Thank you for your interest in Common Roots: Ancient Evangelical Future Conference. We regret to say that the 2024 event The Gift of Time has been cancelled.
The Robert E. Webber Center will continue to host quality events in the future so please join our mailing list for more information.
Speakers
Matthew Levering
Dr. Matthew Levering holds the James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary. A longtime participant in ecumenical discussions, he is the author or co-author of over thirty-five books, including such works as Scripture and Metaphysics, Participatory Biblical Exegesis, Biblical Natural Law, Aquinas’s Eschatological Ethics and the Virtue of Temperance, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?, and Reconfiguring Thomistic Christology. He is currently at work on a multi-volume (quasi-)dogmatics, whose first five volumes have appeared (most recently Engaging the Doctrine of Israel). He is the editor or co-editor of over twenty books on a wide variety of topics. He serves as co-editor of two quarterly journals, Nova et Vetera and the International Journal of Systematic Theology. He is the director of the Center for Scriptural Exegesis, Philosophy, and Doctrine, and the past president (2021-22) of the Academy of Catholic Theology.
Chiara Bertoglio
Dr. Chiara Bertoglio is a professional concert pianist with a PhD in Musicology (Birmingham), a MA in History of Theological Thought (Rome) and one in Systematic Theology (Nottingham). She is the author of several books, including Reforming Music (De Gruyter, 2017), winner of the RefoRC Book Award and finalist at the Alberigo Prize, and of Musical Scores and the Eternal Present: Theology, Time, and Tolkien (Pickwick, 2021). She authored several lemmas (including “Mary”, “Nativity”, “Old Testament” and “Paradise”) for the EBR (Encyclopedia of the Bible and of its Reception); She has been invited to write the Chapter on the Trinity which will appear in theforthcoming Oxford Handbook of Music and Christian Theology (eds. Bennet Zohn and Steve Guthrie). She teaches at several institutions including theological universities. Her website is www.chiarabertoglio.com.
Paul Gutacker
Dr. Paul Gutacker serves as executive director of Brazos Fellows, a post-college community centered on common prayer, theological study, vocational discernment, and life together. Paul holds the Ph.D in History from Baylor and Th.M and MA in Theological Studies from Regent College (Vancouver, B.C.). He is the author of The Old Faith in a New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past (Oxford University Press, 2023), which received the 2023 A. Donald MacLeod Award for Presbyterian History from the Presbyterian Scholars Conference. Paul, his wife Paige, and their children James, Marianne, and Matthew enjoy life in East Waco, where they like to fish, go camping, and cheer on the Buffalo Bills.
Matthew Olver
Father Matthew Olver is the Executive Director and Publisher of the Living Church Foundation. He has taken up this post having served as a professor at Nashotah House for nearly a decade (2014-23). His research interests include sacramental theology, early liturgical development, the origin of the Roman Canon, and the development of Anglican liturgy. He has presented lectures and papers in the United States and around the world and published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He is the author of The Origin of the Roman Canon Missae and is co-authoring a volume with Nathan Jennings, Turning Points in Prayer Book History: From England, through Scotland, and to America. His wife, Kristen, is a practicing therapist. They were married in 2001 and have two children.
Rachel Fulton Brown
Dr. Rachel Fulton Brown is Associate Professor of History at the University of Chicago, where she has taught the history of medieval Christianity since 1994. She is the author of From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800-1200 (2002) and Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought (2017). She is also the founder of the Dragon Common Room, a team of poets who write and publish original stories grounded in the Christian tradition. The team is currently working on a five-act fully-illustrated allegory of the love of Christ for his bride called Draco Alchemicus.
Conference Schedule
Schedule subject to change
| Thursday, June 6 | Friday, June 7 | ||
| 1:00pm | Registration | 8:30am | Morning Prayer |
| 1:30pm | Session I | 9:15am | Continental Breakfast |
| 2:45pm | Break | 9:30am | Session II |
| 3:00pm | Focus Group I | 10:45am | Break |
| 4:30pm | Evening Prayer | 11:00am | Focus Group II |
| 5:30pm | Dinner (on own) | 12:00pm | Lunch |
| 7:00pm | Public Lecture | 1:30pm | Session III |
| 2:45pm | Break | ||
| 3:00pm | Focus Group III | ||
| 4:30pm | Evening Prayer | ||
| 5:30pm | Dinner/Focus Groups |
Event Details
Accommodations
The Sisters of St. Joseph – This is a few miles from Trinity School for Ministry’s campus. If you choose to stay here, transportation will be provided to and from Trinity. HOUSING IS LIMITED. Make your reservation early for best availability.
