For the period of 2021-2025, the Herman Bavinck Center and the Research Group ‘Reformed and Evangelical Theology’ aim at developing a ‘Theology of Presence and Discernment’, dealing with questions like: How is God’s presence to be discerned in concrete situations? Is it more ‘real’ when it is directly experienced, or can it be equally valid and authoritative when it is mediated by external means – be it the Bible, Christian wisdom (or even wisdom as such), the faith community, or things that happen in everyday life? These questions are approached from a variety of methodologies in theology and religious studies – most notably hermeneutical, historical, philosophical, conceptual, and empirical ones. That is: we will examine the interpretation of biblical texts, reconstruct large-scale historical developments, test the conceptual coherence of contemporary theological views on the matter, and study how things work in actual practice by fieldwork and other forms of empirical research. Ideally, the project will help Christian communities to reflect on and discern claims about divine presence and intervention more carefully. Session 1. Divine Presence in Historical Reformed TheologyChair: Henk Van den Belt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)Speakers:Corné Blaauw (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Divine Illumination as Triune Visitation in John Owen (1616-1683) Brett Blackman (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Discerning the Divine within the Finite and Fallen: Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) on History as a Form of General Revelation Cameron Shaffer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), John Owen (1616-1683) on the presence of God in worship: Some thought from his commentary on HebrewsSession 2. The Presence of the Spirit Chair: Michael Borowski (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)Speakers:Matt Edminster (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / IBTS Centre), Communal Discernment in Free Church Gatherings Peter Jonescu (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), A Realistic Discernment of the Spirits: Discerning God in Poland with Michael Welker’s Theology on Spirits Tihomir Lazić (Newbold College of Higher Education), Discerning the Spirit: A Quest for Divine Presence Session 3. Divine Presence in Creation and Providence Chair: Theo van Willigenburg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)Speakers: Henk van den Belt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Divine Presence in Providence: A Paralyzing or Empowering Aspect of Reformed Theology? Gijsbert van den Brink (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Discerning Divine Presence in Nature: Is All Life Sacred? Eva van Urk-Coster (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), A Sacramental Eco-Theological Perspective on the Sixth Mass Extinction as Impairing Spirituality