Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Collaborating Network
Affiliations
President, Scholar Leaders
- Formerly Professor of New Testament at the Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia in Medellín, Colombia
Director of the Faith and Displacement project at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín, Colombia
Biography
He holds a DPhil in New Testament studies from the University of Oxford. Prior to joining Scholar Leaders, he was a professor at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia in Medellín, he a wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Universität Bonn, and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow on the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford. He is author of Eight Million Exiles (Eerdmans, 2023), Renouncing Everything (Paulist, 2016), and co-author of When the Son of Man Didn't Come (Fortress, 2016). His research interests include migration, eschatology, and Christian wealth ethics.
Research Focus
- Interdisciplinary, contextual theology, applied to issues such as sexual abuse in Christian communities or forced displacement.
- Muslim-Christian relations.
GFI Writings
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Unifying Love in Relation to Dictates of Justice and the Priority of Mercy
I feel uncertain about Professor O’Donovan’s provocative statement that “the relation of love to justice…does not follow the pattern of the other virtues,” according to which love is the “golden chain” that connects other virtues, which are themselves “governed by special norms.” If the image of the…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Truthful Love Beyond the Christian Faith?
Professor O’Donovan’s provocative Preview raises questions in relation to my own work. As I work with adherents of other religions, or with atheists, it is my perception that genuine love is operative in their way of being and acting (in varying degrees, naturally). Consequently, I have reservations…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
How Diverse Global Cultural Contexts Confound and Enrich the Cultivation of Virtues
I work with an organization called Scholar Leaders (SL) that cultivates theological leaders and Christian seminaries from around the globe. Three aspects of Prof. Herdt’s essay struck chords with the work of Scholar Leaders, aspects which correspond to our desire to support the ecclesial, inter-reli…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
What About Virtue in Other Religions?
As a New Testament scholar who works in the area of Christian wealth ethics, I agree heartily with Prof. Herdt’s construal of Christian virtues as both infused and cultivated . The component of infusion does, to my mind, reflect Pauline theology as well as, e.g., Jeremiah 31. So also, the emphasis o…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Is the New Testament Exemplary for Developing Moral Theology?
Since my own work focuses on New Testament ethics, in both descriptive and prescriptive senses (i.e., what are the ethical convictions of New Testament authors and how should they shape Christian ethics today), this brief—sketching out some of the lines that run between the created order and the mor…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Forced Displacement Erodes Every Dimension of Flourishing
In my work with victims of forced displacement due to violence in Colombia, the concept of “holistic human flourishing” serves as a key organizing principle. Our holistic focus has broken down the facets of human flourishing in spiritual, economic, social, political, pedagogical, and psychological t…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
Colombia's Rights Revolution Created Passivity and Entitlement
Here in Colombia, the armed conflict has resulted in literally millions of documented human rights violations; the government has responded by making human rights a major part of the educational curriculum for the past generation. Rights discourse is pervasive, and generally in a "second order" fash…
Christopher Hays
Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
From Individual Entitlements to Collective Excellences: The Obligations of Justice for Colombia’s Displaced Persons
It initially felt like a bit of a misnomer to call what follows a “Disciplinary Brief,” since the ensuing text engages with Prof. Wolterstorff’s Brief, not in my capacity as a New Testament scholar, but from my experience working with victims of forced displacement in Colombia. Here at the Biblical …