Incarnation, Soteriology, Exclusivity/Inclusivity, Pluralism, Particularism, and Universalism: A Conversation with Rev. Dr. Rob James

Our first guest on the second season of What Matters Most is Rev. Dr. Robert James, Associate Professor, Anglican Formation and Studies at VST.  

Rob James is an Anglican priest who was ordained in the Church of England and worked as a parish priest in Gloucestershire and then as Canon Chancellor of Wells Cathedral, Somerset, before coming to Canada. Before he was a parish priest, he worked in intelligence for GCHQ, the agency formerly known as Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing worked and where the Enigma code of the Nazis was broken.

Rob and his wife Jean came to Canada in 2022 when he took up his post at the Vancouver School of Theology, on the campus of the University of British Colombia. He also is a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. He holds six degrees from five universities, including a PhD from SOAS, London. Most of his research in recent years has been in Biblical studies, including a book on the Gospel of Luke called The Spiral Gospel. He has a number of academic articles published, with a forthcoming one in the Journal of Theological Studies on Luke and the Syriac Gospel tradition, a subject of ongoing research for him.

In this episode we are talking Christian theology – incarnation, soteriology, exclusivity  inclusivity, pluralism, particularism, universalism, Nostra Aetate, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Nestorius, Origen, Karl Rahner, John Robinson,  purgatory. This is a deep dive, so get your notepad and questions ready! Feel free to send them to me at jmartens@stmarkscollege.ca. Perhaps you'll also come up with ideas for other topics and guests. 

For those of you who are regular listeners, you already know that What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC.  Welcome to the second season of the podcast. I'm glad you have joined us. If you enjoy what you hear today, please recommend it to your friends, even your enemies if you want! 

Dr. John W. Martens

Professor of Theology

Director of the Centre for Christian Engagement

St. Mark's College at UBC