For Dr. Ian J. Vaillancourt, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Heritage Theological Seminary, the books of the Pentateuch are foundational to one's understanding of Scripture. However, he says that he often hears that these first five books of the Bible can seem intimidating or hard to understand for many believers as they read them.

Out of a motivation to help Christians see the treasure found in these five introductory books of the Bible and come to a better understanding of the gospel through the Pentateuch comes Vaillancourt’s latest book published by Crossway, The Dawning of Redemption: The Story of the Pentateuch and the Hope of the Gospel.

Looking back to his life, he recalls how, as a new Christian, the New Testament seemed much more familiar than the Old Testament. Vaillancourt says that it was through the help of numerous mentors and other resources that he began to see the importance of learning and growing in his faith through understanding the Bible as a whole. This conviction ultimately drew him to gain a deep value for the Pentateuch and how it helps Christians fully understand and appreciate the gospel.

“Just like missing the first fifteen minutes of a movie would spoil our ability to fully appreciate the rest of the story, so missing the essential first act of the Bible’s grand story compromises our ability to fully understand the gospel,” says Vaillancourt.

In his new book, Vaillancourt provides readers with an accessible and helpful introduction to the Pentateuch—covering all five books by examining critical themes found throughout its pages—including creation, salvation, genealogies, and covenants. In doing so, he explains that one of its main goals is to provide Christians with a big-picture sense of the Pentateuch to equip readers of the Bible to read these books well for themselves.

“My burden is to help people read the Bible on their own,” explains Vaillancourt. “It can be easy to get lost in the details of the Pentateuch and miss the big picture. My book was written as a sort of road map to help readers navigate the details on their own.”

One of the other main hopes that Vaillancourt holds for his new book is that it would also help Christians today see how the main themes found throughout the Pentateuch connect to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

“By doing this, I hope to reinforce that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the hope begun in the first five books of the Bible.”

Click here for more information on The Dawning of Redemption.

To purchase your copy of Dr. Vaillancourt’s latest book, click here.

An idea that first started when pondering a dissertation topic for his PhD has now become the focus of Dr. Wayne Baxter’s latest book, Divine Shepherd Christology in the Gospel of Matthew.

For Heritage Theological Seminary’s Professor of New Testament and Greek, the initial thought of examining the shepherd motif in the Gospel of Matthew stemmed from both a love for the book itself and a desire to learn more about his calling as a shepherd of God’s people as a pastor.

From this idea came Dr. Baxter’s research which provides a helpful look into how the unique use of the shepherd motif in Matthew—compared to other authors in the biblical tradition—was used to communicate to the original readers something of Jesus’ true identity.

“The way Matthew applies the metaphor to Jesus shows that he believed Jesus of Nazareth was none other than Yahweh, the God of Israel,” explains Baxter. “As such Jesus, the Davidic Messiah came to shepherd God’s people Israel, both through his compassionate acts of healing and exorcism and, ultimately, through his merciful death on the cross and bodily resurrection whereby the Davidic Shepherd gathers his followers together and establishes them as his flock for all times.”

Although this had deep meaning for Matthew’s original audience, Baxter says that by understanding the shepherd motif in Matthew, believers today can see and experience Jesus as their shepherd throughout all that life brings. He explains that this is a helpful understanding of Jesus that helps us keep our faith in Jesus as our Shepherd, which impacts how we care for others as his disciples.

“This motif demonstrates that Jesus cares compassionately for our physical needs, in addition to sweetly tending our souls,” says Baxter. “In other words, Jesus has special regard for the whole person. As Christians, we need to keep that in mind as we reach out to the lost and care for the whole person.”

Click here for more information on Divine Shepherd Christology in the Gospel of Matthew.

To purchase your copy of Dr. Baxter’s latest book, click here.

If you are interested in coming to Heritage but want a taste of life on campus, join us for our first Student Sampler event happening November 7-8!

Experience life as a college student at Heritage during this free, two-day event—stay overnight in residence, eat in the cafeteria with current students, take in a class, and worship with the Heritage community in Chapel, all while learning more about our programs.

To register for our upcoming Student Sampler event and to learn more about future Student Samplers, visit DiscoverHeritage.ca/Tour.

If you are unable to make it for our first Student Sampler, then make sure to join us for our next Sampler this Fall, happening November 21-22. Or, feel free to schedule a Campus Tour with our Admissions Team. During your Tour, you will enjoy a walk on the campus grounds and see our classrooms, library, and Heritage Community Centre. Plus, learn more about our programs, tuition, and life at Heritage. Book your tour today at DiscoverHeritage.ca/Tour.

If you have any questions about Heritage, feel free to reach out to our Admissions Team at any time. Click here to fill out a form to connect with our Team.

For Jeemin Moon, to serve as a Lecturer and Biblical Counsellor with Heritage’s college is a true honour and privilege. To have the opportunity to contribute his part to the mission of a school like Heritage that equips students to serve the Lord throughout their life and ministry and point to the hope of Christ is a role he is looking forward to serving in.

