Christian Faith and Profession

Rationale and goals:

The rationale of this project is given, on the one hand, by the double truth of the Lordship of Christ over entire reality and, consequently, the Gospel being a public truth. On the other hand, there is a great need coming especially from the young people, to help them in their desperate search for integration, that is, how to make sense and integrate their faith within everyday realities of life in society.

This project on “Christian faith and profession” is part of our effort to engage in, and stimulate Christian professionals for, a serious search for integration exactly because this is required by the lordship of Christ over all creation and by the public nature of the gospel. The ultimate goal of the project, is that through various lectures, seminars, forums and conferences, to equip especially those Christians in various professions, with a holistic understanding of reality, to prepare them to engage deeply with God’s world, with all aspects of cultures and societies; to train leaders who are able to offer Christian, biblically based, alternatives to the many puzzles of this world; leaders who instead of denying the painful realities of this world, with an escapist kind of mentality, rather agonize over these realities and struggle to contribute and give appropriate answers and solutions in the light of both the fallen state of creation and the subsequent social evil, and in the light of the present reality of the presence and power of the Kingdom of God among the kingdoms of this world. The churches around the world need leaders who are caught by an irresistible vision of the lordship of Christ over entire reality.

Concrete phases in the project:

• To organize public lectures, forums and debates on relevant, key topics covering the main thrust of the project.
• To translate the best papers and make them available in Romanian language for the participants and buy some specific books for the library covering these subjects.
• A second phase of the project was intended to bring together various Christian professionals and, in a series of roundtables, have them share from their experience and also express the challenges they face as Christians in a secular environment.
• To offer a master program distinctly designed for Christian professionals, in which to explore and research the complex network of relationships between gospel and culture, between church and society, between science and religion.

It is our hope that these explorations will represent a solid basis for a holistic Christian witness to the surrounding environment, thus offering, on the one hand, a realist Christian critique of the dominant culture, and establish, on the other hand, the intellectual viability of a distinctive, Christian way of life.