Teaching for today

Converted as a teenager, Josephine Butler become a leading social reformer. After caring for dying prostitutes in her own home, she went on to lead a national campaign to end licensed prostitution and raise the age of consent from 13 to 16.

Selina Hastings played a significant role in the 18th century Evangelical Awakening, believing all should be dedicated to the service and glory of Jesus. Henry Venn called her "a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of the church".

Charles Oxley was a member of the Christian Brethren who devoted himself to many causes. These included the inerrancy of the Bible as public truth, Christian education, and the fight against sex shops, pornography and blasphemy.

William Tyndale was the first person to translate and print the Bible in English. He was condemned, hunted and eventually murdered for his commitment to giving the laity access to word of God.

J.C. Ryle was one of the most significant churchmen of his time and his writings are still in constant demand today. During a time of confusion and heresy in the church, Ryle constantly emphasised the unique authority of Scripture.

"The one through whom all things were made, by whom and for whom all things exist." Lesslie Newbigin addresses the important subject of Christ's uniqueness and Lordship over all.

In this lecture Nick Needham focuses on Jeremiah 29:7: "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Dr Needham helpfully draws out the parallels between the exiled Jews in Babylon and Christians today.

With so many challenges coming from science, education, politics, and popular culture, there is a danger that some Christians may get swept along by the cultural drift. What do we say to Christians who start to doubt what the Bible says on essential truths? How can the faithful believer retain confidence in what the Scriptures say on these issues? If we are saved through faith, does the presence of doubt imperil our very salvation?

The media and education loudly proclaim that we are a secular society. Sociologists tend to believe that affluence, universal education, scientific and medical advances mean there is no longer any need to believe in God. They say that secularisation and modernity have gone hand in hand. But how does this claim stand up to scrutiny? Has history been distorted to make secularisation theory more plausible? And has belief persisted in a way which undermines the cherished theory?

Whatever the Bible declares is true, whether people believe in it or not. While Christians need to realistically assess the level of opposition that they will encounter in the public arena, they also need to remember the utter reliability and truthfulness of God's Word, in whatever area it addresses, as well as God's common grace to all mankind and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. We have every reason to be confident and not to lose heart.

Christian believers are often puzzled and distressed when they see the apparent triumph of evil over good. We wonder what God is doing when the ungodly prosper. This is a recurrent theme addressed in the Bible. This talk will look at the right approach for faithful believers to take. Satan wishes us to be depressed and discouraged but we must look to God and be strong.

This lecture looks at the role of rational argument in proclaiming and defending the Christian faith. Whilst the human mind is fallen, it is still possible to appeal to the conscience and use rational argument.

Lesslie Newbigin grew up in Northumberland, became a Christian at University and went on to become a missionary and Bishop in South India. He robustly defended salvation solely through Christ and Christianity as public truth.

This lecture examines the work of one of the foremost Christian thinkers of the twentieth century. Founder of L'Abri, Schaeffer wrote over 20 books on philosophy and theology. He provided a biblical critique of Western culture, teaching that the Bible is true for all of life.

Converted in the 1920s whilst Fellow and Tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford, C.S. Lewis became a powerful Christian apologist capable of speaking simply to people at every level. His best known works include Surprised by Joy, Mere Christianity, and The Narnia Chronicles.