Contact me at iainprvn@gmail.com
Availability
I am happy to receive invitations to consult with churches and other organizations, and to speak in churches, at conferences, and in other venues, as well as to do radio interviews and podcasts. I have broad experience in all these areas. The process for arranging all such happenings is described under "Organizing an Event."
Consultancy
You can read more about my Consultancy here. Its name comes from my upcoming book (Fall 2023), Cuckoos in our Nest: Truth and Lies About Being Human (described here). Both focus on helping Christians clarify what they should believe about the nature of the human person and why, and what this means for how we live. Topics I can speak about are these:
1) In a “post-truth” society, how do we arrive at reliable answers on what is means to be human? What role does science play, for example? And how are we to read science in the context of Scripture?
2) The fundamentals of a Christian anthropology from a biblical perspective. What does it mean, for example, that we are “personal matter,” created by God in his image; what does image-bearing involve in terms of “ruling” and “subduing”; and what does it mean to be fallen and saved, as well as hopeful?
3) The implications of these fundamentals for our Christian belief and practice about matters such as: worship, human rights, life and death, gender, children, education, work, wealth, creation care, and politics.
4) What is the nature of the important “cuckoos” – alien ideologies about what it means to be human – that seek entry to our Christian nest, and where do they come from?
Among these are various ideas arising from scientism, Romanticism, Nietzscheanism, and from older Greek philosophy. They impact a wide range of questions – for example, about the nature of God and of beauty, about the relative value of information and wisdom, about human innocence and guilt, and about justice and revolution.
Other Ideas: Sermons, Lectures, Seminars, Conferences
If you are wondering what else to invite me to speak about, you might find this list helpful. If offers brief descriptions of events from past years, and the approximate length of the talks. The talks embedded within large events can also be delivered individually.
1. Multi-Day Events
o 2011 The Old Testament Reloaded
- “The Old Testament: Myths and Misconceptions”: 60 minutes.
- “The Old Testament in Intellectual and Cultural Context”: 60 minutes.
- “Who is God?”: 60 minutes.
- “What is Creation?”: 60 minutes.
- “Israel’s Covenantal Story”: 60 minutes.
- “What Good is the Law?”: 60 minutes.
- “Israel’s Story and the Gospel”: 60 minutes.
o 2015 Words of Life
- “Words about Creation (Genesis 1 and John 6:63-69)”: 60 minutes.
- “Words about God (Exodus 34:1-8; John 8:31-59)”: 60 minutes.
- “Words about Being Human (Psalm 8)”: 60 minutes.
- “Words about Evil and Suffering (Psalm 69; Acts 27:1-26)”: 60 minutes.
- “Words about Hope (Isaiah 11:1-9; John 6:35-51)”: 60 minutes.
o 2015 God So Loves
- “In the Beginning Genesis 1:1-10, 1:26-28, and John 3:13-17)”: 50 minutes.
- “Everyone Genesis 12:1-5; Genesis 15:1-6, 18; Hebrews 11:8-12)”: 50 minutes.
- “In the Midst of Sin Genesis 32:3-12 and 22-32)”: 50 minutes.
- “In the Crucible of Ministry 1 Kings 19:1-18)”: 50 minutes.
- “All the Way to the End Psalm 23 and John 10:7-15)”: 50 minutes.
o 2016 The Big Picture: Reading the Bible for All That’s There
- “In the Beginning and Now: God Creates (Psalm 104:24-35)”: 50 minutes.
- “Of Covenants and Promises: God Commits (2 Samuel 7:4-16)”: 50 minutes.
- “Of Evil and Suffering: God Saves (Psalm 73:1-14)”: 50 minutes.
- “A Holy People: God Calls (Isaiah 42:1-9)”: 50 minutes.
o 2016 “Except in Jersualem”: The Rise of Seriously Dangerous Religion
- “The Hebrew Origins of Christianity’s Subversive Idea”: 60 minutes.
- “Let’s Get Real: The Cosmos Seen from Jerusalem”: 60 minutes.
- “It Ain’t Natural: Evil and Suffering in Jerusalem”: 50 minutes.
- “On Living in a Blighted World: The Jerusalem Guide”: 60 minutes.
- “Even the Stork Knows: Right Relationships in Jerusalem”: 60 minutes.
- “I Saw the Heavenly City: Jerusalem and Politics”: 60 minutes.
- “Of Humus and Humanity: Human Nature in Jerusalem”: 60 minutes.
- “Dreams of Hope: Jerusalem Looking Forward”: 60 minutes.
o 2016 Preaching the Old Testament
- “According to the Scriptures: On Preaching the Old Testament as Christian Scripture.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves … In the Beginning: Preaching Genesis 1-11.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves the Droid who Turned Right: Preaching Genesis 12-50.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves … By Giving Us Rules: Preaching Exodus through Deuteronomy.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves … By Sending us Messengers: Preaching the Prophets.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves … in the Midst of the Ordinary: Preaching the Wisdom Literature.” 60 minutes.
