The Church in Society
March 25, 2022
KLC hosts a variety of private events within our hubs and seminars, a monthly open prayer meeting, and occasional public events with our members and partners, which typically happen on the third Thursday of each month. We also host a biennial conference in Cambridge and our annual meal during SBL in North America.
Below you can sign up to receive our monthly prayer liturgy and meeting details, see any upcoming public events, and watch recordings of past events.
Prayer is at the heart of KLC’s work. Under the leadership of Hugo Herfst, we will host an hour prayer meeting on the first Thursday of every month at 4pm UK time that is open to the whole KLC community.
We email meeting links on the day of the event. Please make sure to check your spam folder if you don’t get one.
This year is KLC’s “Year of the Decalogue,” as we anticipate the publication of Craig Bartholomew’s Moses and the Victory of Yahweh. As part of this focus, KLC is running a series of lectures on topics relevant to the Decalogue.
The third lecture features South African scholar Dr Matthew O’Kelly, who is presenting “The Decalogue in Proverbs“. Scholars often see a division between the world of the Torah and that of wisdom, suggesting even that these represent competing traditions in Israel’s worldview and religious life. Matthew’s lecture argues that Israel’s Torah, including the Decalogue, underpins the worldview of the book of Proverbs, and we’ll explore in what ways it informs the vision of the sages and is itself an expression of wisdom.
Matthew O’Kelly completed his PhD through the University of Aberdeen and has joined the faculty of George Whitefield College in Cape Town as their online coordinator. His publications include “Introductory Matters: Tracing the Aims of Proverbs 1:1–7 through the Book’s First Collection” (Scottish Journal of Theology), “Forgetting the Covenant of Her God: Ethnicity, Social Memory, and the Covenant in Proverbs 2:17” (Biblical Interpretation), and “Wisdom and the fear of YHWH: Rethinking their relationship in Proverbs 1–9” (JSOT).
The Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar continues its multiyear project exploring difficult texts as Christian Scripture. The focus for 2026 is Joshua and Judges. Our question is: How do Joshua and Judges form and shape us into the people God is calling us to be in Christ?
Join us for our second of three online events to consider questions of intertextuality / reception history in these fascinating books. We’ll enjoy two short presentations from Grant LeMarquand and Don Springer.
Wednesday June 10, 2026
2pm (MST), 4pm (EST), 9pm (BST), 6am (Sydney, June 11).
Online via Zoom
NB: The link is sent by email. Please check your spam folder on the day.
Watch the video from the first event:
Paul Béré, S.J.: “Joshua in Christian Hermeneutics: Wrestling with a Difficult Book”
Paul Béré, S.J. is a Jesuit priest from Burkina Faso and a scholar of the Old Testament. He teaches at the Pontifical Biblical Institute of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His research focuses on the exegesis of the Hebrew Bible and hermeneutics, with particular attention to Aural Criticism, a methodological approach that explores how written texts function within oral contexts. He is the editor of the forthcoming conference volume The Bible and Its Worlds (Analecta Biblica series).
David Beldman: “Reading Judges as Christian Scripture: Hermeneutics for a Troubling Book”
David Beldman is an Old Testament scholar and theological educator. Until recently, he served as Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Missional Training Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a Scholar in Residence with the Surge Network. He earned his PhD in Old Testament Studies from the University of Bristol, where his research focused on the book of Judges. He is the author of several books and articles spanning academic and church contexts. His forthcoming book, Reading the Pentateuch as Christian Scripture (with Michael Rhodes), will be published by Baker Academic later this year.
KLC Arts is hosting a mini-conference in collaboration with the St Edward’s Institute for Christian Thought on the theme of “Imaginative Encounters: Imagination, Presence and Place.”
Interspersed with music and prayers, we will explore the interaction between the visual and the textual through such themes as ‘sacramentality’, ‘contemplative vision’, and ‘the visible and the invisible in art and theology’. We expect papers by members of the KLC community including Sara Osborne, Otto Bam, Genevieve Wedgbury, and the Rev. Dr Craig Bartholomew, as well as by the Rev. Dr Mark Scarlata, vicar of St Edward King and Martyr Church and author of multiple books including Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.
Our aim for the day is to plant seeds that will blossom in future gatherings and publications in theology and the arts. Lunch will be provided and a wine reception will follow at the end of the day.
Tickets at £10 per ticket will go on sale on Monday 25 June with discounts for KLC Fellows.
Register your interest – we will send you a link to the booking page once ticket sales open.
Thursday, 18 June 2026.
In person at St Edward King and Martyr Church in Cambridge.
Below you will find the video recordings from various events we have held, arranged by year. Use the Previous/Next buttons to see more event videos, or click here to see all our videos on YouTube.
