Year-end appeal

December 2021

Dear faithful supporter:

Thank you for your financial contribution over the past year. I am deeply grateful for your concrete expression of support for my work with Global Scholars Canada. More than that, I appreciate your prayers for my international academic ministry.

Please consider making a donation at year's end so that I may continue this work. Your contribution provides:

1. a small salary to top up my private and public pensions,

2. equipment and incidentals related to my work, and

3. funding for travel, which I hope will resume once the pandemic is over.

Canadians and others may donate here: http://www.globalscholarscanada.ca/give/.

Once you are in this webpage, please scroll down to the purple bar labelled DONATION DETAILS. Under “Fund” find the name of the scholar you wish to support.

Americans can donate via this site: https://global-scholars.org/donations/give-to-a-fellow/.

Under “Select a Professor” you may “- Select a Professor-” from the list provided.

Up until 31 December 2021, an anonymous donor will match every dollar raised over and above last year's funds up to $8,000. If a particular donor gave $200 last year, what counts this year for purposes of matching is what he or she gives above the $200 amount. All new donations from people who have not previously given count towards the total. This means that if someone gave $500 last year and gives $800 this year, $300 of that will be matched by the donor. A new donor who gives $1,000 this year will in effect be giving $2,000 in total.

Thank you once again for your support, and may God bless you.

Yours,

David Koyzis

Gnosticism and the human body

This morning I received an unexpected note from Meghan Kort, assistant editor at Christian Courier, where I have published a monthly column since 1990. She wrote:

I’m just going through our CC website stats to gather a list of our top 10 articles from 2021 and I found a surprise near the top of the list. It’s not an article from this year at all, it’s from 2018! Your column “Gnosticism and the Human Body” was viewed 1176 times this past year putting it at #7 most viewed article of the year.

I can’t include it in our top 10 list since it wasn’t published in 2021, but I figured you should know about it’s popularity.

I am glad she included a link to the article, which I had forgotten I had written. Here is an excerpt:

Ukraine: Church and civil society

Recently I received a copy of the journal, Християнська думка (Christian Opinion), whose current issue (no. 3(12), 2020) is devoted to "Church and Civil Society" and carries an article of mine, "Recovering Civil Society: Two Traditions." This journal is published by the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in the capital city of Kiev.

In the same issue Jonathan Chaplin has contributed two articles and James W. Skillen one article.

The coming kingdom

Christian Courier has published my December column, which can be accessed here: The coming kingdom. An excerpt:

While our churches look back to what Christ accomplished for our salvation in the past, we also look ahead during these first two seasons in the church calendar – ahead to the Messiah’s second advent. At his expected return, all human history will be wrapped up, with God’s kingdom finally triumphing over each of its rivals. These rivals include the various political ideologies, each of which tells a redemptive story promising salvation to its followers. But they also include the more subtle desires of our hearts – desires for good things created by a good God but made too much of: career success, sexual satisfaction, fame, fortune and so forth.

Read the entire article here.

December newsletter posted

I have posted my latest Global Scholars Canada newsletter here: DECEMBER 2021 newsletter. As we are in the final weeks of the year, please consider making a financial contribution to my work. Thank you!

The Illusion of Power & Choices

Late last year I was interviewed by the Rev. Dr. James Ellis III, University Chaplain and Director of Student Ministries at Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, Canada. This was shortly after I recorded a chapel talk on Job 11 for the university. The intervew has now been posted online: The Illusion of Power & Choices and can also be streamed Spotify, Google, Apple, and various other services.

 

What is a worldview? Video lectures

My lectures to Brazil were indeed recorded, I am happy to say. Here they are:

What is a worldview? Salvador, Brazil

On 7 and 8 December I addressed the members of the Igreja Batista Vilas do Atlântico in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on the subject of "What is a worldview?" The first evening I spoke on "A Christian Worldview and Political Ideologies," based on my first book, and the second evening I lectured on "A Christian Worldview and Authority," based on my second. This was part of the church's annual Bible Celebration Week. My host was Roger Freitas, and my translator was Felipe Leite. I do not believe the event was recorded, but if I find that it was, I will link to the posted video here.

Nos dias 7 e 8 de dezembro, falei aos membros da Igreja Batista Vilas do Atlântico em Salvador, Bahia, sobre o tema "O que é uma cosmovisão?" Na primeira noite, falei sobre "Uma cosmovisão cristã e ideologias políticas", com base no meu primeiro livro, e na segunda noite dei uma palestra sobre "Uma cosmovisão cristã e autoridade", com base no segundo. Isso fazia parte da Semana de Celebração Bíblica anual da igreja. Meu anfitrião foi Roger Freitas e meu tradutor foi Felipe Leite. Não acredito que o evento tenha sido gravado, mas se eu descobrir que foi, farei o link para o vídeo postado aqui.

CARE conversation

Today I was pleased to talk remotely with the latest cohort of young people in the CARE Leadership Programme in the United Kingdom. CARE stands for Christian Action, Research, and Education, and its website tells us what it is all about:

For over 20 years CARE has been equipping a generation of Christians to be salt and light in our culture. This 12 month graduate programme gives a unique insight into Parliament, political advocacy and Christian leadership.