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Event Series: Logos Seminar

Date

September 9, 2024 at 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM EDT

Location

Chesterton House – 111 The Knoll

Host / Instructor

Ryan O’Dowd

Senior Academic Advisor

Ryan O’Dowd

Senior Academic Advisor

Ryan O’Dowd is the Pastor of Christ Church of Atlanta and Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House. Ryan started volunteering with Chesterton House in 2010 while serving on Air Force active duty at Cornell ROTC. He briefly served on the governing board before joining the staff in 2013. His academic research focuses on biblical wisdom and law and their intersection with Christian ethics. He has written several essays and book chapters as well as five books on topics related to biblical law and wisdom literature including “The Preacher’s Hebrew Commentary on Deuteronomy” (Hendrickson, 2024) and “Proverbs” (Zondervan, 2017). Ryan is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (1994), Reformed Theological Seminary, and the University of Liverpool (PhD). He and his wife, Amy, have three grown children and recently moved to Atlanta with their youngest daughter.

 

Select publications:

Books:

  • The Preacher’s Hebrew Commentary on Deuteronomy (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson) forthcoming
  • Proverbs, ESV Bible Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022)
  • Proverbs, Story of God Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017)
  • Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, with Craig Bartholomew (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Academic Press, 2011)
  • The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature, FRLANT (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009)

Articles and chapters:

  • “Pain and Danger: Unpleasant Sayings and the Structure of Proverbs,”Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 80 (2018) 619–35
  • “Aesthetic Shaping of Agur’s Oracle in Proverbs 30:1–9,”Inner Biblical Allusion in the Poetry of Psalms and Wisdom, eds. Mark Boda, Kevin Chau, Beth Tanner, Society of Biblical Literature (Atlanta: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2018) 103–119
  • “A Prophet in the Sage’s House? Origins of the Feminine Metaphors in Proverbs,”Riddles and Revelations: Explorations into the Relationship between Wisdom and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, eds. Mark Boda, Russell Meek, William R. Osborne (LHBOTS; London: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark: 2018) 165–79
  • “Wisdom and Poetry,” The Old Testament: A Christian Companion, ed. Hywel Clifford (Norwich: SCM Press, 2016) 101–129
  • “Epistemology in Ecclesiastes: Remembering What It Means to Be Human,” The Words of the Wise are Like Goads: Engaging Qohelet in the 21st Century, eds. Mark Boda, Tremper Longman III, and Cristian Rata (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013) 197–219

Vivek Mathew PhD ’19

Executive Director

Vivek Mathew PhD ’19

Executive Director

Dr. Vivek Mathew (B.S.E. Princeton, M.Div Princeton Seminary, B.Phil Oxford, MA/PhD Cornell ’19) was born and raised in Defiance, Ohio. From Ohio, he moved to New Jersey to study computer science at Princeton and then to New York City where he worked for eight years in quantitative finance at Morgan Stanley. While in New York he attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church (where he met his wife Jeanie), and eventually returned to Princeton for seminary training. Interests in historical theology and philosophy led him overseas to the UK to read the B.Phil in philosophy at Oxford University. Since 2013 he has been at Cornell,  completing his doctorate in 2019 at the intersection of metaphysics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, cognitive science, and history of philosophy. He was one of five nationwide fellowship recipients for cross-training grants given by the Society of Christian Philosophers and the Templeton Foundation. As director of Chesterton House, he has been one of several leading second-generation directors within the study center movement. He teaches regularly on various topics on student religious life, philosophy, theology, and pastoral care. Beyond Cornell, he has spoken nationally on contemporary challenges for campus ministry to audiences at Princeton, Oxford, Cornell, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, University of Minnesota, and other venues, as well as many other church and parachurch organizations. He and Jeanie and their three children attend Bread of Life Anglican Church in Ithaca.

Join us on a guided journey in our award-winning Logos Seminar (which earned Chesterton House an Oases of Excellence designation from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni). The Logos Seminar takes a small cohort of students through the classical Christian tradition and its critics, allowing them to hear from world-class Christian scholars and providing the opportunity to approach various viewpoints from a charitable, challenging, and curious perspective in a hospitable setting.

It offers students a rare chance to deliberate together on some of the most contested topics—topics that, when brought up on campus, often find themselves in a skeptical or even hostile environment.

Co-taught by Biblical scholar Rev. Dr. Ryan O’Dowd and philosopher Dr. Vivek Mathew, sessions will be a mix of foundational study of classical Christian (and anti-Christian) texts, fundamental issues in Biblical studies and hermeneutics, and an introduction to a wide variety of Christian (and non-Christian) perspectives on challenging contemporary topics.

Beginning on Monday, September 9th, our meetings will be selected Monday evenings from 7:30pm–9pm at 111 The Knoll during the semester.

*Please note that this is a closed course and acceptance is required before attending.

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