Central Presbyterian Church NYC - Lectures: Recent Episodes
Central Presbyterian Church
Mission in a Secular Age is a lecture series exploring the intersection between Christ, church, and culture. Listen to Jason Harris discuss the unique features of our cultural moment and how they affect the way in which we should approach a Christ-centered mission to the world around us.
Mission in a Secular Age is a lecture series exploring the intersection between Christ, church, and culture. Listen to Jason Harris discuss the unique features of our cultural moment and how they affect the way in which we should approach a Christ-centered mission to the world around us.
Listen to a special interview between Jason Harris & Professor Michael McConnell as they discuss "Are Churches Essential?"
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has previously held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently a 8-1 victory in a Takings Clause case on behalf of California raisin farmers. He is Senior Of Counsel to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati and has recently been appointed Co-Chair of the Facebook Oversight Board.
This interview was posted on May 21, 2020. To view additional lectures, please visit centralchurchnyc.org.
Listen to a special interview between Jason Harris & N.T. Wright as they discuss "God and the Pandemic: Where is God and Where Should We Be?"
N.T. Wright is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and retired Anglican bishop. From 2003 until 2010, he was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. Since then he has served as the Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary’s College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and he is currently a Senior Research Fellow for the Wycliffe Hall Council at the University of Oxford. He writes prolifically about theology, Christian life, and the relationship between the two. The author of more than seventy books, Professor Wright is highly regarded in academic and theological circles, especially for his multi-volume work "Christian Origins" and the "Question of God."
This interview was posted on April 30, 2020. To view additional lectures, please visit centralchurchnyc.org.
How and when should Christians engage, as Christians, in the public square? When it is appropriate to use specifically religious arguments on questions of public policy? What is the effect on the church? Professor McConnell will offer very tentative thoughts about how to negotiate these difficult questions.
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to the summer of 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. McConnell has held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and the founding. In the past decade, his work has been cited in opinions of the Supreme Court second most often of any legal scholar. He is co-editor of three books: Religion and the Law, Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought, and The Constitution of the United States. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the Supreme Court. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and is Of Counsel to the appellate practice of Kirkland & Ellis.
Professor Brian Brenberg serves as Chair of the Program in Business and Finance and teaches courses in business and economics at The King’s College. Prior to joining the King’s faculty, he worked in the financial services and medical device industries, as well as public policy research and philanthropy. He earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.
In addition to his teaching at King’s, Professor Brenberg is a frequent guest on several FOX News and FOX Business programs, and has written for many publications, including USA Today, Forbes.com, CNBC.com, the New York Post, and The Hill. His speeches have been covered by Time and The Washington Post, and he regularly lectures for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and the American Enterprise Institute’s Values and Capitalism Project. Brian, his wife Krista, and their three children live in New York City.
Many secularists argue that the First Amendment prohibition on the establishment of religion is a guarantee of a purely secular public square, requiring the exclusion of religious voices and institutions. Some religious people respond in kind, by opposing the separation between church and state. Professor McConnell will argue that both are wrong. Church-state separation originated in Protestant Christian teaching, was promoted by the most evangelical sects in America at the founding, and rests on Christian theological principles.
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to the summer of 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. McConnell has held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and the founding. In the past decade, his work has been cited in opinions of the Supreme Court second most often of any legal scholar. He is co-editor of three books: Religion and the Law, Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought, and The Constitution of the United States. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the Supreme Court. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and is Of Counsel to the appellate practice of Kirkland & Ellis.
Everybody knows about the Enlightenment, but very few know how the Reformation contributed to the development of the ideas of freedom of thought, conscience, speech, and worship. How did we move from Romans 13 to "God Alone Is Lord of the Conscience"?
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to the summer of 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. McConnell has held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and the founding. In the past decade, his work has been cited in opinions of the Supreme Court second most often of any legal scholar. He is co-editor of three books: Religion and the Law, Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought, and The Constitution of the United States. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the Supreme Court. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and is Of Counsel to the appellate practice of Kirkland & Ellis.
All across America, it seems that freedom of speech and freedom of religion are under assault. Has this country lost its belief in civil liberty, or civility in general? Where does the Supreme Court stand in all of this?Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to the summer of 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. McConnell has held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and the founding. In the past decade, his work has been cited in opinions of the Supreme Court second most often of any legal scholar. He is co-editor of three books: Religion and the Law, Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought, and The Constitution of the United States. McConnell has argued fifteen cases in the Supreme Court. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and is Of Counsel to the appellate practice of Kirkland & Ellis.
