2009 Acts 29 Omaha Regional Conference: Dr. John Hannah
The purpose of this post is two-fold: 1) to give you a heads-up on a big event slated for next year at Coram Deo, and 2) to suggest a related listening project that will greatly benefit your soul.
Will, Kendal, and I have all had the privilege of studying church history under Dr. John D. Hannah, Distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. It is with great anticipation that we welcome Dr. Hannah to Omaha next February to headline an Acts 29 weekend conference on theology and church history.
Dr. Hannah’s genius is hard to describe – you have to experience it (which is why I’m asking you to listen to the podcast linked below). He is not well-known. He is not a prolific writer. He is understated in his manner and self-effacing in his style. Yet sitting under his tutelage is one of the most spiritually formative and intellectually insightful experiences you’ll ever have. He is a realist (some would say a pessimist) in a world of overly optimistic, save-the-world-tomorrow Christian hype-mongers. He’s the kind of guy who will tell you that “life is hard and then you die,” or that “revival isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” or that “if you get a 9-12% return on your efforts for the kingdom, that’s profound success.” He says in the podcast below that he made a decision early in life to be the same person in public that he is in private. So he will talk honestly about his failures in marriage and his oh-so-average prayer life and his dour pessimism about the church. And yet he does all this from a heart deeply rooted in love for Christ, a soul concerned to display the glory of God in everything, and a mind shaped by the best Puritan and Reformed scholarship in history (he is an expert on Jonathan Edwards and John Owen).
Listen to this message (from an Acts 29 regional in Dallas earlier this year), post your thoughts and comments here, and help us prepare the way for Dr. Hannah’s visit to Coram Deo early next year. More details to come.
Will, Kendal, and I have all had the privilege of studying church history under Dr. John D. Hannah, Distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. It is with great anticipation that we welcome Dr. Hannah to Omaha next February to headline an Acts 29 weekend conference on theology and church history.
Dr. Hannah’s genius is hard to describe – you have to experience it (which is why I’m asking you to listen to the podcast linked below). He is not well-known. He is not a prolific writer. He is understated in his manner and self-effacing in his style. Yet sitting under his tutelage is one of the most spiritually formative and intellectually insightful experiences you’ll ever have. He is a realist (some would say a pessimist) in a world of overly optimistic, save-the-world-tomorrow Christian hype-mongers. He’s the kind of guy who will tell you that “life is hard and then you die,” or that “revival isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” or that “if you get a 9-12% return on your efforts for the kingdom, that’s profound success.” He says in the podcast below that he made a decision early in life to be the same person in public that he is in private. So he will talk honestly about his failures in marriage and his oh-so-average prayer life and his dour pessimism about the church. And yet he does all this from a heart deeply rooted in love for Christ, a soul concerned to display the glory of God in everything, and a mind shaped by the best Puritan and Reformed scholarship in history (he is an expert on Jonathan Edwards and John Owen).
Listen to this message (from an Acts 29 regional in Dallas earlier this year), post your thoughts and comments here, and help us prepare the way for Dr. Hannah’s visit to Coram Deo early next year. More details to come.
posted by Bob | 4:39 PM
7 Comments:
I took 2 courses from Dr. Hannah while in seminary, and he is by far my favorite professor from all my time in college. So I am very excited about this! Make plans now to be there in February, and listen to his talk already!
Expert on Edwards and Puritans?! I'm already there in spirit. Bob, you better shoot me the details when you receive them.
dwhite
Hannah kind of shotguns you with excellent instruction in that message... it will probably take a few listens to digest it all. But his focus on practical, experiential discipleship to Jesus (his ideas of the "experience of redemption" and a faith that exists in the reality in which we live stuck out to me) has me pretty excited to hear him in person.
I had to put face on his voice and dry sense of humor after listening, and wasn't at all surprised to find that he looked exactly as I had pictured him in my head. http://www.dts.edu/about/faculty/jhannah/
In all seriousness, thanks for posting this! Ditto to what Lane said – this message is definitely worth a few listens to even remotely absorb or process.
If February is anywhere neat as good as this hour of Dr. Hannah, we'll need to be sure to find a sitter for the event!
As a history major at Wheaton, I took a few church history & historical theology classes with my own favorite profs. But as an amateur lay(wo)man, I am always interested in learning more. I'm not familiar with Hannah, but am excited about the idea of such a conference here in town and will have to check out the video.
I'm going to have to listen to that podcast again, since I couldn't get the volume up high enough in my car to hear without straining. But, from what I did manage to catch, Dr. Hannah sounds like a very interesting guy to learn from!
Squarepeg, nice to see another Wheaton grad around. :)
looking forward to his visit. I really got a lot from his podcast. Now for application......
Post a Comment
<< Home