Faculté Jean Calvin equipped me to serve the Church

Samuel Kamano

I came to Aix-en-Provence from Guinea in West Africa in September 1992. My wife and three daughters (Cécile, Anne, Kaffa and Dorcas) came to join me in May 1993.

I came to the Faculté Jean Calvin because I wanted to get a better grasp of Reformed theology in all its diversity. From very early on I was excited to be exploring so many different areas of theology (soteriology, ethics, ecclesiology and practical theology etc.) and I enjoyed all the courses. The teaching was interesting and highly motivational, so boosted my enthusiasm for academic work. I made good progress though it was a real challenge for me to get through the academic program and I had to put in a lot of hard work.

What I was taught at the Faculté Jean Calvin equipped me to serve the Church in Guinea. Reformed education not only impacted my pastoral ministry but also enabled me to be useful to my country in various ways.

- National Reconciliation

Guinea has been through some very difficult times in recent history. From 2006 to 20O9 the whole country was in turmoil and we were even on the brink of civil war. During this time God used the Christian Council of Guinea, made up of the leaders of the three major churches (Catholic, Protestant and Anglican) to find a peace process, and indeed, lasting solutions were found. At that time, I was writing my doctoral thesis on Psalm 85 (Righteousness and peace kiss each other).

- Church planting in Conakry City

When I came back to Guinea in January 1997 the leaders of my church put me in charge of a local church in the capital with 150 members. Having defined my objectives and set up a plan of action I started working hard, putting into practice all the pastoral techniques I had learned at the Faculté Jean Calvin. Before long there were eight large churches in the Conakry area.

- Media (National Radio and Television)

I have both trained preachers to take the gospel to unreached peoples and set up a team of technicians to produce films to help people become aware of the issues that plague our society and to teach a biblical view of civic responsibilities.

- President of the EPEG (l􏰁’Eglise Protestante Evangélique de Guinée) In April 2006, during the most difficult period in our country, the National Council of the Evangelical Protestant Church of Guinea asked me to become its president. Lots of things have happened in the life of EPEG, lots of progress has been made but it hasn􏰁’t been all smooth sailing.

- Founding a school in the city of Conakry

On our return to Guinea in October 1997 we founded a school (nursery, elementary and secondary) in Enta Sud Fassa, Conakry. Since that time God has blessed us in so many ways. At present there are 1,725 students in the school. Soli Deo Gloria! For two years we tried to get the Guinean Secretary of State to visit the school and finally he came. He was surprised by what he saw and this is what he said: "I enrolled all my children in Emmaus school as soon as it opened because I knew that Christians provide a good education. I could have sent them anywhere, to a French school, for example, but something attracts me to this place, something that I find nowhere else..." Our response? "In God we will do mighty deeds".

Samuel Kamano

Passing the Baton

William Edgar

November, 2019

Dear Friends,

After more than thirty years of writing these newsletters, I will be moving to pass the baton over to our splendid new President, Paul Wolfe, although occasionally I may collaborate. I wish to express my profound gratitude for the opportunity the newsletter has afforded me to reflect on the need for the gospel in France, and especially to the kind readers, many of whom have expressed their appreciation. For the moment we do not plan any radical changes. So, the remaining text will be authored by Paul, in his maiden foray. Again, many thanks.

Very Truly Yours,
William Edgar

Paul D. Wolfe

And with that, I take the baton from Bill and I start running. And I hold on to Isaiah 40:31 as I get going: “they shall run and not be weary”!

As some of you are aware, at the most recent meeting of the Huguenot Fellowship, Bill Edgar brought to a close his lengthy and faithful tenure as our President. And the Board elected me to the role after him. (Thankfully, Bill and his wonderful wife Barbara will remain on our Board and continue to lend their wisdom and creativity.)

I suppose a word of introduction is in order. I have had the privilege of serving on the Board of the Huguenot Fellowship since 2015. The congregation I serve as Senior Pastor, New Hope Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Fairfax, Virginia, supported the Huguenot Fellowship for many years prior to my joining the Board, and has continued to do so. My wife Christy and I live in Fairfax with our three children, whom we have promised to take to France on vacation soon. And they are most unlikely to let us forget the promise!

