The South Carolina Study Center

Frederick Buechner (1926–2022) famously said: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." While it contains some truth, this idea departs significantly from a more ancient picture of vocation. In Luther's reading of the valiant woman in Proverbs 31, work and human identity come to us from outside as a gift, not from our deep gladness within. It assumes the unfolding providence of God over against financial goals and life plans. It regards suffering and boredom not as evils to be avoided at all costs, but as circumstances often used by God for good. It also centers on imitation of Christ with the goal of union with God, not an impressive résumé for my LinkedIn page. This talk will follow Luther's lead to help us rethink vocation through the lens of Holy Scripture. 

Our culture has lost its bearings, so it is not surprising that College-aged students are increasingly experiencing emotional challenges and vocational confusion. And fewer still know older trusted friends to confide in to find new orientation in spiritual matters. We need to consider again the value of mentoring within our churches and ministries as a way of nurturing wholeness and holiness in those seeking a flourishing life before the Lord. Rather than seeing mentoring as an optional extra, perhaps we might better understand it as an individualised ministry of the Word, which takes its place alongside other ministries of the Word to build up the body of Christ. In this lecture, we investigate what the Bible says about mentoring, what it might look like for us as mentors or mentees, and how we can get started.

The question of technology is always ultimately the question of the human. If we are to think well about the challenges and opportunities presented by any new technology, we must think well about what it is to be a human being and what constitutes a flourishing human life.

Dr. Kruger answers questions on his life, academic career, and the reliability of Christian Scripture.  

In the modern academy, Holy Scripture is encountered, approached, and understood very differently from the ways that it has been historically in the Church. How is the interpretative task transformed when the text is moved from the world of the Church to that of the academy, and why does it matter? 

What impact is digital media having on human flourishing and the life of faith?

 An Embodied, Relational, Christian Approach to Healing from Mental Health Problems

“Knowledge,” “truth” and “reality” have come to be highly contested items. Here’s one philosopher’s look at what is going on when we know and how we can be better at it.

Physicist Paul Julienne explores the question: Why is science possible and what is it doing? His talk centers on two main themes: 1) the need to see reality according to the whole in order to avoid reductionism, and 2) The important idea of creation ex nihilo.

In our first Fall semester lecture at the Study Center, Dr. Brittany Gentry explores the relationship between AI and human identity.

James Walden speaks at the SC Study Center on the importance of male and female.

Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas continues the discussion on the image of God at the SC Study Center.

Richard Mounce speaks on the Image of God at the SC Study Center.

Overcoming Despair: Kierkegaard on How to Become Your True Self Dr. Stephen Evans is Emeritus University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University (in Waco, Texas), where he has taught since 2001. He received his BA from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1969 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in philosophy in 1974 as a Danforth Fellow. His major areas of research include the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, philosophy of religion, virtue ethics, and meta-ethics. His published works include 20 single-authored books as well as five edited volumes.

Dr. Michael Dickson, professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina, shares with us about the theory of beauty historically and how it relates to us today.

Why Isn’t God More Obvious?: A Christian Account of Divine Absence Doesn’t it sometimes seem like God could be more obvious? Why isn’t He? Come explore a few surprising answers to this question. Dr. Joseph Minich (Ph.D, The University of Texas at Dallas) is a Teaching Fellow with The Davenant Institute, and the author of Enduring Divine Absence and Bulwarks of Unbelief.

For All Your Subtlety You Have Not Wisdom: Christianity’s Challenge to the Modern University In The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R Tolkien contrasts mere knowledge or “subtlety” (personified by Saruman) with “wisdom” (personified by Gandalf). The modern university has steadily transformed itself from an institution for training Gandalfs into one for training Sarumans. It is the urgent task for Christians in our generation to redeem it and present a renewed vision for scholarship in service of wisdom. Dr. Bradford Littlejohn (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh) is the Founder and President of the Davenant Institute. He has published and lectured extensively in the fields of Reformation history, Christian ethics, and political theology.