Vestigia Dei
Wycliffe College Blog

Vestigia Dei  – is a Latin term meaning “traces of God.” As a theological term it is associated with natural theology – that is, the view that there are vestiges of God within creation. We’ve chosen this term as the title of the Wycliffe College blog because our hope is that through these writings, readers might glimpse evidences for God as our writers interact with the wider world.

O What a Tangled Web we Weave When First we Practice to Deceive

Peter Robinson
This Holy Week, Professor of Proclamation, Worship and Ministry, Peter Robinson, explores Sir Walter Scot's epic poem and how it collates to the Passion of Christ, and the sobering portrayals of how easily self-justification leads all too quickly to a complex web of deceit. Read more

Peace like a River

Peter Robinson

On the second Sunday of Advent we anticipate and celebrate the promise that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has come to bring peace into the world. In the face of so much hubris, greed, polarization, division, and war around the globe, the promise of peace might seem a distant and elusive dream.

Learning From Successful Churches

Peter Robinson

In Churchland there is a natural tendency to look to churches that appear successful, hoping to learn from or emulate what they are doing in our own communities.

The Church, God’s People on the Way

Peter Robinson

“My soul longs, indeed, it faints for the courts of the Lord”

Psalm 84 is a psalm of longing or lament, and it is also a psalm of pilgrimage. Three times a year the people were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the temple to appear before the Lord (Exodus 23:14–17).

The place of online learning in theological education

Peter Robinson

At the beginning of March, the Angus Reid Institute ran a poll surveying those who were anticipating a return to work. The poll revealed that after two years of working at home many employees aren’t sure that they want to return to the office.

Loneliness—it’s now built in

David Kupp

There’s a growing ache at the heart of many of our western societies. Its name is loneliness. And a stream of actors has been calling it out of late: psychologists, pastors, pandemistas, even politicians.

God’s Call for your life?

Peter Robinson

“What is God’s call for my life?” That is a question most Christians think about at one time or another and it is certainly one of the questions we have in the back of our minds when we come to a college or seminary like Wycliffe—regardless of whether we are looking towards possible ordination/pa

Stuck at home, in Guelph, Ontario

David Kupp

“Stuck at home”

stuck: “mired, glued, compelled, resolutely adhered, halted, saddled disagreeably”

home: “one’s place of residence, domicile, habitat”

 

How very good and pleasant it is

Spiritual deformation: the faith community’s losing battle with social media?

David Kupp

We’ve all had enough, it seems. And yet we only want more. Shoulders curled forward, phones in our hands, eyes fixed to the screen, our brains wired to thumb endlessly deeper into the digital matrix: this is becoming the posture of humanity.

Prayer in the face of fear

Peter Robinson

There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

In his inaugural speech as president of the United States (March 4, 1933) Franklin Roosevelt began by saying “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror…” 

A Call to Prayer in Times like These

Peter Robinson

In the midst of this present crisis one of the greatest gifts the church has for the world is prayer. Not prayer as a way of retreating from, or turning away from, the world, but prayer as means of being more present to the world in the midst of this crisis. In prayer, in worship, we begin with w

Lessons on the World Day of the Poor: Pope Francis and the anonymous Jesus

David Kupp

I found Jesus a seven-minute walk from Wycliffe College. At first, I could not quite recognize him. Lying on a park bench, thickly covered with an old blanket, he was layered with snow. As I sat down on the bench beside him, though, I noticed his feet.

Theological Interpretation of Scripture: “not a method but a mode”

Peter Robinson

“The soul watered by sacred Scripture grows fat and bears fruit in due season, which is the orthodox faith, and so is it adorned with its evergreen leaves, with actions pleasing to God, I mean.” – John of Damascus (The Orthodox Faith, 4:17) as quoted in

Some rules on developing leaders in and for the church

Peter Robinson

Chris Wright, a biblical scholar and the International Ministries Director of Langham Partnership, has suggested that the great commission in Matthew 28:19, 20 is not so much a mandate to go to the far corners of the earth as it is about making disciples and baptizing wherever we are.

Dorothy Day: “gloriously different” sainthood

David Kupp

With World Writers Day having been celebrated earlier this month, and World Book Day (as declared by the United Nations) coming up on April 3, it seems a fitting time to revisit the story of 20th-century journalist, author, and social activist Dorothy Day.

Dorothy Day: “Gloriously different” sainthood

David Kupp

With World Writers Day having been celebrated earlier this month, and World Book Day (as declared by the United Nations) coming up on April 3, it seems a fitting time to revisit the story of 20th century journalist, author, and social activist Doro

John Stott - a (previously untold) story

Peter Robinson

By Peter Robinson

Langham Partnership Canada exists to equip the next generation of Bible teachers.

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