Video
2021 J.J. Thiessen Lecture Series - Mediation and the Immediate God (videos)
with Dr. Edith M. Humphrey William F. Orr Professor Emerita of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
In this lecture series, amplified in a forthcoming book, Mediation and the Immediate God (Darton, Longman, and Todd 2022), Edith M. Humphrey pursued a long-standing debated question: how we can both say that God has a direct relationship with each Christian, and that God uses others in order to bring us to health and glory? Guided by key scriptural passages, and key understandings of this topic and these passages, we probe the significance of intercessory prayer and our mutual dependence in the body of Christ.
The first lecture lays a common foundation by looking to the chief mediator between God and humanity, the LORD Jesus. Lecture two considers our common mediation for each other, and for those outside the Church. Finally, in lecture three considers how the matriarchs in Matthew's gospel provide a model for mediation, and venture into the debated topic of the mediation of the saints. In the end, we will see how mediation is an essential mark of the Church: Christians are meant to be mediators, because we bear the image of Christ, the Great Mediator.
About Dr. Humphrey
Edith Mary Humphrey is the William F. Orr Professor Emerita of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She earned her doctorate from McGill University, Montréal, for which she received the Governor General's Gold Medal, and then lectured at several Canadian universities, while serving as music director for St. George Anglican Church, Ottawa, before taking her position in Pittsburgh. Married to her husband Chris for 46 years, she is a mother of three daughters and sons-in-law, and grandmother to 20 grandchildren. Edith's earliest Christian formation was in the Salvation Army North Toronto Corps, and she was a Salvation Army Officer in Ontario and Quebec with her husband for five years. She then was active in the Anglican communion for 25 years, and was finally chrismated in the Orthodox Church 12 years ago. Since her retirement in January 2021, she has continued to teach in various milieux, write, and speak frequently in Christian and academic contexts.
Humphrey is the author of numerous articles and nine books on topics as diverse as apocalypses, worship, Christian spirituality, human sexuality, and C.S. Lewis. Her most recent book, Beyond the White Fence, is a novel for middle school children in which six young people travel in time and space to meet the saints for which they are named. Our sessions for this series concern Mediation and the Immediate God, a book in progress that will be published in 2022 by Darton, Longman, and Todd.
Lecture #1: Tuesday, October 18, 11:00 AM
CMU Chapel
Mediation, the "Immediate" God, and Our Great Mediator
Lecture #2: Tuesday, October 18 7:00 PM
CMU Chapel
Mediation Inside and Outside the Household of God
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