“As a confessional institution, I believe that our role is to faithfully point people—believers and unbelievers—to the One in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and hence the true hope for our life on earth and the life eternal,” says Prof. Moon. “Here at Heritage, I see both the faculty and staff who are committed to this mission, and it is tremendously encouraging to walk with like-minded brothers and sisters as an instructor.”

Born and raised in South Korea, Moon graduated with a BA in Counselling Psychology and English from Handong Global University in Pohang. From there, God led him to study at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he graduated with an MDiv in Worship Leadership and a ThM in Biblical Counselling.

While studying at Southern, Moon recalls sitting under the teaching of Dr. Jeremy Pierre through which God captured his heart for the ministry of biblical counselling. This passion for counselling ministry has led him to continue his education at Southern as he is currently working on his PhD in Biblical Counselling.

Moon explains that during studying at Southern, he began to see how the Word of God is truly the most comprehensive resource for understanding human problems and speaking to the hearts of hurting people. As a result, he says he is excited to help young Christians studying biblical counselling at Heritage to apply God’s Word to their own lives and the lives of others who are hurting so they can be a blessing wherever God takes them.

“Although not all believers are called to be a vocational counsellor, all Christians are called to join in the ministry of one-anothering,” says Moon. “In other words, we are to speak the truth in love so that we will grow together to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ (Eph. 4:15).”

Part of Moon’s job at Heritage will also be providing biblical counselling services for the male students at the school. In this role, he is looking forward to helping the students he sees thrive in their studies, lives, and ministries and helping them draw closer to Christ.

“My sincere prayer is to see my students building lifelong relationships with their friends while building the lifelong relationship with the One who calls us, ‘Friend,’” says Moon. “I would like to walk with them as they navigate through the difficulties of life as co-followers of Christ and co-heirs of the kingdom of heaven.”

Heritage College & Seminary is excited to host the tenth annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society Ontario and Quebec regional meeting on October 15, 2022.

The theme of this year’s meeting is “Holiness,” and the speaker for the plenary session is Dr. Amber Bowen. Dr. Bowen is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Core Studies at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario. Her research and writings primarily focus on Kierkegaard studies, phenomenology, and philosophical hermeneutics. The title of Dr. Bowen’s presentation is “The Nearness of the Holy: Kierkegaard on the Occasion of a Confession.”

Scholars of fifteen different affiliations will also present their research during the parallel sessions. Heritage is looking forward to welcoming scholars, students, and pastors to join in conversation and fellowship. The conference will begin at 9:00 am and finishes at 5:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to join. The regular cost is $20 and $10 for students.

Please direct any questions to Prof. Baiyu Andrew Song, the programme chair, at bsong@heritagecs.edu.

Programme

9:00: Registration ($20.00; Students: $10.00)

9:15: Welcome (201A/B)

9:20: Plenary Address (201A/B)

Amber Bowen (Redeemer University), “The Nearness of the Holy: Kierkegaard on the Occasion of a Confession”

10:15: Coffee/Tea Break

10:45–12:15: Parallel Sessions

Session I: Hebrew Bible (202; Chair: David Robinson)

10:45: David J. Fuller (Torch Trinity Graduate University), “Literary ‘Back-References’ in Genesis 47:13–26: Intersecting Themes and Their Implications for Meaning”

11:15: Jacob J.A. Tomc (McMaster Divinity School), “‘That You May Live’: An Analysis of the Heart of Torah in Deuteronomy and John Calvin

11:45: E. Carolina Holguin (McMaster Divinity College), “YHWH’s Glory Manifested in Ezekiel’s Temple and Repentance: A Study on Ezekiel 43:10–11 in Light of Biblical and Systematic Theology”

Session II: Church History (201A/B; Chair: John Sampson)

10:45: Jonathan N. Cleland (Knox College, Toronto), “Peter Martyr Vermigli’s Typological Interpretation of the Samson Narrative”

11:15: Michael A.G. Haykin (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), “This ‘fretting leprosy’: Andrew Fuller’s Posthumous Critique of Antinomianism”

11:45: Baiyu Andrew Song (Heritage College and Seminary), “John’s Baptism in the Hall-Kinghorn Communion Controversy, 1815–1827”

12:15–1:45: Lunch

1:45–3:45: Parallel Sessions

Session III: Biblical Theology (202; Chair: David Fuller)

1:45: James J.S. Harrichand (Morningstar Christian Fellowship, Scarborough), “Auxiliary Expressions Related to Prose Prayers of Disorientation in Hebrew Bible (Genesis to Esther)”

2:15: David I. Yoon (Emmanuel Bible College), “The Meaning and Use of λόγος in John’s Prologue: A Lexical Semantic Approach”

2:45: Solomon Getachew Ayecheluhim (McMaster Divinity College), “Reading John 4:1–26 as a Conversational Register”

3:15: Wyatt Graham (The Gospel Coalition Canada), “Is Pre-Critical Exegesis of the Psalms Actually Pre-Critical?: How Christians in the Earliest Centuries Read the Psalms”

