Gert Kwakkel is from the Netherlands, and spends several months each year at Faculté Jean Calvin teaching Old Testament and Hebrew. Listen to this 15-minute interview with Huguenot Fellowship Trustee and Seminary Board Member Ruth Ann Leduc as Gert shares about the Lord leading him into ministry, the partnership between Dutch churches and Faculté Jean Calvin, and how we can be praying for the seminary.
Jean-Philippe Bru Interview
Jean-Philippe Bru is Occupant of the James M. Boice Chair of Practical Theology and Academic Dean at the seminary Faculté Jean Calvin in Aix-en-Provence. At the start of this new academic year, Ruth Ann Leduc, Huguenot Fellowship Trustee and member of the seminary board, sits down with Professor Bru to talk about this year's enrollment, encouragements and prayer needs for the seminary.
Catch up with what God is doing through Faculté Jean Calvin with this 12-minute interview.
Click here to view.
Yannick Imbert Videos
Dr. Yannick Imbert, Professor and Occupant of the William Edgar Chair of Apologetics at Faculté Jean Calvin, recently participated in the 2023 Missions Conference of Lansdale Presbyterian Church.
LPC has graciously permitted The Huguenot Fellowship to share two videos of this event.
Chris Kennedy, Lead Pastor, interviews Yannick (starting at 5:30 into the video) Click here.
Yannick’s sermon Desiring the King and His Kingdom Click here
Hear Yannick Imbert
Yannick Imbert
A special announcement for those in the greater Philadelphia area: Lansdale Presbyterian Church will host a Missions Conference on Sunday, March 5th featuring Dr. Yannick Imbert, Professor and Occupant of the William Edgar Chair of Apologetics at Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix-en-Provence, France.
When: March 5, 2023: 9:15am Sunday School, 10:30am Service, 5:00-7:30pm Dinner (Gym) and Presentation (Worship Center)
Where: Lansdale Presbyterian Church, 450 Oak Park Rd, Hatfield, PA (Click on the address for directions.)
Jesus without the Chuch?
The webinar "Jesus sans l'Eglise?” with Pierre-Sovann Chauny, Professor of Systematic Theology at Faculté Jean Calvin," is available online (in French). Click here. For those of you who read French better than comprehend spoken French, be sure to turn on French subtitles in YouTube by clicking on the cogged-wheel icon (lower right on YouTube screen), select “Subtitltes/CC”, and then select “French (auto-generated)”. (Please keep in mind that some content may be lost or altered in translation, because these subtitles were creasted by YouTube and not by FJC.)
Can you be interested in Jesus, but not the Church? Or can you be a Christian and not be part of a local church? What does the Bible say about this?
Jean-Philippe Bru Interview
Jean-Philippe Bru is Occupant of the James Boice Chair of Practical Theology at Faculté Jean Calvin. He has been teaching at the seminary in Aix-en-Provence since 2012. Besides teaching Practical Theology, being actively involved in the local church and serving as President of the Ministers' Commission for the Evangelical Reformed denomination, Jean-Philippe has recently been appointed Academic Dean of the seminary.
Huguenot Fellowship Trustee Ruth Ann Leduc catches up with Jean-Philippe to talk about his new role and the joys and challenges for Faculté Jean Calvin at the start of this new academic year. Listen to this 10-minute interview here.
Book Review
Yannick Imbert, From Imagination to Faërie
For many the word “myth” means fable or fantasy. History is real, and a story is a story. Yannick Imbert would dispute that. And so would J. R. R. Tolkien, who is the subject of this wonderful book. The connection, surprisingly, between a mythic imaginary and the history of England was Tolkien’s life-long pursuit. Tolkien felt making a greater connection was overdue.
Readers and movie-goers may be surprised to discover such profundities. Their love of the stories, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion will be greatly enhanced if they will take the time to delve into this book. Many of us have been bedazzled by Tolkien’s work. Counter-intuitively from a seemingly obscure career as a philologist with a strong interest in mythology he became a modern rock star, owing to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings. Names like Frodo, Gandalf and Sauron became household words. There is even a school in Washington called Rivendell. At least two of our friends named their daughters Eowyn. The story became a blockbuster film. Whence did this phenomenon arise? Yannick Imbert lets us know.
