Biola’s Spring 2012 semester was even more jam-packed with fascinating conferences than usual — giving students and thousands of visitors the chance to hear from nationally renowned speakers on such topics as art, the Middle East and preaching. To find full, free videos from several of these conferences, visit youtube.com/biolauniversity.

ART & SACRED SPACE: SPATIAL ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD
March 1-4
“Christ’s holiness transcends the holiness of physical place. For Christians you might argue as a consequence of this, there is no longer a distinction between sacred and profane locations. Everything is God’s creation, and Jesus’ body can be anywhere. ... The old model of sacred place is at least complicated if not overturned by Christ himself.”
– Ben Quash, Professor, King’s College London  

ISRAEL, THE CHURCH AND THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
March 23-24
“These convulsions in the Middle East are being used by God. ... The disruptions, the wars, the rumors of wars, the insecurity, the heartbreak that’s going on throughout the Middle East and North Africa and in the wider Islamic world, God is using them to shake the people of that region. … He is trying to shake the nations out of love because he’s trying to awaken people, to get their hearts ready to hear the gospel.”
– Joel Rosenberg, Bestselling Author of The Twelfth Imam Series

JUSTICE, SPIRITUALITY AND EDUCATION
March 31
“According to God, you can’t be just if you’re not righteous and you can’t be righteous if you’re not just. I have a sense that there are a lot of young people who are on fire for Jesus and on fire for justice, but they sort of let the righteousness issue slide. ... But we have to understand that justice and righteousness can’t actually be pulled apart.”
– Mary Poplin, Professor, Claremont Graduate University  

PREACHING INTO THE WIND: BIBLICAL PREACHING IN A SKEPTICAL CULTURE
April 27
“When I began to preach, people looked up to preachers. In New York City, the sermons of New York ministers were published in The New York Times. People admired the church. ... That was 65 years ago. Today that has changed. Today the preacher has lost the respect of the people, lost its authority. We live in a day in which the wind is against us. All the games are away games.”
– Haddon Robinson, Distinguished Professor, Gordon-Conwell Th eological Seminary

BIOLA MEDIA CONFERENCE
May 5
“Sometimes people think that in entertainment you have to give God the back seat, you have to put your faith outside when you walk on set and then pick it up again when you leave the set. But I’m here to tell you that if you really want to be who God has called you to be, you bring Jesus everywhere you go and you make no excuse for it.”
– DeVon Franklin, Vice President of Production for Columbia Pictures  

CHRISTIAN SCHOLARSHIP IN THE 21ST CENTURY: PROSPECTS & PERILS
May 18-19
“We Christian scholars must not remain content to be scholars who also happen to be Christian; we must strive to be Christian scholars. And we must pursue our calling with boldness, integrity, courage, imagination and Christian wisdom.”
– Alvin Plantinga, William H. Jellema Chair of Philosophy, Calvin College