Session IV Theology I (201A/B; Chair: Baiyu Andrew Song)

1:45: Christian Clement-Schlimm (Wycliffe College), “Applauding His Righteous Ire: The Theodicy of the Wesleys and the Great Lisbon Earthquake”

2:15: John Sampson (University of Toronto), “The Sanctifying Society: Recovering the Relational Life of Holiness”

2:45: Andrei Davedianov (Saint Paul University), “Hopeful Foresight in Public Policy Gambles”

3:15: Andrew G. Wildsmith (Fellowship International and Africa Inland Mission), “Communion as a Holy Rite in a Holy Place: An African Christian Example”

Session V Theology II (204; Chair: Jonathan N. Cleland)

1:45: David Robinson (Westminster Chapel; Tyndale University), “The Restoration of the Fallen Soul in the Early Writings of Maximus the Confessor”

2:15: Jesse Hill (McMaster Divinity College), “Reading Phenomenological Depth in Holy Encounters”

2:45: Chris Jeemin Moon (Heritage College and Seminary), “‘Strangers and Exiles’: Christian Identity as the Foundation for Counselling Korean Americans”

3:15: Andrew M. Fountain (Newlife Church, Toronto), “Responding to the Pandemic of Destructive Self- Condemnation––What was Nailed to the Cross in Col 2:12–15 and Who are the Powers and Authorities?”

3:45: Coffee/Tea Break (201A/B)

4:15: Brief Business Meeting

4:45: Closing Remarks

We thank everyone who has continued to pray for the health of Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies Dr. Stan Fowler. Please continue to pray for Dr. Fowler, his wife Donna, and their family.

Please read the following update from the Fowler family below:

“Stan is happy in our new home. He enjoys going out every day in his wheelchair and meeting new people and their dogs. He has a wonderful sense of humour. He reads, listens to music, and follows friends on Facebook. He now very much enjoys eating regular food. He loves going to church, enjoying the music, mouthing the words, and seeing familiar faces. Of course, he enjoys watching ALL his sports teams. He communicates with gestures and a photo communication book. He has regular physiotherapy and will hopefully have private speech/language therapy. He is definitely getting stronger all the time. God has brought him a long way in this journey. At the beginning of his stroke, no one thought he would be where he is today. We are very thankful. God is good.”

 Please continue to pray for Dr. Fowler, his wife Donna, and their family.

The Heritage Preaching Lectures is an event that seeks to equip and encourage pastors and other ministry leaders with the tools needed to sharpen their skills to serve their churches and congregations.

This year, Heritage Theological Seminary is thrilled to welcome Dr. Jonathan Griffiths on Thursday, October 20, 2022. The theme of his lectures for this full-day event will be From the Heart of the Text to the Heart of the Hearer.

Heritage is excited to announce that this year’s Heritage Preaching Lectures will be hosted both in-person and online. We are looking forward to the opportunity to welcome pastors to Heritage for a day of encouragement and equipping, as well as inviting people to join the event online from the places God has placed them to serve Him. To learn more about this year's Heritage Preaching Lectures, visit DiscoverHeritage.ca/HPL. 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR HPL 2022

Bachelor of Theology – Pastoral Studies student Matthew Rodgers says God has given him a burden for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and a desire to see the place he loves to come to know the person he loves, Jesus.

Therefore, he has decided to study at Heritage and attend classes where he feels God has him to serve in life and ministry. Rodgers studies at Heritage through online and live-streamed lectures throughout the academic year from his home in Newfoundland and Labrador— a choice that allows him to learn and grow while serving the province he feels called to serve.

“It allows me to continue serving my local church and contextualize the things I am learning in my local community," explains Rodgers. "It also helps me continue to learn about my community and deepen my desire to see the people in it come to faith."

As he studies at Heritage, Rodgers is serving in St. John’s as a ministry intern with Mile One Mission—an organization dedicated to planting gospel-centred, Christ-exalting churches throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. While helping with outreach initiatives to grow his reading, writing, and preaching skills, he explains that his heart has grown to serve in Newfoundland and Labrador.

With only 1% of St. John’s being evangelical Christians and a provincial population known for being disengaged religiously or even opposed to the gospel, it is an area of tremendous spiritual need. To best serve this need, Rodgers now continues his studies at Heritage to be equipped for his current and future ministry in this province.

So far, he sees how his time learning online alongside the Heritage community from his home province has equipped him for his ministry there while growing his faith and understanding through knowledge of the Bible.

“Learning more about the Bible has given me a better and bigger view of God and a clearer view of myself,” says Rodgers. “A better understanding of the Bible helps with both being able to teach and explain the truths in it as well as live out commands from it.”

“Being able to better live out my faith has equipped me to be a better witness to others and reflect what God has called me to be.”

For more information on Mile One Mission, visit mileonemission.ca.

To learn more about our College programs at Heritage, visit DiscoverHeritage.ca/Academics.