Bible and Culture

23 June - 6 July - Berlin

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).

Ephesians 5:9-10

Bible and Culture

No matter who you are, what you do, or where you live, all Christians are ambassadors for Christ, called to live, think and speak with distinctiveness in the middle of a watching world.

Bible and Culture is a place to learn, with other believers, how God’s word speaks with clarity and relevance to the big issues of our time.

A modular summer school. Choose from six possible courses - one full-time course for each week. Course details below. Opt for academic credits if you want.

Whether you want to dig deep into a book of the Bible or get your head around a biblical approach to culture. You choose.

Come for one week or two… you can keep coming back!

Course Options Week 1 23 June - 29 June

For week 1 please select one of the following courses. You can only take one course per week.

Each course will begin at 9 am on Monday 24th June and will finish at 5pm on Friday 29th.

We recommend arrivals on Sunday 23rd and departure on Saturday 30th.

Biblical Worldview and Hope in the 21st Century

Why is worldview important? What exactly does a worldview give us? What is the biblical worldview? How does this compare to the dominant worldview in the West today? What impact does that have on our sense of identity and purpose?

Taught by Tim Vickers and Emily Lange

Cultural Apologetics

Led by Marsh Moyle from L’Abri UK, this course takes us deeper into understanding the way we have learned to see reality, and teaches us to discern what is cultural and what is authentically Gospel.

Taught by Marsh Moyle and Adi Petrice

Political Participation in a Divided World

For Christians who read the news and wonder how to make sense not only of the world, but also of the roles we as Christ’s ambassadors can play through political engagement.

Taught by Julia Doxat-Purser and Christel Lamère Ngnambi

Course Options Week 2 30 June - 6 July

For week 1 please select one of the following courses. You can only take one course per week.

Each course will begin at 9 am on Monday 1st July and will finish at 5pm on Friday 5th July.

We recommend arrivals on Sunday 30th June and departure on Saturday 6th July.

Revelation

The last book in the Bible, and the last Bible book many of us read. How can we make sense of the imagery, structure and timeline in this amazing apocalyptic text? And how does this text speak and give hope to 21st Century Christians?

Taught by Martin Haizmann and Rodica Rosior

Arts and Incarnation

This course explores art and the imagination in the light of the central features of the Christian faith - creation, fall, incarnation and redemption.

Taught by Iwan Russell-Jones

Gospel, Church & Culture - Ephesians

Studying Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church we will the nature and mission of the church, and the church’s engagement with contemporary culture.

Taught by Jeff Greenman

How much does it cost?

 

To try and make Bible and Culture accessible for the greatest number of people, we are offering two types of accommodation, and two levels of price!

The Freitzeithaus is a private youth hostel, located with its own garden and canal frontage - great for volleyball, barbecues, and generally relaxed evenings. Accommodation here is in shared rooms 2-4 people per room and bathrooms are shared. It is a 15 minute walk from the hotel where meals are served and where courses are taught.

The Hotel offers single or twin rooms each with en suite bathrooms. This is the building where courses will be taught and meals eaten etc.

Hostel Room

Normal Price

Early Bird

Week 1

€350

€320

Week 2

€350

€320

Two Weeks

€700

€640

Hotel Room

Week 1

€500

€450

Week 2

€500

€450

Two Weeks

€1,000

€900

For people wishing to take courses for academic credit there will be an additional tuition fee of €200 per course.

Where does B&C happen?

Bible and Culture takes place in the pretty small town of Woltersdorf, just beyond the eastern city limits of Berlin.

You can arrive by plane to Berlin Brandenburg, by train to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, by car, bicycle or even canoe! Berlin’s excellent public transport system means you can find your way around easily day or night. Download the BVG app onto your phone and get travel timetables and tickets directly on your phone.

During many of the B&C courses we will have trips into central Berlin.

Address: EC Begegnungs- und Bildungszentrum Woltersdorf Schleusenstraße 50  (Achtung nur Postadresse) 15569 Woltersdorf.

Tel: 03362 94498900. Email: kontakt@ec-bub.de Web: www.ec-bub.de

We are offering a 10% ‘early bird’ discount for bookings made before 30 April 2024.

Any other questions?

  • With our new modular format you don’t need to come for 4 weeks to be part of B&C. You can come for one week or two weeks, and if you like this as a place to learn and meet others, you can come back year after year after year.

  • Each course is a full week long. The most you can do is one course in week 1, and one course in week 2. But if you can only manage one week for B&C, that is fine, just come and do a course which interests you. You can always come back next year for more!

  • Bible and Culture is open to any Christians who want to learn how our faith helps us engage with the world around us. You don’t need to be part of IFES, you don’t need to be a graduate.

  • Both IFES and Regent College are members of the Evangelical Alliance, and are in agreement with the World Evangelical Alliance statement of faith.

  • Regent College is an international graduate school of Christian studies affiliated with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. For more information, visit https://www.regent-college.edu/

  • The courses offered in Bible and Culture may be taken for graduate school credit with Regent College. Preparatory work is needed for each course as well as the completion of an academic assignment after the classroom portion of the course is finished.

    Once you have registered to participate in Bible and Culture, if you wish to undertake the additional work needed to earn academic credit at Regent College, the next step is to email James Smoker, Regent’s registrar, to sign up for credit and to receive the syllabus which spells out the academic expectations. The email address to use is registrar@regent-college.edu.

    You will also need to create an account at https://regis.regent-college.edu, which is Regent College’s registration portal. There is an additional cost of 200 Euros for the course credit option, which is to be paid to Regent College.

    Students taking a course for academic credit are given access to the Regent College library and its electronic resources.