The opportunity to serve the Huguenot Fellowship in this new capacity is simultaneously humbling and exciting for me. The seminary’s ministry is vital, my fellow Board members are fantastic, and the need for the gospel in France (of which Bill has already made mention) is great.

Which brings me back to Bill. Surely words of honor are in order too.

The Huguenot Fellowship was founded in 1977 for the purpose of rallying support here in the United States for the Reformed seminary in Aix-en-Provence, France, now known as Faculté Jean Calvin (FJC). That means it’s been 42 years! Forty-two years of getting the word out about FJC and supporting it from across the Atlantic. Forty-two years of newsletters and prayer, soirées and more prayer, receiving contributions from donors far and wide and providing crucial financial assistance to the seminary—and more prayer. And for thirty of those forty-two years, Bill Edgar has wisely led and guided us.

And he’s been uniquely qualified to do so. Bill has brought to the role of President his “perfect storm” of experience, wisdom, and dedication: not only did he grow up in France, but then he taught at the seminary in Aix for eleven years before moving his family to the United States in 1989 to teach at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Bill knows France well: its language, its history, its people, its mindset. His ties to FJC have been close, strong, and long-lasting. Most of all, he’s spent a lifetime teaching and defending the very gospel that FJC continues to inculcate into the hearts and minds of its students. It would be difficult to overstate the impact Bill has had during his long service as our President.

As a way of marking this moment of transition in the life of our organization, would you consider contributing a special financial gift this year in honor of Bill’s service—a gift not only to support FJC in its ongoing mission, but also to express your gratitude for Bill’s extraordinary decades-long leadership? You may do so...
By mail: The Huguenot Fellowship; P.O. Box 877; Glenside, PA, 19038.
Online: Visit www.huguenotfellowship.org, and follow the “Contribute” link in the upper right.

Faculté Jean Calvin stands as a beacon for the gospel in France today, and the Huguenot Fellowship remains resolved to see that light shine for generations to come. Keep standing with us, dear friends!

Yours in Christ,
Paul D. Wolfe

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

Gert Kwakkel / Old Testament & Hebrew

DURING THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, LET’S INCLUDE OUR THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR EACH OF THE DEDICATED, GIFTED, HARDWORKING TEACHERS AT THE FACULTÉ JEAN CALVIN.

Gert Kwakkel, Ancien testament et hébreu

Professeur d’Ancien Testament à la Faculté de Théologie des Églises Réformées (Libérées) à Kampen, Pays-Bas.

Formation

Licence et Maîtrise en Théologie à la Faculté de Théologie des Églises Réformées (Libérées) à Kampen, Pays-Bas, et à la FLTR à Aix-en-Provence.

Doctorat en Théologie et Sciences des Religions à l’Université de Groningen, Pays-Bas, en 2001. Sujet de thèse: exégèse des psaumes 7, 17, 18, 26 et 44 (les dits psaumes d’innocence).

Publications

‘According to My Righteousness’. Upright Behaviour as Grounds for Deliverance in Psalms 7, 17, 18, 26, and 44, Leiden, Brill, 2002.

« Prophets and Prophetic Literature », dans H.G.L. Peels et S.D. Snyman (eds), The Lion Has Roared. Theological Themes in the Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament, Eugene, Pickwick, 2012, p. 1-13.

« Hosea, Prophet of God’s Love », dans H.G.L. Peels et S.D. Snyman (eds), The Lion Has Roared. Theological Themes in the Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament, Eugene, Pickwick, 2012, p. 27-39.

« That Practical Old Testament », dans Lux Mundi, no. 31, 2012, p. 80-82.

« Calvijns evangelisatiekamp in Frankrijk », dans Nader Bekeken, no. 20, 2013, p. 81-83

Articles récents

Les Israélites devaient-ils être sauvés par leur obéissance à la loi ? in Y. Imbert (dir.), Foi et Oeuvres, Actes du Carrefour théologique 2017, Kerygma et Excelsis 2019, p. 25-44.

Le désespoir d’Elie et la thérapie de Dieu en 1 Rois 19.1-8, La Revue Réformée n° 283, Kerygma 2017, p. 39-48.

La violence envers les incroyants dans l’Ancien Testament, La Revue Réformée n° 282, Kerygma 2017, p. 19-36.

