Good News for the Public Square
As a general election approaches we enter lean years of reduced public spending, tough choices and challenges for social stability in the face of competing ‘rights’ and disappointed public expectations. It is essential for Christians in public life to bear faithful witness to the good news and the huge implications of Christ’s Lordship for the public square.
Yet Biblical teaching on society, law and government can sometimes seem either too self-evident or too complex, too controversial or irrelevant. We can either do nothing or rush to action ending up divided without always knowing why. This series will start from the foundations, bringing essential Biblical teaching on public implications of key doctrines so Biblical Christians of all persuasions can grow together for public witness in truth and love.
The series is on going and full details about the remaining seminars can be found here.
All subsequent talks will be uploaded to this page.
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Introductory Forum
Your questions and why to ask them
An interactive seminar to introduce the series.
An introduction and opportunity to bring questions and concerns which can be fed into the following seminars in the series. Is it a distraction from Christ to be concerned with the rights and wrongs of government? Why is it so important to have a solid Biblical framework?
David McIlroy is a practising barrister and lectures in Banking Law at SOAS. He is the author of A Biblical View of Law and Justice (2004) and A Trinitarian Theology of Law (2009).
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1 - Public Authority: What’s the job of the authorities?
Dr. Mike Ovey explores the following questions:
Is civil government man-made or God-made? Does it have His toleration or His mandate? Is it accountable to God? What is the scope of its role? This seminar unpacks the key texts on government in the New Testament and explores practical implications of commending the good, punishing evil and maintaining peace for the gospel to spread for eternal good.
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3 - Public Good: What is good for society?
If people are designed by God to thrive socially and spiritually, what should we know about God‘s design so that governments and judges can encourage human flourishing and avoid working against the grain of God’s workmanship? Jonathan Chaplin helps us consider what God said was ‘very good’: the creation order, how it shaped law in the Bible, and implications for today.
