A distance-student once said, jokingly : « Michaël is part of the furniture at the Faculté Jean Calvin ». We began studying Theology at the same time, in 2006, he as a distance student and me a residental student. Sometimes it’s hard for the distance students to see the full-time students get their degrees and leave the Faculté while they have to plod on, their programme being spread over a much longer period.
The Faculty To See Further
Pray for the 122 students enrolled this year in our various programs.
Pray for our Dream Team of 9 teachers, including 2 new professors
(Old Testament / Hebrew and Systematic Theology).
Pray for the 25 members of the Faculty Council which lead our ship.
Pray for the associations and individuals, in France and abroad, which we support spiritually and financially.
Gill Daudé
Finding A Way Forward
September, 2016
Dear Friends,
Pierre Manent is the recently retired Director of L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, in Paris. His comments on the present condition of France and the European Union are illuminating (Much of what follows comes from his article, Repurposing Europe, found in First Things, April 2016).
In his view the inability of France to find a way forward these days, which explains its incapacity to contain violent Islamism, is connected with its recent history. For the generation immediately after World War II, Charles de Gaulle’s grand vision was for a great and purposeful nation. But for the next generation, inhibited by his authoritarian ways, it was the “revolution” of May, 1968, which shaped French identity. In effect, these “events” fostered a relaxation of almost everything, combined with the justification of almost anything in the name of human rights.
Manent goes on to say that for a while, what French people could not find in their own government, they looked for in the European Union. But soon that became not only empty but frustrating (the recent “Brexit” is a more extreme form of the frustration from their neighbor to the North). Today, short-term technical fixes and hollow platitudes are all we can find. But where, he asks, is the leadership, deeply committed to French heritage? And where is the Christian church, which used to affirm the better parts of that heritage? That voice has been powerless, silenced by a misguided notion of human rights.
Our Seminary in Aix is about to open for its forty-second academic year. We are expecting around 100 students. The faculty is at full strength. The library is fully functional. But what does this matter, compared to the size of the problem and the inertia of the cultural moment? It matters a great deal. If Pierre Manent is right, then refurbishing old churches and planting new ones should make the difference between the lax culture of May ’68 and a commitment to true human rights, based on biblical principles. And, difficult as it may appear, the church could inspire the French government to find the best way of handling the increasing presence of Islam. Please pray for such a true revolution to occur within our own generation.
Very Truly Yours,
William Edgar
President
You Have My Word
Jean-Pierre Civelli
Timothée and Camille Calvot
We both studied at the Faculté Jean Calvin in Aix and got married six months after I had finished my Bachelor’s. We began married life in the Paris region, where Timothée was doing an internship in a church. In September 2011 we came to work in Marseille, Timothée as a full-time pastor in a church-plant with the Reformed Evangelical Protestant Churches.
Aguy Khayiguian
A word to those who are wondering whether they have a vocation for ministry
On my first vsit to the Faculté I was struck by a certain look in the eyes of the students I saw. I soon realised that this was because they felt called to serve God. As the academic assistant, dealing with student recruitment, I would be on the front line, dealing with new candidates who come with a desire to serve but who also have their strengths and weaknesses.