John Woolman | Christian Scholar Lecture Series

We are pleased to announce the 2024 Woolman Lectures in Christian Scholarship will be delivered by Prof. Kelly M. Kapic of Covenant College.

Schedule

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

7:00 p.m. in the Johnson Center, Room 106 | Lecture One
Crushed by Expectations? The Goodness of our God-given Limits

With our endless to-do lists and the exhausting pace of life we wonder if God is perpetually disappointed in us for not getting more done.  But what if we have misunderstood God’s expectations? We have too often confused our limits with sin in ways that have distorted our faith and our lives.  God has a better way for us.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 14

7:00 p.m. in the Johnson Center, Room 106 | Lecture Two
Why Doesn’t God Just Instantly Change Me?  God Delights in Process

Too often we are suffocated with shame and guilt when we are not instantly perfect.  But God has always been comfortable taking his time when he is doing good work.  We will explore the encouraging and comforting joy of this truth. 

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Biography 

Kelly Kapic is a professor of theological studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA where he has served since 2001.

Prof. Kapic graduated from Wheaton College in 1995 before being awarded his M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in Systematic and Historical Theology from King's College, University of London in 2001. He has published numerous articles and book reviews in scholarly journals and publications such as Theology Today, Church History, Religious Studies Review, Journal of Reformed Theology, Christian Scholars Review, Westminster Theological Journal, and Christianity Today. In addition to his numerous book chapters he is the author, co-author, or editor of several notable book. In 2012 Kapic published A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology with Intervarsity Press, which has been published in translation in a number of other languages.  In 2018 along with Justin Borger he published The God Who Gives: How the Trinity Shapes the Christian Story with Zondervan. His 2022 book You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press) was selected as a Christianity Today Book of the Year. 


About the John Woolman Lecture Series

The Lecture Series is named for John Woolman (1720-1772), a Quaker from New Jersey who provided much of the theological, intellectual, and ethical foundation for the earliest anti-slavery activities in America. 

Drawing from traditional Christian, Quaker, evangelical, quietist, and rationalist sources, Woolman published works that encouraged others to rethink the Friends’ role in addressing a range of topics including slavery, working conditions, spiritual discipline, pacifism, the use of wealth, the use of time, and relationships with Native Americans. 

His antislavery writings and speaking campaigns throughout the colonies helped prompt the Friends to become the first body of Americans to actively denounce slavery and require all its members to free any person that they held in slavery. Providing some of the earliest inspiration for the major ethical shift in thinking about slavery, Woolman’s writings and actions influenced leaders in the early antislavery and abolitionist movements in America and Great Britain. Woolman Hall, a residence hall on Malone’s campus, is named in his honor.