Truro Theological Society Lecture

On Thursday 28 March we welcome Professor Ian A. McFarland, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge for the spring lecture.  The title of Professor McFarland’s lecture is: ‘How do we understand what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and its bearing on how we are to live as Christians today?’

According to Matthew (and Mark), on the night before he died, Jesus told his disciples that the ‘Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many’ (Matt 20:28; Mark 10:45). But what exactly does it mean to give one’s life?  In this lecture, Professor McFarland will explore how we are to understand the idea of ‘giving one’s life’ from biblical, theological, and pastoral perspectives, with particular attention to how understanding what it meant for Jesus to give his life should – and should not – shape Christian teaching about sacrifice today’

The lecture will be held at the Cathedral Chapter House and tickets will be available on the door £5. 

A biography of Prof. McFarland…  

‘Prof. McFarland took up his current appointment at Cambridge in 2015.  He received his first degree in Classics from Trinity College (Hartford) before going on to study theology at the Union Theological Seminary (New York), the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Yale University, where he earned his doctorate under the direction of Kathryn Tanner.  He has previously taught at the University of Aberdeen (1998-2005) and Emory’s University’s Candler School of Theology (2005-2015), where he was the inaugural holder of the Bishop Mack B. and Rose Stokes Chair in Theology.

Research Interests

Prof. McFarland’s scholarship focuses on contemporary articulations of Christian doctrine that attend both to the concerns of the Catholic tradition, broadly conceived, and to the voices of Christians historically marginalised in that tradition.  His current research centres on Christology, with a particular focus on the merits of the Chalcedonian definition over against post-Enlightenment alternatives.  Other areas of interest include the doctrine of creation, theological anthropology, the use of the Bible in theology, and the theology of Maximus the Confessor.

Prof. McFarland is open to supervising doctoral research in any of the traditional loci of Christian dogmatics, most especially the areas of Christology, creation, and theological anthropology.’