This study is not for the faint of heart. Dr Imbert takes us deep into the thought and background of Tolkien, nurtured by several influences, some of which may be unknown to modern readers. He introduces us to a few of the main inspirations on his views. Some of them are now forgotten Victorian language scholars. Friedrich Max Müller (1832-1930) is considered the father of the scientific theory of religion. Müller was concerned about the decline of piety and the rise of secularity in his day. While he never belittled the Bible, he had a keen interest in different religions, including Hinduism. He disparaged folklore as a “disease of language”. His significance for understanding Tolkien is his attention to language as a key to worldviews. One of his major critics was Andrew Lang (1844-1912) who believed that human reason would gradually triumph over mythic superstitions.
The more decisive influence on Tolkien was the unique Owen Barfield (1898-1997). Barfield is remembered as a close friend of C. S. Lewis, who led him to Christ, and a predominant member of the Inklings, the unique study group which read and analyzed manuscripts together for decades. His philosophy has it that language, myth and perception were originally one. Going further, he posited that the literal and the metaphorical means of language were originally inseparable. For example, the word pneuma meant, at once, breath, spirit, wind and principle of life (115). They subsequently became fragmented, and the mythologist must endeavor to discover their original unity. Thus, he strongly contested Müller. Though he accepted parts of evolutionary theory, he thought “primitive language” was just as rich, if not more so, than modern language.
The significance of the book’s title may puzzle readers unfamiliar with the tradition of fairy stories. Imagination is the human trait that connects ideas to reality. Faërie is the place where all good things happen.
Perhaps Dr. Imbert’s most significant contribution is to trace the influence of Thomas Aquinas on Tolkien’s approach. Tolkien was a strong Roman Catholic, and while he does not argue specifically about his theological views, it is clear that Thomas’ views on natural theology and his understanding of what Protestants call “general revelation” is palpable. His program of “subcreation” is very close to what Thomas says about the created replica of the divine model. He was in this close to his colleague C. S. Lewis, who, though, remained an Anglican.
Dr. Imbert has given us a major work of intellectual history. It answers many questions and raises a number of others. Why was there no tradition of English mythology before him? Why did Finland develop one of the richest? Is there any significant French mythic tradition? What exactly about Thomism can a French Protestant, like him, admire? Perhaps a second book is in the purview. Thank you for this first one, such an enlightening study.
William Edgar
Professor Emeritus of Apologetics
Westminster Theological Seminary
Professeur associé Faculté Jean Calvin
To keep the flame alive!
As we recently celebrated just over 500 years since the Protestant Reformation we felt grateful for one of the most important treasures this movement entrusted to future generations: submissive and intelligent commitment to the Bible, the ability to discern the truth in the text, to distinguish between good and bad interpretations and to listen to the voice of God revealed in the Scriptures. The spirit of the Reformation leads us into thinking in a way that is captive to Christ and his kingdom, wholly other than all imposed dogmas and issues pushed by the contemporary powers of "this world". If the church is to fulfill its calling, it must remain faithful to this inheritance. Should the church stray from its true vocation, it is liable to fall prey to the pressures of power groups, ideological factions and economic trends.
The Kingdom of God is based on a different mindset from the one that governs the social and political fabric of this world (Mk 10:35-45).
The principles of life and the norms of behaviour that correspond to the calling of the church must be governed by Christ’s mindset. As we remember the Reformation ideal, we can affirm that the church is, or should be, a community that hears in the Biblical text a voice that speaks louder than the multiple voices in society which seek to control the way we think and behave.
And such is the vocation of the Faculté Jean Calvin: to keep the flame of this ideal alive! By supporting the work of the FJC, you are helping to ensure that the church in the French-speaking world (and beyond!) can still be trained and equipped to respond faithfully to the Master's call.
Rodrigo F. de Sousa
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament
Director of Master’s Program
Faculté Jean Calvin