Le lecteur comme objet principal de l’exégèse biblique, La Revue Réformée n° 281, Kerygma 2017, p. 1-12.

Michel Johner / Ethics & Church History

DURING THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, LET’S INCLUDE OUR THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR EACH OF THE DEDICATED, GIFTED, HARDWORKING TEACHERS AT THE FACULTÉ JEAN CALVIN.

Michel Johner, Éthique et histoire de l'Église

Pasteur des Églises protestantes réformées évangéliques.

.Formation

Docteur en histoire  (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes en Sorbonne).

Master en théologie (Faculté Jean Calvin).

.Publications

« Vivre dans le monde jusqu’où ? Le protestantisme entre repli et compromission », dans La Revue Réformée, no 239, 2006/4, septembre 2006, tome LVII, p. 63-78.

A quoi sert le mariage ?, Aix-en-Provence : Kerygma, 1997.

Divorce et remariage, Collection Etincelles no 7, Aix-en-Provence : Kerygma, 2006.

La célébration religieuse du mariage étendue au PACS et au concubinage ?, Aix-en-Provence : Kerygma, collection Etincelles no 1, 2002.

« La vocation chrétienne de la sexualité », dans WELLS Paul (sous la direction de), Bible et sexualité, Cléon d’Andran et Aix-en-Provence, Excelsis et Kerygma, 2005, collection « Terre Nouvelle », p. 97-118.

« Fin des temps et éthique chrétienne », dans La Revue Réformée no 206, 2000/1, janvier 2000, Tome LI, p. 69-89.

 Articles récents

La Déclaration commune luthéro-catholique sur la doctrine de lustification. Portée et limites, in Y. Imbert (dir.), Foi et Oeuvres, Actes du Carrefour théologique 2017, Kerygma et Excelsis 2019, p. 111-154.

L’Evangile et la violence : du pacifisme à la guerre légitime, dans La Revue Réformée n° 282, Kerygma 2017, p. 99-160.

Apprendre à aimer : les turbulences de l’amour dans la pensée contemporaine, dans La Revue Réformée n° 278, Kerygma 2016, p. 3-42.

Aux fondements de l’alliance de grâce : la promesse faite à Abraham, dans La Revue Réformée n° 278, Kerygma 2016, p. 3-29.

Yannick Imbert / Apologetics & Church History, Academic Dean

DURING THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, LET’S INCLUDE OUR THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR EACH OF THE DEDICATED, GIFTED, HARDWORKING TEACHERS AT THE FACULTÉ JEAN CALVIN.

Yannick Imbert, Apologétique et histoire de l'Église

Doyen et président des Editions Kerygma

Membre de la commission de théologie, Conseil National des Evangéliques de France.

Il contribue régulièrement au blog Évangile 21 et est administrateur du site d’apologétique culturel Visio Mundus.

Formation

Doctorat en théologie à Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphie, É-U., 2010.

DEA en théologie à la Faculté Jean Calvin, 2005.

DESS en Management inter-culturel et Médiation religieuse, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Aix-en-Provence, 2005.

Publications

Rechercher l’immortalité : folie ou réalité ? Le défi du transhumanisme, Farel/GBU, 2016.

Albator, pirate ou prophète, Kerygma, 2014.

Croire, Expliquer, Vivre : Introduction à l’apologétique, Excelsis et Kerygma, 2014

Publications (éditeur)

L’apologétique de Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), Kerygma, 2014.

Foi et oeuvres. Actes du Carrefour théologique organisé les 3-4 mars 2017 par la Faculté Jean Calvin, Excelsis et Kerygma, 2019.

Herman Dooyeweerd, Au crépuscule de la pensée occidentale, trad. Vincent Marty-Terrain, Kerygma, 2018.

Philosopher avec foi. Jean Brun (1919-1994), Kerygma, 2014.

Une théologie dans le monde : Perspectives contemporaines sur la théologie de Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), Kerygma, 2014.

Articles récents

La Justification par la foi: un remède aux angoisses sociales ? in Foi et Oeuvres, Actes du Carrefour théologique 2017, Kerygma et Excelsis, 2019, p. 155 à 172

Les nouveaux champs de mission, La Revue Réformée n° 287, Kerygma 2018, p. 59-82.

