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Annual Kingdom Theology Day staged in Ashill

Westminster Theological Centre (WTC) hosted its annual Kingdom Theology Day at the Fountain of Life Church, Ashill, on Saturday February 25. Michael Jones reports.


Dr Matt Lynch (Dean of Studies at WTC, and Lecturer in Old Testament) (pictured above spoke on the topic of ‘Suffering and the Book of Job’. He led us on a fascinating journey, not allowing the book to dictate easy (or any!) answers to the existence of suffering, but a potential route-map through suffering. An important part of this was that we don’t imagine that we can press a ‘fast-forward’ button to reach the ‘end of suffering’, but that it has its own time frame and agenda.
 
Matt took us through the book, looking at the ‘view from above’ (chapters 1 and 2), the ‘view from below’ (chapters 3-39), and ‘the confrontation’ (chapters 38-41). He re-introduced us to the importance of lament and its place in suffering (for individuals, and corporately; see his recent blog for ‘Theological Miscellany’ for more on this), and gave opportunity, during a beautifully and sensitively led time, to put this into practice.

He opened up for us a part of God’s character that was happy identifying with the ‘wild’ things and places (chapter 39), concluding with God’s public vindication of Job, despite the ways he had spoken with and to God about the nature and justice (or otherwise) of his predicament.
 
It was a wonderful opportunity to go deeper into God’s word; it was also a time for hearing about the work of WTC and what it’s like to study with them.

The next such opportunity is the East Anglia Hub Open Evening (13th June), at the same venue. Click here for more details, or contact Michael Jones (eastanglia@wtctheology.org.uk).

Pictured above is Dr Matt Lynch at Ashill.
 


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