The History of Scripture at SPU
Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m.
Upper Gwinn Commons (SPU campus)
3310 Sixth Avenue West, Seattle
About the Lecture
Building on Howard Snyder’s historical study of Seattle Pacific’s founding, which notes the University’s “missionary impulse,” this year’s lecture narrates a story that plots the purposeful pairing of Scripture’s instruction with this missional taproot. Robert Wall, Paul T. Walls professor of Scripture and Wesleyan studies at SPU, will explain a Wesleyan missional hermeneutics of Scripture cued by Jesus’s Great Commission (Luke 24:44–49) and John Wesley’s sermon The General Spread of the Gospel, followed by a curated history of Scripture at SPU.
The lecture in its entirety can be viewed here.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Rob Wall
Robert Wall’s books and articles — whether aimed at other scholars or clergy — originate in the ferment of the university classroom and in conversation with his students and colleagues.
In both his published research and classroom teaching, Dr. Wall approaches the Bible as a sacred text — a “production of the Holy Spirit” — and in a manner that forms a clearer understanding of God for the people of God.
Dr. Wall, an elder of the Free Methodist Church, enjoys an active ecumenical ministry of preaching and teaching adult Bible studies in congregations of various faith traditions.
About Paul T. Walls
Paul T. Walls spent 31 years on SPU’s Board of Trustees and was known for his integrity and financial acumen. A successful career in real estate cultivated his ability to help manage the growth of Seattle Pacific from a college into a university. So too did his life of strong and active service to the Free Methodist Church at both local and national levels.
Before his death in 1998, Paul and his wife, Vera, established an educational foundation to help students realize a seminary education that provides the intellectual and spiritual leadership to stimulate and strengthen the denomination into the future.