Evangelical Perspectives on Spirituality

The face of Europe is constantly changing: new countries join the European Union, borders are more open than ever before and we see the massive movement of Europeans from one country to another within the continent. With change comes challenge on all sorts of levels: not least, challenge to the cultures that shape our nations and our continent. European culture has been significantly shaped and formed by the influence of a Christian worldview and ethic over many centuries yet that influence is increasingly marginalised within contemporary European culture. The concept of transcendence has become irrelevant, truth is relativised, ethics become situational, a wide plurality of religious and spiritual expressions exists and we also see the rise of a new and aggressive atheism and secular fundamentalism within our world. This had led to a major crisis within European society, in philosophy, momotheistic religions, the sciences, economics, the arts and general cultural expression. How are evangelical academics to respond to these trends and crisis? This conference focusses an the key importance of evangelical, theological interpretation if we are to meet the challenges of contemporary Europe. Evangelicals believe that God not only "spoke" his Word in Scripture but that "he continues to speak" his Word through Scripture. Therefore, it is important that we understand and apply the message of the Bible to the challenges and situations faced in today's Europe. The Bible speaks to issues of epistomology, truth, ethics, religious plurality, culture, worldview, and so on. The challenge is to hear and apply that message of grace within the ever-changing realities of contemporary Europe. This is the aim of the FEET Conference 2010: to aid us in our understanding of how the Scriptures lead us to respond to the challenge of a new European cultural reality and the loss of meaning in many spheres of thought and practice.