The Table Video

J.P. Moreland (Biola University) shares about his experience with the Center for Christian Thought during its 2012-2013 theme year on Neuroscience and the Soul.

Transcript:

Ideas matter a great deal. It’s important then that Christians are able to think very deeply and carefully about the ideas that are being taught in the universities, through the media, in the public schools, through the entertainment industry. It’s important that Christians be able to think about those ideas and learn to spot the implications that follow from them.

This is why I’m so excited about the Center for Christian Thought. It is unique in the Christian college coalition. There’s really nothing like it. The Center for Christian Thought provides a place where Christians can come together, read, think, discuss, strategize, and generate ideas that will be useful to the spread of the gospel and the promotion of the kingdom of God. The Center for Christian Thought is an idea whose time has come, and it’s absolutely crucial to the health of the church and the propagation of the gospel at this point in the 21st century.

One of the things I admire about Jesus’s teachings is that they were conversation starters. He would tell a parable, a story, and it would spark a conversation in the people that were around when He left. Over the years of ministry, I have discovered that one of the best ways to minister is to start conversations. In evangelism, if I can get people to start talking about things and to ponder them, that opens them up to the gospel in a way that nothing else can. In discipling, in preaching a sermon, in having a small group in the church, sparking conversations is absolutely critical to personal growth.

By the same token, the Center for Christian Thought is designed to spark conversations. One of the main things we do here at the center is we take life-changing ideas, ideas that are at the very heart of what is going on in the church and in the culture, and generate thoughtful, intelligent, Christ-honoring conversations about those ideas for the good of the church and the general culture. Paul said do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith. That’s the purpose of the Center for Christian Thought.

But the way that we do that is through conversation starting. We generate ideas, discussions, literature, lectures, all kinds of communication that promote the kingdom of God and what we believe, but they start right here with conversations. [classical-style music]