The Westminster Conference gathered for 2024 in St Giles Mission Hall, Islington. Though it has changed its place, it has changed neither its name nor its nature, for it remains an opportunity to consider theology through the lens of church history and so learn powerful lessons for the church of today.
The conference spans two days, each having three sessions, with questions and discussion following all but the closing session. The first two sessions on the Tuesday were given over to questions of the Trinity and Christology, as Stéphane Simonnin and Gary Brady walked us through the Council of Nicaea and the Salter’s Hall debates, showing us that both in the fourth and eighteenth century, men were wrestling with the doctrine of the Trinity, the relations of the persons, and the two natures in the one person of Christ — leaving us both with rich blessings to inherit and ongoing questions to answer in the face of continued drifting from truth.
The second day began with a lively and engaging session from Phil Arthur on Luther and the Peasants’ War, throwing up many questions about the relationship between the church and the state, between theology and politics. Florian Weicken then delivered a demanding paper on Heinrich Bullinger’s great teaching series, the Decades, highlighting the pastoral heart of the man and spiking an energetic discussion.
