By Sharon Mager
BALTIMORE–Jesus Our Redeemer Church’s E.Y. Mullins Institute is offering an ongoing lecture series to challenge, encourage and equip the local church. The first session is Aug. 28 and features Dr. Neil Shenvi who will address the topics of science and religion and then a “crash course” in apologetics to help Christians defend their faith.
Dr. Shenvi is a research scientist at Duke University. He completed his undergraduate degree at Princeton where he worked on high-dimensional function approximation. His Ph.D. is from University of California, Berkeley ,in the area of Theoretical Chemistry. It was during his doctoral pursuit that he became a follower of Jesus. Prior to his work at Duke, Dr. Shenvi was a postdoctoral associate at Yale.
In the first lecture, Dr. Shenvi will examine the purported conflicts between science and religion and will show that rather than cause people to pull away, science can actually draw them closer to a belief in God.
The second lecture of the evening is designed to help believers confidently defend their faith. Dr. Shenvi will cover the major intellectual, emotional and cultural objections to the tenets of Christian faith and then explain the basic arguments for the truth of the Bible, the resurrection and the existence of God. There will be a time for question and answer following the presentation.
Brad O’Brien, Jesus Our Redeemer Church pastor, said he and the entire church is excited about the lecture series and about the institute. He describes the institute as the equipping ministry of the church.
E.Y. Mullins pastored Lee Street Memorial Church (now doing business as Jesus Our Redeemer Church) from 1888 to 1895 and went on to be the fourth president of Southern Seminary.
O’Brien said serving in Baltimore changed Mullins. He was confronted with urban poverty and the social stratification and it was a formative time in Mullins’ life and his Christian development.
O’Brien wants the same to be true of other followers of Christ in Baltimore.
“Our desire is to provide equipping so that someone in Baltimore, even if they’re here for just a few years, can still look back and say it was a formative time in their personal life,” he said.
O’Brien said the institute is being intentional. Lectures are directed at issues in the culture, particularly in Baltimore.
Science seemed like a natural first lecture, he explained. “Science is the leading industry in the city with John Hopkins right here and with the research and development all around us.”
He notes many people live in that environment day in and day out. “We want them to be able to share their faith and navigate those waters well,” he said.
The lecture series will be regularly scheduled throughout the academic school year. There is no charge to attend. Registration is required and space is limited.
The church has no parking, so visitors should plan ahead to park in a nearby garage, bike, carpool or arrange for public transportation.
For more information, or to register, see bit.ly/EYMIAUG.