—is considered by many to be the most important (and controversial) figure in the history of England. As a leader in the Oxford Movement, his immersion in the early Tradition of the Church, especially the Church Fathers, led to his conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Cited frequently by Fr. Georges Florovsky, a case can be made that Newman's emphasis on the Fathers was key to the development of Florovsky's ecumenical proposal for a neopatristic synthesis.
Thomas F. Torrance
Thomas F. Torrance (1913-2007) was an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland and for 27 years served as professor of Christian dogmatics at New College, in the University of Edinburgh. He is known for his pioneering work in the study of science and theology, and he is respected for his Incarnational and Trinitarian theology which is steeped in the Church Fathers. He translated into English Karl Barth's thirteen-volume, six-million-word Church Dogmatics and John Calvin's New Testament Commentaries. He was a good friend of Fr. Georges Florovsky and he was instrumental in the development of the historic agreement between the Reformed and Eastern Orthodox churches on the doctrine of the Trinity.
Members Only!
50%-100% off Admission
Become a Patron or Teacher/Pastor member to support Eighth Day Institute and receive 50% discount on all three featured events: Ad Fontes, Inklings Festival, & Eighth Day Symposium.
Our Pillar members receive a 100% discount on all three featured events!
Learn more about membership and all the member perks here!
Members, check your emails for your discount codes.
Register Now
Registration Ends in
All Access Pass
$100
Festal Banquet Excluded
All Academic Papers
All Plenary Dialogues
One Day Pass
$45
Academic Papers
Plenary Dialogue
Festal Banquet
Sold Out
Festal Banquet Dinner with Toasts to Florovsky, Newman, & Torrance
Dinner
Cash Bar
Dressy Casual Attire
4-Session Seminar
$125
This is a 4-session shared-inquiry seminar facilitated by Joshua Sturgill on Mon-Tue, May 30-May 31 from 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm.
Notebook of readings included; dinner not included.
You have not yet considered how heavy the weight of sin is.
~Anselm of Canterbury,
Why God Became Man
Bk 1 Ch 21
Abstracts
Theme-Related Content
Venues
Newman University
Wichita, KS 67213
The Ladder
St. George Cathedral
Wichita, KS 67206
Accommodations
Hotel at Old Town
Spiritual Life Center
Hilton Garden Inn
2041 N. Bradley Fair Pkwy
Wichita, KS 67206
866-238-4218
