2027 Theologians Network
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Many Evangelical theologians teach in universities, seminaries, and colleges with little opportunity for dialogue, fellowship, and encouragement from their Evangelical brothers and sisters. The Theologians Network has been designed to provide this context and to make available an opportunity to interact with some of the world's leading evangelical scholars.
What Network Participants Are Saying
- "It is a great blessing for me to participate in the Theologians Network. Meeting theologians and Christian leaders from across Europe and learning from their ministries and theological work is deeply encouraging and inspiring for me." Daniel Kuchurian, Head of Missiology Department, Ukraine
- "I am a member of the Theologians Network where we hear the lectures of world-renowned scholars, like John Dickson, Darrell Bock, Peter J. Williams, and Dirk Jongkind. Their insights can both strengthen my teaching work among future pastors and strengthen my apologetic skills among the frequently theologically 'liberal' (or at least inclined to liberal theology) colleagues."
- Andras Pataki, Pastor, Hungary - "Being part of the Theologians Network, I have access to outstanding Evangelical theologians, valuable talks, promising contacts, and experienced Christian leaders. ELF is an important place for me to learn how I can combine active service in my local church with a theological academic career in a healthy and God-loving way. This year’s participation in ELF was especially beneficial for me, as we are now doing something incredibly difficult in our church. I drew strength at ELF to meet those challenges through the uplifting power of the Spirit and with the support of my brothers and sisters."
- Konrad Buzala, Vicar, Poland
Applicants should be involved in full-time theological education (such as teachers, professors, and theology students).
Network Leadership
Network Speakers
Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, as well as Executive Director of Cultural Engagement for the Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership there. An author or editor of about fifty books, his special fields of… Read more
Leonardo De Chirico is the pastor of Breccia di Roma, a church that he helped plant in Rome in 2009, and Chair of the Theological Commission of the Italian Evangelical Alliance. Previously, Leonardo planted and pastored an evangelical church in Ferrara, Italy from 1997 to 2009. He earned degrees… Read more
Ovidiu Hanc is a Romanian pastor and New Testament theologian and serves as Lecturer in New Testament Studies at Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania. His academic work focuses on the message and historical context of the New Testament and its relevance for contemporary… Read more
Caleb Howard is a Research Fellow in Old Testament and Ancient Near East at Tyndale House and editor of the Tyndale Bulletin. He studies the texts, history, and scholarship of ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant. His current book project involves the documentation and analysis of personal names… Read more
Dirk Jongkind is the Academic Vice Principal of Tyndale House, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University. His main scholarly interest is the text and language of the Greek New Testament. He is also the editor of the Tyndale House Greek New Testament… Read more
Ádám Szabados is a Hungarian theologian and the leader of the Hungarian Evangelical Forum. Until 2017 he had been a pastor for 20 years. He is married to Dóra and has two adult sons. He studied English literature and linguistics at the University of Veszprém (MA equivalent, with honours), and… Read more
Peter J. Williams is the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House, Cambridge. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he received his MA, MPhil, and PhD in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible. After his PhD, he was on staff in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of… Read more
Network Programme
Sunday, 23 May
Recent decades have seen Evangelical theology express a renewed interest in the Church Fathers. This is all well and good. Rooted in the Bible, Evangelicalism at its best has always thought of itself in continuity with the apostolic Gospel as it was proclaimed and taught in the early church, the medieval period, the Protestant Reformation, and Evangelical revivals up to the present day. In this positive retrieval, there is also the danger of an idealisation of the Fathers (as if they were always right and always working with pure motives) and a wholesale and unwarranted appreciation of 'tradition' (as if it was a monolithic body that is organically related to Scripture). In order to both affirm the Evangelical interest in the Fathers and suggest some caveats in practising it, the paper will sketch an Evangelical hermeneutics of the Fathers that is faithful to Scripture and critically appreciative of tradition.
This session will consider specific wording from the Gospels, which is well explained if Jesus taught in Greek. It will also survey the history of discussion of the languages of Jesus to try to establish a range of reasonable positions for today and how the close connection between Jesus and the Gospels can be maintained in more than one way.
Monday, 24 May
Jamie K.A. Smith’s theological journey illustrates the tensions between Evangelical faith and liberal theology, particularly how cultural and intellectual openness can reshape one’s doctrine. The talk evaluates his trajectory with both charity and discernment, asking whether his project remains grounded in historic Evangelical convictions.
Everyday language users follow grammatical rules and patterns without ever thinking about these. Some of these patterns are remarkably complex and sophisticated. Native speakers have absorbed these patterns and use them, mostly unconsciously, to express subtle nuances. The same is true for the New Testament. The Greek text contains many subtleties that are often not expressed in our translations. Readers who have a wide exposure to a foreign language will intuitively develop an understanding of these hidden rules. Some branches of modern linguistics have been able to put these intuitions into words. We will look at some of the patterns seen in simple sentences and build our understanding out to more complex and theologically rich cases such as Romans 3:23-26.
Tuesday, 25 May
How Jesus is seen and how the Gospels handle Him are much-discussed topics in New Testament studies in University and public settings, with a long and checkered history. Much of this has been generated out of European scepticism about the Bible. Yet in the last few decades, much has happened to lead to a less sceptical take about Jesus. This presentation will give an overview and a state-of-the-discussion update on how it is proceeding, which should be of deep interest to those in theological work. Time will also be allotted for in-depth Q&A.
The parables of Jesus express the core theology of the Kingdom of God and provide a framework for understanding Christian ministry. Because Jesus taught so frequently through parables, any theology of ministry must take seriously the way these stories communicate the nature, mission, and challenges of God’s Kingdom. While the Gospels include other ministry‑defining narratives—such as the sending of the Twelve and the Great Commission—the Parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14 is particularly helpful, as it portrays both the grace‑filled, universal invitation into God’s Kingdom and the ministry challenges that arise when that invitation is rejected.
Wednesday, 26 May
In 701 BC, Sennacherib’s army invaded Judah and arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, but abruptly departed without taking the city. This incident is better attested in extrabiblical evidence than any other Old Testament event: archaeological evidence of the invasion abounds and numerous Assyrian inscriptions and iconography, and even textual sources within Judah, evidence this event. As such, the invasion of Judah in 701 provides us with a test-case for what extrabiblical evidence can and cannot tell us, for how biblical and extrabiblical evidence interrelate, and for how the preservation and distribution of evidence determines what we can know. We will examine some of the evidence for the invasion of Judah in 701 BC with particular focus on how to make use of historical evidence rigorously.