Reverend Howard Edington dedicated most of his career in ministry rebuilding First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. He was also the "Preacher in Residence" of Central during the early years of Central's turnaround in 2009. Rev. Edington and his wife Trisha describe what they learned from leading First Church and what they would commend to us as we approach the future at Central.
Reverend Howard Edington dedicated most of his career in ministry rebuilding First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. He was also the "Preacher in Residence" of Central during the early years of Central's turnaround in 2009. Rev. Edington and his wife Trisha describe what they learned from leading First Church and what they would commend to us as we approach the future at Central.
Albert J. Raboteau, Ph.D., is the Henry Putnam Professor Emeritus of Religion at Princeton University and a leading expert on African American religious history. Before Raboteau was born, his father, Albert Jordy Raboteau (1899–1943), was killed in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, by a white man who was never convicted of the crime. His mother moved from the South, where she was a teacher, to find a better place for her children. She remarried an African-American priest, who taught Raboteau Latin and Greek and helped him to focus on church and education. Accepted into college at the age of sixteen, Raboteau was awarded a BA by Loyola University in 1964 and an MA in English from the University of California, Berkeley. He then studied at the Yale Graduate Program in Religious Studies, receiving his PhD in 1974. Raboteau's dissertation, later revised and published as the book Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South, was published just as the black studies movement was gaining steam in the 1970s. In 1982 Princeton University hired Raboteau, first as a visiting professor and then as full-time faculty. He is currently (2009) Henry W. Putnam Professor Emeritus of Religion.
Gordon Graham is Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts at Princeton Theological Seminary. Born in Ireland and educated in Ireland, Scotland and England, he taught philosophy in Scotland at the University of St Andrews from 1975-95 and at the University of Aberdeen from 1996-2006 before taking up his post in Princeton in January 2006. He has published on a wide range of philosophical topics relating to art, education, ethics, politics, religion, and technology. He has a special interest in the Scottish philosophical tradition, and directs the Center for the Study of Scottish Philosophy at Princeton. In 1999 he was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's premier academy of science and letters. He was Director of The Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology from 2008-2015 and headed the Theology dimension of the Varieties of Understanding Project which ran from 2013-16.
Gregory Alan Thornbury, Ph.D., serves as the sixth President of The King’s College in New York City – an institution dedicated to faith, free enterprise, and The American Dream. Called “America’s first hipster college president” by The American Spectator, Dr. Thornbury is also a Visiting Professor at the Values and Capitalism initiative of the American Enterprise Institute; a Senior Fellow for The Kairos Journal; a columnist for Townhall.com; and a member of the editorial board of the Salem Media Group. His recent books focus on the relationship between philosophy, theology, and culture. Prior to joining King’s in 2013, he served at Union University in Tennessee as a Professor of Philosophy, Founding Dean of the School of Theology, and Vice President. He has completed graduate work at Southern Seminary in Louisville and the University of Oxford in England. A popular campus speaker and lecturer, he is also a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers.
George Hunsinger earned his B.D. from Harvard University Divinity School and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He served as director of the Seminary's Center for Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001. George has broad interests in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition and in "generous orthodoxy" as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a major contributor to the new Presbyterian catechism. He teaches courses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, the theology of the Lord's Supper, the theology of John Calvin, and classical and recent Reformed theology. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
George Hunsinger earned his B.D. from Harvard University Divinity School and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He served as director of the Seminary's Center for Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001. George has broad interests in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition and in "generous orthodoxy" as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a major contributor to the new Presbyterian catechism. He teaches courses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, the theology of the Lord's Supper, the theology of John Calvin, and classical and recent Reformed theology. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
George Hunsinger earned his B.D. from Harvard University Divinity School and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He served as director of the Seminary's Center for Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001. George has broad interests in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition and in "generous orthodoxy" as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a major contributor to the new Presbyterian catechism. He teaches courses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, the theology of the Lord's Supper, the theology of John Calvin, and classical and recent Reformed theology. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
George Hunsinger earned his B.D. from Harvard University Divinity School and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. He served as director of the Seminary's Center for Barth Studies from 1997 to 2001. George has broad interests in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition and in "generous orthodoxy" as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was a major contributor to the new Presbyterian catechism. He teaches courses on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Reformed tradition, the theology of the Lord's Supper, the theology of John Calvin, and classical and recent Reformed theology. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Dr. Michael Horton is the president of White Horse Inn, for which he co-hosts the White Horse Inn, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio talk-show exploring issues of Reformation theology in American Christianity. He is also the editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. Dr. Horton completed a research fellowship at Yale University Divinity School. A member of various societies, including the American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Horton is the author/editor of more than twenty-five books, including a series of studies in Reformed dogmatics published by Westminster John Knox. Dr. Horton is Associate Pastor of Christ United Reformed Church in Santee, California, and lives in Escondido with his wife, Lisa, and four children.
