22/07/2020

Summer Holidays at Last!

Despite the fact that we are in the midst of summer holidays and EST staff members are taking their holidays at various times, the promotion team members are working hard to promote the Evangelical School of Theology in Poland and abroad alike.

This time of year is very busy for the team and full of promotional activities such as: distribution of leaflets, contacting interested persons and putting advertisements on mass media. Thanks to the Internet, in the next academic year, EST students are no longer limited by space. They may study online and benefit from being an EST student in many possible ways. Thus, the promotion team is doing their best to make it happen.

One of the results of these activities was an online meeting featuring EST students and the students from the Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. The meeting took place on July 14 and it was a follow-up to the interview “Christianity in the Age of Anxiety” with Dr. Brian Blount, the president of the Union Presbyterian Seminary, taken by Dr. Wojciech Szczerba, who is the president of the Evangelical School of Theology. The students were sharing their views and perceptions concerning the interview. Needless to say, the meeting was a wonderful experience enabling its participants from both sides of the ocean to express their opinions and it will certainly be repeated in the future.

The mentioned above interview is available on our Youtube channel

On July 14, there was also a very interesting lecture given as part of the EWSTonline series and led by Dr. Lukasz Maskos-Nysler, a philosopher. At EST, he teaches the use of language in a religious or theological context (Art of writing and Art of speaking courses). During the lecture, he analyzed various ways of understanding the idea of theology. In a general way, theology is about talking or thinking about God. Dr. Maskos-Nysler explained the differences between positive (cataphatic) and negative (apophatic) theology. He also answered questions about assumptions concerning our abilities to describe God. What can really be said or thought about God? Is it possible to say anything? These issues were touched upon by Dr. Maskos-Nysler during his lecture.

Recently, an article by Dr. Wojciech Szczerba was published as part of the book “Reformation 500. Cultural and Social Impact of the Protestant Reformation 1517-2017”. It was published in English by the Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Romania. The article is a broad analysis of the role and functioning of Evangelical Christianity in the modern world. It shows the historical, social and cultural background of the development of Evangelicalism and its “intertwining” with the beginnings of modern civil movements. It also refers to current problems and challenges. “Evangelical Protestantism growing out of the 16th century Reformation on the one hand, created good foundations for the development of civic attitudes, on the other hand, it has many elements which may hinder this development”, emphasizes Dr. Szczerba.

The article is available on EWST website.

Please pray for:

  1. Safe summer holidays for all students, staff members and friends of the Evangelical School of Theology.
  2. Valuable time of resting and being refreshed. Let the holidays be a time of renewing our spiritual strength and deepening our relationships with God.