- “God So Loves … On the Journey to Zion: Preaching the Psalms.” 60 minutes.
o 2017 First and Second Kings
- “The Narrative of Kings”: 75 minutes.
- “The history of Kings”: 75 minutes.
- “The theology of Kings”: 75 minutes.
2. Day or Half-Day Events
o 2014 Sabbath
- “Was God Tired (Genesis 2:1-3)? Why Did He Have to Rest, and Why Does It Matter?” 60 minutes.
- “Your Work Is Not Your Life! On Keeping the Sabbath Holy (Exodus 20:8)”: 60 minutes.
- “There Remains a Sabbath-rest” (Hebrews 4:9): The Sabbath and the Future”: 60 minutes.
o 2015 Seriously Dangerous Religion
- “Of Mice, and Men, and Hobbits: Defining Stories”: 75 minutes.
- “Slow to Anger, Abounding in Love & (Thankfully) Jealous: Who is God?”: 55 minutes.
- “What is the World?”: 55 minutes.
o 2016 Were the Reformers Wrong? Some Reflections on Protestant Biblical Interpretation
- “On the Meaning of Words: The Literal, the Spiritual, and the Plain Confusing”: 60 minutes.
- “Empty Speculations and Froth”: The Reformers and Allegorical Reading”: 60 minutes.
o 2016 Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters
- “Who is God?”: 60 minutes.
- “Who are we?”: 60 minutes.
- “How should we live?”: 60 minutes.
o 2016 God, Scripture, and Violence
- “The Goodness of God”: 45 minutes.
- “Human Life without God”: 45 minutes.
o 2017 Stand: Faithful Reading in a Faithless World
- “Standing on the Word – Why the Bible can be Trusted”: 45 minutes.
- “Standing with Clarity – How God Speaks to us Through His Word”: 45 minutes.
- “Standing till the End – The Call to Read Rightly in the World Today”: 45 minutes.
o 2018 Making Sense of the Old Testament
- “Why it is Important to Read the Old Testament”: 30 minutes.
- “How to Read the Old Testament”: 30 minutes.
- “Controversial Issues the Old Testament”: 30 minutes.
o 2018 Ambassadors: Christ in the Public Square
- "First Things: Getting Our Story Straight”: 45 minutes.
- "On Building the New Jerusalem … Slowly”: 45 minutes.
o 2019 Seriously Dangerous Religion
- “The Big Picture”: 50 minutes.
- “The God who is Good”: 50 minutes.
- “When Trouble Arises”: 50 minutes.
o 2019 Seriously Dangerous Religion
- “On the Need for a Script: Right Relationships in the Kingdom of God”: 45 minutes.
- “I Saw the New Jerusalem: On Politics and Hope”: 45 minutes.
- “The War of Myths: Is the Story True?”: 45 minutes.
3. Individual Talks
- 2007 “Creating Wealth and the Created World: The Christian Call to Stewardship and Reconciliation”: 30 minutes.
- 2011 “How the Christian Story Was Lost from Western Culture”: 45 minutes, along with “What Are We To Do About It?”: 45 minutes.
- 2011 “Earth-Keeping and People-Keeping in Old Testament Theology”: 70 minutes.
- 2011 “Does Matter Matter? Gnosticism Old and New”: 50 minutes.
- 2011 “Why Should We Read the Old Testament, and How Should We Go About It?”: 50 minutes.
- 2011 “The Way We (Really) Were: The Challenge of Modern Historiography to Christian Faith”:70 minutes.
- 2011 “The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative, 1648-2011: How Did We Get Here And What Are We To Do?”: 60 minutes.
- 2015 “The Triune God in the Old Testament? Absolutely!”: 30 minutes.
- 2016 “The Literal, the Spiritual, and the Plain Confusing: Reflections on Protestant Biblical Interpretation”: 60 minutes.
- 2016 “Christ and Culture”: two talks, 30 minutes each.
- 2017 “Engaging the Old Testament: Tips for Reading the Bible Well”: 45 minutes.
- 2017 “The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture”: 60 minutes.
- 2018 “Daniel and Discipleship”: 45 minutes.
- 2018 “The Book of Genesis (Introduction)”: 40 minutes.
- 2018 “On Building the New Jerusalem … Slowly: The Missional Church and Politics”: 40 minutes.
- 2018 “Joshua and Discipleship”: 45 minutes.
- 2019 “Dark Green Religion”: 45 minutes.
- 2019 “Our Identity in Christ”: 45 minutes.
4. Sermons
- 2015 “Of Humus and Humanity: Who Are Man and Woman?”” 30 minutes.
- 2016 “On Living in a Blighted World: Questions about Evil & Suffering”: 30 minutes.
- 2017 “The Character of God” (focused on Exodus 34): 30 minutes.
- 2018 “Psalm 23”: 30 minutes.
- 2018 “On Real Hope (Psalm 23 and 2 Corinthians 4:8-15)”: 30 minutes.