Aaron M. Renn is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a Contributing Editor at its quarterly magazine City Journal. He is a writer and researcher on urban policy, with a particular focus on demographics, economic development, civic branding, and infrastructure. He was previously a partner in the consulting firm Accenture. Having grown up in rural Southern Indiana, Aaron loves cities like only someone from a town of 29 people can. He and his wife Katy attend Central Presbyterian and live on the Upper West Side.
Roberta Green Ahmanson is a writer and philanthropist whose public activities are focused on deepening awareness and understanding of the role of religion in public life, the importance of knowing history to understand the present, and the vital role the arts play in shaping human experience. Since 1986, Ahmanson has worked with her husband, Howard, in shaping the granting priorities of his private philanthropy, Fieldstead and Company. In that time, the Ahmansons have sponsored a number of art exhibitions in the United States and Great Britain including “Caravaggio: The Final Years” and “Sacred Made Real,” both at the National Gallery in London. Ahmanson currently chairs the board of directors for the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City. In addition to lecturing for the International Arts Movement in New York City, Ahmanson is the co-author with Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert of Islam at the Crossroads, 2002, and a contributor and co-editor with Marshall and Gilbert of Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion, forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Dave Blanchard is an entrepreneur passionate about bringing new ideas to life to have a positive impact on society. Prior to co-founding Praxis, Dave was a Principal Business Designer at IDEO, an innovation consultancy, where he focused on venture design, startups, and social innovation. He graduated from Babson College with a concentration on entrepreneurship, and also completed graduate work at Northwestern University, earning an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and an MEM in Design from the McCormick School. Dave lives in Manhattan and is part of the Trinity Grace Church community.
David Skeel is the S. Samuel Arsht Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is author of numerous books and articles on bankruptcy and financial distress, corporate law, Christianity and law, law and literature, and other topics. His commentary has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Books & Culture, and elsewhere. He is an elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Mike Kelly proudly hails from the great city of Chicago, though he and his wife Shareen, a pediatrician, have now spent 25 years in another other great city: Philadelphia, where their children (all three in university) were raised. Mike taught Old Testament at Westminster Seminary for 20 years, and has also taught courses at The Center for Urban Theological Studies and Biblical Seminary. Prior to coming to Westminster, he spent several years in church planting and theological education in South America. He and Shareen are committed to urban ministry, with the peculiar focus of redeeming public spaces like urban parks and gardens. While loving the city, their primary avocation is hiking in the mountains of Southwest Colorado.
Mike Kelly proudly hails from the great city of Chicago, though he and his wife Shareen, a pediatrician, have now spent 25 years in another other great city: Philadelphia, where their children (all three in university) were raised. Mike taught Old Testament at Westminster Seminary for 20 years, and has also taught courses at The Center for Urban Theological Studies and Biblical Seminary. Prior to coming to Westminster, he spent several years in church planting and theological education in South America. He and Shareen are committed to urban ministry, with the peculiar focus of redeeming public spaces like urban parks and gardens. While loving the city, their primary avocation is hiking in the mountains of Southwest Colorado.
Mike Kelly proudly hails from the great city of Chicago, though he and his wife Shareen, a pediatrician, have now spent 25 years in another other great city: Philadelphia, where their children (all three in university) were raised. Mike taught Old Testament at Westminster Seminary for 20 years, and has also taught courses at The Center for Urban Theological Studies and Biblical Seminary. Prior to coming to Westminster, he spent several years in church planting and theological education in South America. He and Shareen are committed to urban ministry, with the peculiar focus of redeeming public spaces like urban parks and gardens. While loving the city, their primary avocation is hiking in the mountains of Southwest Colorado.