- Location – 1020 State Street, Baden, Pennsylvania 15005
- How to make a reservation – If you are interested in this option, please email intensives@tsm.edu. One of our staff members can assist you with your reservation.
The Cobblestone Inn – This is a hotel located directly next to Trinity School for Ministry. Amenities include a microwave and refrigerators in every guest room, in-room coffee, complimentary hot breakfast, and complimentary hotel-wide wi-fi service.
- Location – 1111 New Economy Drive, Ambridge, Pennsylvania 15003
- Phone number – 1.888.693.8262
- How to make a reservation – contact the Cobblestone directly to make your reservation. Be sure to mention The Trinity InterTerm block.
Heslet House Bed and Breakfast – A beautifully restored historic Bed and Breakfast in Old Economy Village, a five-minute walk from Trinity. Guests will enjoy a king or queen size bed, antique furnishings, ensuite bathroom, and free wi-fi.
- Location – 1427 Church Street, Ambridge, PA 15003
- Phone number – 724.241.3993
- How to make a reservation – Contact the Heslet House directly to make your reservation.
Food
Refreshments will be provided daily. Lunch will be offered on Friday for event participants. Gluten-free and dairy-free options will be available. Other dietary restrictions and needs should be communicated at least one month beforehand to our intensives@tsm.edu
Transportation
The Pittsburgh International Airport is 12 miles from the Trinity Campus and a taxi to Ambridge is approx. $30. Occasionally, students and staff from Trinity are available to pick up/drop off at the Airport. Please contact the intensives@tsm.edu for more information.
Please check with your hotel to see if there is shuttle service to and from the Airport.
COVID Protocol
No proof of vaccination or testing will be required for any courses or events. No masking or social distancing will be required.
Live-streaming
The event may be live-streamed – an announcement will be made when registration opens.
About the Conference
The New Ancient Evangelical Future
The Robert Webber Center has been hosting Ancient Evangelical Future Conferences at Trinity School for Ministry since 2013. In these conferences, top scholars have presented on a wide range of topics, including early Christian biblical interpretation, medieval wisdom, and post-Christian catechesis.
This June, the Robert Webber Center is rebooting this august tradition as Common Roots: Ancient Evangelical Future Conference as a tribute to Webber’s book Common Roots, which expresses his passionate desire to draw Christians in a fractious age towards a common center. Along with this name change comes a change in emphasis. For Webber, ressourcing the Christian tradition was always about congregational renewal, and particularly, lay catechesis. Our vision for our 2023 conference is to honor his vision by creating venues for participants to tease out the implications of the scholarly presentations for their own ministry contexts. Participants will be invited to select from a number of ministry streams, including adult catechesis, liturgy, music, preaching, children’s ministry, classical education, and homeschooling.
We are working with experienced leaders in these areas, who will both bring together participants who share their ministry context, and lead them in discussion throughout the event. Our hope is the relationships that are formed in these discussions will be the basis of mutual encouragement throughout the year. Please reach out to intensives@tsm.edu if you would like to help us in this work.
Past Conferences
- June 5-7, 2013 – The Word and the Creeds: Reading Scripture in the Light of the Church’s Ancient Faith
- June 5-6, 2014 – As We Worship, So We Believe: How Christian Worship Forms Christian Faith
- June 4-5, 2015 – For the Life of the World: The Church’s Mission in a Pluralistic Age
- June 9-10, 2016 – Christian Formation in a Post-Christian World
- June 8-9, 2017 – Medieval Wisdom 500 Years after the Reformation
- June 7-8, 2018 – Being Human in a Posthuman Age
- June 6-7, 2019 – Modern Christians Seeking Ancient Roots
- June 4-5, 2020 – Engaging the Doctrine of Creation
To access video and audio recordings of past conferences, please click on the conference links above.