THREE CAMBRIDGE EVANGELICALS & THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR WORLD CHRISTIANITY: HENRY MARTYN, JOE CHURCH, & DEREK PRINCE

CCCW seminar – Tues 12 March, at 4.30pm, Lightfoot Rm, Divinity Faculty, West Rd, Cambridge.

Speaker: Prof Brian Stanley is Professor in World Christianity, at University of Edinburgh, and has written several books on world mission.

These three prominent figures in the story of the global diffusion of evangelical Christianity differed widely in their theological emphases, but shared a common debt to the University of Cambridge for their spiritual and intellectual formation. In this talk, Brian will focus on one aspect of the career of each of
these three that has particular significance for contemporary world Christianity.

Henry Martyn’s achievements in biblical translation were founded on a conviction that God revealed himself both in Scripture and in the principles of order apparent in human languages. The liberating cultural significance of biblical translation has been a major theme of modern scholarship. Joe Church’s application of the Keswick holiness message in the East African Revival called for the creation of spiritually renewed Christian fellowships that would transcend the hierarchical divisions of ethnicity and colonialism.  The Rwandan genocide of 1994 raises the question of just how effective that vision was.  Former Philosophy Fellow of King’s, Derek Prince, transposed Platonism into a Pentecostal theology of deliverance from unseen spiritual powers that has proved extraordinarily influential, especially in Africa.  Though it highlights the reality of spiritual warfare for large sections of the global Christian community, it raises the question whether a preoccupation with demon possession magnifies or diminishes the power of Christ.

ALL WELCOME