2013 Society of Vineyard Scholars Annual Conference

It Seemed Good To The Holy Spirit And To Us:
The Church as a Community of Discernment

April 18-20, 2013
Anaheim, CA, USA

The fourth annual Society of Vineyard Scholars Conference will be held April 18-20, 2013 in Anaheim, CA, USA. The theme of the conference is "It Seemed Good To The Holy Spirit And To Us: The Church As A Community of Discernment." The conference will be hosted by the Anaheim Vineyard.

This year we have three plenary speakers. Richard Mouw, eminent Christian philosopher, ecumenical churchman, and outgoing President of Fuller Theological Seminary, will speak to us about the sensus fidelium -- the role that ordinary Christians play in the process of theological discernment. Amos Yong, J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology at the Regent University School of Divinity, will speak to us on the topic of “The Holy Spirit and the Religions: Christian Discernment in a World of Many Faiths.” Our final plenary speaker will be Cherith Fee-Nordling, Professor of Theology at Northern Seminary, who will speak to us about the relationship of spiritual life to scholarly practice. In addition to these plenaries, we  will have long-form talks from Beth Stovell, J. P. Moreland, Jordan Seng, Allen Yeh, Ken Wilson, and others to be announced.

Beyond all this, there will be numerous panel sessions featuring presentations of and responses to papers written by SVS participants spread over Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. This intellectual interaction forms the heart of what we do at SVS. 

Also, we will make significant time for prayer, worship, and prophetic ministry. We highly value the essential relationship between the worship and the life of the mind, and we will bear that value out in our time together.

Finally, we will allow plenty of time at this conference for people to hang out and form relationships. There will be a reception on Friday night, lunchtime breakouts for people with particular shared interests, and so on. Also, for the second year running, we are sponsoring a breakfast for women at SVS. Hosted by Dr. Adey Wassink and Dr. Rose Madrid-Swetman, this is designed to be an occasion of particular encouragement and support for the women scholars and church leaders who gather in the context of SVS. Across the board, our goal is to develop and nurture a community of theological discourse in the Vineyard, and we are committed to allowing the time and space that it takes to do so

For all the most up-to-date details on the conference, including discounted conference hotels, SVS membership, and more, see the conference website.