Brian Brenberg serves as Chair of the Program in Business and Finance and teaches courses in business and economics at The King’s College. Prior to joining the King’s faculty, he worked in the financial services and medical device industries, as well as public policy research and philanthropy. He earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.
John Wilson was the editor of Books & Culture during its run of 21+ years (1995-2016). His new, digital-only project, Education & Culture, will launch in March at thebestschools.org. Wilson's reviews and essays have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Globe, First Things, Commonwealth, National Review, and other publications.
John Bowlin is the Robert L. Stuart Associate Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary. His primary interests are in ethical theory, the history of moral theology, and Protestant social ethics. He is the author of Contingency and Fortune in Aquinas’s Ethics (Cambridge 1999) and Tolerance among the Virtues (Princeton 2016).
Scott G. Stephenson is president and chief executive officer of Verisk Analytics. During his tenure as CEO, Verisk was added to the S&P 500 and was named by Forbes Magazine the 18th most innovative company in the world and one of America's best places to work. In 2016, Verisk was named to The Just 100 list of best corporate citizens. Before joining Verisk, Scott was a senior partner with The Boston Consulting Group, and before that he designed components of missile propulsion systems. He got his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is an elder here at Central Presbyterian Church.
James Cook, After completing his undergraduate in Classics at Oxford University in 2010, James stayed on to take a Masters and Doctorate in Ancient History. His research area was in the works of the late fourth-century preacher John Chrysostom, exploring the extent to which his sermons can be used as sources for popular Christianity. He came to faith as an undergraduate, and he is now exploring the possibility of going into full-time ordained ministry within the Church of England. He is currently with us at Central for six months as a ministry intern.
Dru Johnson is an Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at The King's College in New York City, an associate director of the Jewish Philosophical Theology project with The Herzl Institute in Israel, and co-chairs the Hebrew Bible and Philosophy program unit in the Society of Biblical Literature. As a former skinhead, high school drop-out, veteran of counter-narcotics operations in Colombia, I.T. manager, and pastor, he currently spends most of his time raising his four children to become none of these things. He has published three books on the role of knowledge and ritual in the Bible.
Dru Johnson is an Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at The King's College in New York City, an associate director of the Jewish Philosophical Theology project with The Herzl Institute in Israel, and co-chairs the Hebrew Bible and Philosophy program unit in the Society of Biblical Literature. As a former skinhead, high school drop-out, veteran of counter-narcotics operations in Colombia, I.T. manager, and pastor, he currently spends most of his time raising his four children to become none of these things. He has published three books on the role of knowledge and ritual in the Bible.
Alissa Wilkinson is the staff film writer at Vox.com and an associate professor of English and humanities at The King's College, where she teaches courses in criticism and cultural theory. She was formerly the chief film critic at Christianity Today, and her writing has been published at Rolling Stone, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Pacific Standard, Books & Culture, Paste, and elsewhere. She is co-author, with Robert Joustra, of How to Survive the Apocalypse: Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World (Eerdmans), and her second book, Orphaned Believers: Reframing Religion in the Age of Faith-Based Film (The Critical Press) is due out next summer. Alissa and her husband Tom live in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and are members at Resurrection Clinton Hill.
Eric Metaxas is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Miracles, Bonhoeffer, Amazing Grace, Seven Men, and Seven Women. His newest book, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty, was published in June 2016. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and The New Yorker, and Metaxas has appeared as a cultural commentator on CNN, the Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He is the host of the Eric Metaxas Show, a nationally syndicated radio program heard in more than 120 cities around the U.S. and featuring in-depth interviews with a wide variety of guests. Metaxas is also the founder and host of Socrates in the City, the acclaimed series of conversations on “life, God, and other small topics." He is a senior fellow and lecturer at large at the King’s College in New York City, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Joshua J. Yates is Research Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and Director of the Program on Culture, Capitalism, and Global Change at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (IASC), led by Professor James Davison Hunter. He is also the Director of the Thriving Cities Project, a multi-year inter-disciplinary initiative of IASC that features its distinctive Human Ecology framework and is comprised of a national network of scholars from across the humanities, social sciences, urban planning, architecture, civil engineering, and design. The research agenda of Thriving Cities provides theoretically-informed but empirically-based resources and insights for holistic assessment of community wealth and well-being.