DET Announcements

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Welcome back, gentle readers. I’m sure (read: I hope) that at least one or two of you missed DET while it was in hiatus . . .

In any case, we’re back now and there are a few things that I want to highlight for you.

  • To begin, DET got a little bit of a facelift. The previous template’s charms have been wearing off on me for a while, and I finally got to the point that I thought it was just too dark. So now we have a bit of a lighter feel and some nice earth tones. I hope you enjoy.
  • Next, the contributor page got revamped as part of the face-lift process. You can now find it on the top tab bar under the title About the Authors. If you click through you’ll see two things: (1) I have re-written my author bio, so you might have fun with some of the links there; (2) Scott Jackson has been promoted to Senior Contributing Author. Congratulations Scott! He will be taking on more of a leadership role which will include things like writing a weekly post, helping to run the DET Facebook pages, assisting with “programing” decisions (e.g., thinking with me about content, direction, tone, etc.), and assisting with “public relations” (e.g., communicating with readers, guest authors, etc.).

    I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having Scott on board so far, and I’ve especially appreciated his content contributions. He and I share a taste for engaging the sorts of material that doesn’t often get engaged in the theo-blogosphere. So if you see Scott around the interwebs (e.g., on Twitter), be sure to say “Hi” and congratulate him.
  • There is a call for papers up at the Center for Barth studies for the 2015 Barth conference. The conference subject is: "Karl Barth and the Gospels: Interpreting Gospel Texts." So if you've got something kicking around on a relevant topic, send it in! Moltmann is scheduled to be at the conference . . . so . . . any excuse to go is worth it.
  • Finally, I’m very pleased to announce that DET will be hosting a series by sometime DET guest contributor Nathan Hitchcock. Nathan is Associate Professor of Church History and Theology at Sioux Falls Seminary, holds his PhD from the University of Edinburgh, and is author of Karl Barth and the Resurrection of the Flesh. He has written for DET twice in the past: he contributed to the Karl Barth Blog Conference back in 2009 with a post on Barth and Romans 1:3-4; and in 2011 he helped us mark Epiphany with a sermon on The Magi and Theological Method.

    Starting on January 13th, and continuing on every Tuesday until and including February 3rd, we will have a post from Nathan on the topic: An Eschatological Theology of Work, or Eschatological Business for short. I’m very happy to welcome Nathan in this capacity since this in material that he’s working through in preparation for a larger project along these same lines, so DET readers will get a chance to preview this material and engage with Nathan as he develops it. I know that I’ll be reading with great interest, and I hope you will too. And be sure to jump into the comments! I know that Nathan wants to interact with folks as much as possible. To wet your whistles a bit more, here is the abstract:
    The topic of human work has received considerable attention in recent years. Nearly all work-theology has been oriented to protology, however, casting human occupations in terms of God’s original creation. By contrast, the eschatological orientation of work has received sparing attention. Building on the work of Miroslav Volf and Darrell Cosden, this article begins with a justification for an eschatological theology of work before utilizing the Nicene Creed for a three-fold telos: the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and life in the coming world. God’s final work will be to remit debts, raise the dead to full health, and utterly renew the cosmos. While humans cannot perform these great deeds, those in the Spirit can effect penultimate expressions of God’s work through debt forgiveness, healing occupations, and sustainable culture-building. All Christian work can and must be done in hope.
    Stay tuned for the first installment of this series from Nathan, which will appear in just under a week!
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