Carrefour théologique at Montauban
Yesterday Samy and Carol Foucachon, Ben Griffin and I went to the Carrefour Théologique at Montauban. I had lost the papers so Ben and I were signed up last minute. This meant that we couldn't have the lunch laid-on, so I took a cooked chicken (the amazingly low-price chickens at the supermarket continue !) and some apples and oranges and we explored Montauban to find a baker where Ben bought bread and cakes and we picnicked in style while chatting with some Baptists from Toulouse.
The morning session was from Professor Paul Wells, who is of course a personal hero. He was of great help to us in 2004 when we were still in the throes of considering coming to France, not yet accepted by the mission etc.. We stayed near Aix where he lives and attended his church and he talked very straight to us about gospel ministry in France. All he said was true but we still came ! He's one of these chaps who, well, when you talk to him, you have to watch his face because his expression says as much as his words.
Anyway he spoke about Calvin's theology. Here in France Calvinists talk a lot about liberty and free will. I am always surprised by how much this is emphasised, especially coming from my Anglo-Saxon cultural background where free-will is pretty discredited as a philosophical position, but here in France la liberté personelle, l'autonomie et le libre arbitre is a big issue. We talked about this in the car afterwards and Samy said "well yeah but you still gotta king".
Paul talked about Calvin's view that even before the fall Christ was the mediator between God and man, which set us all thinking. Paul has recently completed translating L'Institution Chrétienne into modern French and it will be published soon at the bargain price of 35€ ! This is a must-buy for you all.
In the afternoon Eric Denimal spoke. He's the author of "La bible pour les nuls" (The Bible for dummies) which has known an extraordinary success in France. Eric was a journalist and is now pastor of the Eglise Libre in Nimes and he spoke about Calvin the man. His biography "Calvin, hérault français" comes out soon and will be a cracking good read if his talk was anything to go by.
Ben, who's in the throes of learning French, found Paul easy to follow with his Scouser accent, while Eric was more difficult for him.
It was good to see the guys and to meet new people. I guess there were about 70 people there ? And Montauban is just lovely. The riverbank is like Venice, the back streets like Florence. Not that I've ever visited either of those places but I don't need to. I've been to Montauban !
The morning session was from Professor Paul Wells, who is of course a personal hero. He was of great help to us in 2004 when we were still in the throes of considering coming to France, not yet accepted by the mission etc.. We stayed near Aix where he lives and attended his church and he talked very straight to us about gospel ministry in France. All he said was true but we still came ! He's one of these chaps who, well, when you talk to him, you have to watch his face because his expression says as much as his words.
Anyway he spoke about Calvin's theology. Here in France Calvinists talk a lot about liberty and free will. I am always surprised by how much this is emphasised, especially coming from my Anglo-Saxon cultural background where free-will is pretty discredited as a philosophical position, but here in France la liberté personelle, l'autonomie et le libre arbitre is a big issue. We talked about this in the car afterwards and Samy said "well yeah but you still gotta king".
Paul talked about Calvin's view that even before the fall Christ was the mediator between God and man, which set us all thinking. Paul has recently completed translating L'Institution Chrétienne into modern French and it will be published soon at the bargain price of 35€ ! This is a must-buy for you all.
In the afternoon Eric Denimal spoke. He's the author of "La bible pour les nuls" (The Bible for dummies) which has known an extraordinary success in France. Eric was a journalist and is now pastor of the Eglise Libre in Nimes and he spoke about Calvin the man. His biography "Calvin, hérault français" comes out soon and will be a cracking good read if his talk was anything to go by.
Ben, who's in the throes of learning French, found Paul easy to follow with his Scouser accent, while Eric was more difficult for him.
It was good to see the guys and to meet new people. I guess there were about 70 people there ? And Montauban is just lovely. The riverbank is like Venice, the back streets like Florence. Not that I've ever visited either of those places but I don't need to. I've been to Montauban !
Comments
I've heard it argued that had Adam and Eve not sinned, Christ would still at some point have become incarnate - not to save us from sin, but to reveal God more fully, and to give to humanity all the additional blessings of being "in Christ" that we have now that were not yet given in the Garden of Eden, to bring us more closely and fully in union with him.
I don't think the Bible gives us enough information to say anything definite on the subject. As Aslan says, "No-one is ever told what would have happened". But it remains an intriguing line of thought on which to speculate!