Reconsidérations concernant l’évangéliste, Cahiers Ecole Pastorale n° 105, 2017, p.61-76.

Nécessité d’une réflexion théologique sur la paternité intellectuelle, La Revue Réformée n° 283, Kerygma 2017, p. 61-82.

Rodrigo de Sousa / Old Testament & Hebrew

DURING THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, LET’S INCLUDE OUR THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR EACH OF THE DEDICATED, GIFTED, HARDWORKING TEACHERS AT THE FACULTÉ JEAN CALVIN.

Rodrigo de Sousa, Ancien testament et hébreu

Directeur des 2ème et 3ème cycles

Pasteur des Églises presbytériennes du Brésil.

.Formation

Professeur invité à North-West University en Afrique du Sud (depuis 2012).

Docteur en hébreu University of Cambridge, Royaume Uni (2008).

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen – Allemagne (bourse DAAD) (2007).

Université de Paris IV – Sorbonne – France (bourse Spalding Trust for the Study of Religion) (2007).

Maitrise en Théologie (M.Div.) Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO, É.-U.A (2004).

Licence en Lettres Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brésil (2000)..

Publications

Isaiah. The Latin American Bible Commentary/Comentário Bíblico Contemporáneo. Grand Rapids: Zondervan / Langham Partnership International, 2016 (à paraître).

avec Leite, F. B (dir.). Literatura Cristã Primitiva: Olhares Bakhtinianos. São Paulo: Fonte Editorial, 2014. (La littérature du christianisme primitif: perspectives bakhtiniennes).

Bitun, R. & De Sousa, R. F. (dir.) Estudos sobre Durkheim e a Religião – 100 anos de « As Formas Elementares da Vida Religiosa ». São Paulo: Academia Cristã, 2014. (Études sur Durkheim et la religion: 100 ans de « Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse »).

Bornholdt, S. R. C. & De Sousa, R. F. (dir.) Ciências da Religião, Teologia e Sociedade: Novas Perspectivas. São Paulo: Editora Reflexão, 2011. (Sciences Religieuses, théologie et société: nouvelles perspectives).

Eschatology and Messianism in LXX Isa 1-12. London/New York, T&T Clark, 2010.

Shifting Christian Identities in Brazil : What the Numbers (Do Not) Show, Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2016 (Brill).

Articles récents

Sabbat et travail dans la spiritualité biblique: leçons du Pentateuque, in Y. Imbert (dir.), Foi et Oeuvres, Actes du Carrefour théologique 2017, Kerygma et Excelsis, 2019, p 193-203.

Donald Cobb / New Testament & Greek

DURING THIS SEASON OF THANKSGIVING, LET’S INCLUDE OUR THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR EACH OF THE DEDICATED, GIFTED, HARDWORKING TEACHERS AT THE FACULTÉ JEAN CALVIN.

Donald Cobb, Nouveau testament et grec

Membre de la commission de théologie des Églises protestantes réformées évangéliques.

Membre de la commission d’implantation d’Églises du Conseil National des Évangéliques de France (CNEF).

Formation

Doctorat en Théologie à la Faculté de Théologie Catholique de Lyon, sur le sens et la fonction de l’alliance dans l’épître de Paul aux Galates, 2015.

Licence et Master en Théologie à la Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée.

Publications

« Implantation d’Églises », dans Christophe Paya et Bernard Huck, sous dir., Dictionnaire de théologie pratique, Charols, Excelsis, 2011.

Articles récents

La « Nouvelle perspective » sur Paul donne t-elle tort à l’exégèse de Luther ? in Y. Imbert (dir.), Foi et Oeuvres, Actes du Carrefour théologique 2017, Kerygma et Excelsis 2019, p. 75-94.

L’Eglise et la mission : quelques définitions et distinctions en rapport avec l’engagement du Cap, La Revue Réformée n° 286, Kerygma 2018, p. 113-142.

La justification par la foi chez Sanders, Luther et Calvin, La Revue Réformée n° 285, Kerygma 2018, p. 69-92.

Comment comprendre nos conflits d’interprétation ? La Revue réformée n° 284, Kerygma 2017, p. 1à 24.