Presenter: Jonathan Boerger
Jonathan Boerger and his wife, Melissa, help lead a church in Kitchener, where they live with their three children who are all finally in school. Jonathan is in the PhD program at McMaster Divinity College where his research focuses on integrating trauma studies with incarnational theology and the theological concept of forgiveness and its practice in the life and ministry of the church. Jonathan’s ideal location for research is a secluded cabin with panoramic views and a private library. This dream is not yet a reality.
Paper Topic: Paul’s Christomorphic Wisdom in 1 Corinthians: Eschatological Telic Revelation According to a Hermeneutic of Wisdom
Abstract: This paper compares recent disparate hermeneutical proposals in order to draw out essential elements of a Christian hermeneutic of wisdom, which involves the tension of the gift and call of the gospel and recognizes Christ as the essential point of orientation. This analysis and approach is applied to 1 Corinthians, (re)reading chapters 1—4 in light of chapter 13 and thereby demonstrating that Paul’s view of wisdom is a qualitative, wholistic integration of devotions, convictions, and actions. For Paul, the gospel of Christ is not just Christocentric in content and focus, but also Christoformic in form and effect. On this basis, this paper argues that in 1 Corinthians Paul portrays true wisdom as the Christoformic edification of the church towards the eschatological telic revelation of the wisdom of Jesus Christ, which involves an essential tension between what is known and what is unknown yet will be revealed in Christ. This study may help serve as a biblical basis for a systematic apophatic theology and for a pastoral theological conception of God’s initiating and sustaining role in Christian spirituality as well as the appropriate human posture and response.
The MDC Theological Research Seminar (TRS) will be held virtually for the 2021-22 academic year. TRS meets for an hour twice per month on Tuesdays. Each seminar includes about thirty minutes for the paper presentation and twenty minutes for discussion.
All advanced degree students are invited to present a paper and share your research with your colleagues. TRS is an excellent opportunity to “test drive” a paper you will be presenting at an upcoming conference and receive helpful feedback on your current research projects. Thinking about submitting an article to a journal and want some interaction first? TRS will provide it. Just published an article or an essay and want to share it us? TRS is an excellent opportunity to broadcast it.
This year the organizing committee consists of Dr. Francis Pang, Dr. Michael Knowles, and Dr. Steve Studebaker.