
Join us Thursday, February 13, 2025 at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) for this year’s annual address. The Figel Address on Ecumenical Dialogue focuses on contemporary issues in ecumenism, and is sponsored by the devoted layman-ecumenist Jack Figel. It also includes the annual Ecumenism Award of the Consortium and an ecumenical prayer service.
This year we welcome two scholars who will discuss the topic “The Council of Nicaea and Our Common Life of Prayer: Orthodox and Anglican Perspectives.”
Rev. Dr. John Behr 
University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Fr. John Behr is the Regius Chair in Humanity at the University of Aberdeen. He published the first two volumes of “The Formation of Christian Theology,” The Way to Nicaea (SVS Press 2001) and vol. 2 The Nicene Faith (SVS Press 2003). He also published a synthetic work, The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death (SVS 2006). More recently he published a poetic and meditative work entitled Becoming Human: Theological Anthropology in Word and Image (SVS Press, 2013) and a full study of St. Irenaeus of Lyons (OUP, 2013). He also completed a new critical edition and translation of Origen’s On First Principles (OUP, 2017), and John the Theologian and His Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology (OUP 2019).
Rev. Dr. Katherine Sonderegger
Virginia Theological Seminary
Dr. Sonderegger is a long-time professor at the Virginia Theological Seminary. Her academic career focuses on the dogmatic theology of Karl Barth and constructive work in systematic theology. She has written about Barth’s interpretation of Israel, Jews, and Judaism; his Doctrine of God; his Christology and his exegesis of Scripture. More recently, she has turned to constructive, systematic theology: Volume 1: The Doctrine of God (Fortress Press, 2015) and Volume 2: The Trinity: Processions and Persons (2020). She is currently working on Volume 3: Divine Missions, Christology, and Pneumatology. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Theological Society, and the Karl Barth Society.
Rev. Dr. Behr and Rev. Dr. Sonderegger will also each receive the Consortium Ecumenism Award.
The event will take place on the campus of VTS in the Addison Academic Center – the Lettie Pate Room. A virtual option is available, especially if your are out of town.
The evening’s schedule will be:
- 6:00 p.m. – Welcome and Ecumenical Prayer Service (by Student Board)
- 6:35 p.m. – Introductions and Presentation of Ecumenism Awards
- 6:45 p.m. – Plenary Address: Rev. Dr. John Behr
- 7:30 p.m. – Plenary Address: Rev. Dr. Katherine Sonderegger
- 8:15 p.m. – Questions and Discussion
- 8:30 p.m. – Reception (in hallway outside Lettie Pate room)
- 9:15 p.m. – Conclude
The Figel event will be followed by a 2 day Orientale Lumen Conference on the Meaning of Nicaea for Today, featuring an array of ecumenical and international speakers from the Vatican, the Orthodox Church, the Eastern Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion. Nominal fee for clergy and the public, free to Consortium students. To sign up visit: https://olfoundation.net/upcoming-events/orientale-lumen-xxix/
The address of the seminary is:
Virginia Theological Seminary
3737 Seminary Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22304
The Addison Academic Center is located near the center of campus. View the map below for details on location, best entrances and parking locations, or download the map as a PDF.
For more information about the Figel Address, including past presentations, visit this page.
Download Event Flyer | Read Event Press Release
RSVP for the event by completing the form below.
Ecumenism Award & Figel Lecture - February 13, 2025
Registration ends 12 noon, Thursday, February 13.
Venue:
Virginia Theological Seminary: Addison Academic Center – Lettie Pate Room
3737 Seminary Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22304
Parking available!