Galatians and Theology Conference

Ten years ago I took an undergraduate class at Crown College entirely focused on studying Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  It would not be an understatement to say that that class changed my life.  Previous to taking it, I had anticipated pursuing a career in pediatrics.  And then one day—a day I recall as if it was yesterday—we looked at Paul’s mention of Abraham in the letter.  That day, as if I was experiencing my own revelation (Gal. 1:12), I realized for the first time that the covenant instituted by Christ was in one way entirely new, but was, at the same time, a fulfillment of the original promises given to Abraham back in Genesis 12.  The bible was transformed for me that day from a book of books into one continuous book.  My excitement over this very basic yet fundamental biblical truth led me to change my major to biblical studies and, at least for a while, to put a career in medicine on the back burner. 

The University of St Andrews hosted a Galatians and Theology Conference this past week, of which I was a part of the student organizational team.  It has been nearly ten years since I changed my major to biblical studies, and this week as I sat in sessions with my Greek New Testament open, all I could think was, ‘ten years later and look where I am now’.  No, it’s not an understatement to say that that undergraduate Galatians class changed my life. 

Professors, pastors and students of varying levels traveled from around the world to participate in the conference.  With their Greek New Testaments and prepared papers in hand, each participant was ready to dig in to the ancient text that has had such a strong influence in forming our Protestant and Catholic conceptions of faith, law, justification, ethics and more.  N.T. Wright, John Barclay, Richard Bauckham, Richard Hays, Bruce McCormick, and many other highly influential Protestant and Catholic biblical scholars and theologians engaged the text with fresh insight and renewed emphases.  As my friend John said, ‘Our bibliography is walking around us’!  

For three days, 9am-9pm, the delegates sat together in large and small groups discussing the relatively short letter of Paul to the church in Galatia.  Two questions may come to your mind at this point: (1) How is there anything new to say about a short letter that has been discussed by Christians for nearly 2000 years? and (2) Who would want to sit around and talk about this short letter for three whole days?  You would think that after this long the Church would have come to a conclusion regarding the meaning of the words of Paul in the Letter to the Galatians.  You would think.  Alas, it’s exactly because the church continues to find new things to say about the letter and because people are willing to sit around and talk about it for that long that people like me can still hope to one day find a job doing just that.  Except that, hopefully, one day I will get paid for it, rather than paying for it!

As part of the organizational team, it was a very physically draining week, but as a participant in the conference it was also a very intellectually stimulating week.  The Academy may be filled with a bunch of nerds and odd balls, but they are nerds and odd balls that love God and the Church, and care deeply about helping the Church to understand God’s love more accurately by dedicating their life to studying the nitty gritty details of Scripture that not everyone has time or desire to study.  I was honoured to be part of the conversations, and though I feel like I know just as much about Galatians as I did ten years ago, I am equally as excited about the significance of that revelation now as I was ten years ago.  I look forward to learning more for many years to come.   

And now it’s back to my own work that I’ve neglected for the last two weeks…