On May 5 and 6, 2025, Redeemer University faculty members gathered to further explore neo-Calvinism and its relevance for Christian education.
Twice a year, Redeemer’s faculty mentoring program hosts a series of sessions that engage faculty in strengthening the Reformed Christian perspective in their research and teaching.
The workshops began with a chapel service, with worship and a reflection on Psalm 131 titled Epistemic Humility and Christian Contentment shared by Dr. Bill DeJong, the director of mentoring and faculty chaplain.
“It is my hope that the workshops have offered our faculty valuable resources to integrate more effectively their responsibilities as scholars and educators with the university’s particular character, vision and mission,” says DeJong. “This integration will strengthen our academic community’s passion, engagement, capability and commitment.”
The first speaker was Dr. Donald Roth, professor of business and criminal justice at Dordt University. In his first lecture, he gave an introduction to neo-Calvinism in terms of knowing God, knowing our humanity and knowing others. He shared that we need a neo-Calvinism that helps us recognize God’s authority and rule over everything in our lives.
It is my hope that the workshops have offered our faculty valuable resources to integrate more effectively their responsibilities as scholars and educators with the university’s particular character, vision and mission.
“The problem isn’t philosophical atheism, but practical atheism,” he explains.
In his second lecture, he spoke about teaching in Christ’s image, presenting a framework of Christ’s threefold office: prophet, priest and king. Roth shared that a major task of Christian education is to help students “make manifest God’s excellences” and “interpret their lives through the lens of pursuing God’s glory.”
In his third and final lecture, delivered on day two, he presented the concept of institutions as organisms, as emphasized by first generation neo-Calvinists, and discussed how this understanding relates to contemporary organizational theory.
Dr. Branson Parler was the main speaker on the second day of workshops. Director of theological education and professor of theology at ministry training centre The Foundry and author of Every Body’s Story, Parler spoke on a theology of sexuality. In his lecture, “An Alluring Theology of Sexuality,” Parler discussed the negative consequences of both contemporary church narratives and secular narratives. He then argued that the biblical story presents a full story of a bodily redemption, enacted by a covenantal God.
“What does it mean to place our bodies in the true story of the whole world?” asked Parler.
The second day also included two faculty celebration sessions, recognizing faculty promotions, reappointments and tenures, and a faculty-staff social.