The Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Christian Virtue

Following his award-winning book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary on Sin, theologian Cornelius Plantinga is now turning his attention to Christian virtue, the topic of this year’s annual Institute of Biblical Studies. 

The New Testament has many joyful directives on how to get a Christian life up and running and then keep it running: Run the race. Keep the commandments. Strive first for the kingdom. Sow to the Spirit. Follow Jesus. These are all powerful practices which set up and maintain a Christian life. But there’s one practice that yokes believers to Jesus Christ in his greatest work. The key to it is the sober truth that Jesus Christ did not die and rise alone. Believers share in these events in painful and glorious ways. In five sessions, the Institute of Biblical Studies will explore how dying and rising with Jesus Christ can yield the virtues that mark a healthy Christian life.

Lecture 1: Dying and Rising with Jesus Christ

How does this practice happen? When? How does the practice suppress the vices that mar Christian life and how does it excite the virtues that adorn a Christian life?

Biography

Dr. Cornelius Plantinga is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church and the president of Calvin Theological seminary where he also teaches systematic theology. He studied at Calvin College, Yale University, Calvin and Princeton Theological Seminaries, and Cambridge University. He pastored at local churches in New York and New Jersey and also taught at Princeton and Fuller Theological Seminaries and held positions at Regent and Calvin Colleges. He is the author of a number of books, including Christianity Today’s book of the year Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary on Sin (1995), Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision for Faith, Learning and Living (2002) and Discerning the Spirits:A Guide to Thinking about Christian Worship (2003).

The Institute of Biblical Studies is co-sponsored by Chesterton House, Bethel Grove Bible Church, and New Life Presbyterian Church.