A mere christian gathering for the renewal of heart and mind. 

Back in 2011, we organized the first Eighth Day Symposium as a one-day local conference. Based on its success and its growth the following year - the attendance doubled! - we expanded the Symposium in 2013 to two full days. We also added a festal banquet to contemplate cultural renewal while celebrating a hero of the faith. You can see the various themes we've contemplated over the years further down this page.




Not too long ago, a friend asked me, “What’s your favorite place to go to for a conference?” I didn’t have to think about the answer. “Wichita, Kansas,” I immediately responded. Anyone who has ever attended one of the events put on by the Eighth Day Institute will straightaway nod in agreement... You’ll know what I mean when you attend an Eighth Day Symposium. Unfeigned hospitality and genuine friendship, depth of genuine theological conversation across traditions, beer and meals, sacred icons and otherworldly chants—it’s all part of what makes a Symposium in Kansas unlike any other get-together.
~Hans Boersma

Past Eighth Day Symposia

2023
Be Not Afraid! by Jake Meador, Fr. John Strickland, James Matthew Wilson, et al

2022

Sex & Lies: Delusions of the Self by Hans Boersma, Jennifer Roback Morse, Fr. Alexis Torrance, Carl Trueman, et al


2021

Hope in the Age of Anxiety:

A Digital Library of Twelve Presentations by Fr. Calinic Berger, Bradley Birzer, Erin Doom, Shailesh Mark, Louis Markos, Fr. John Strickland, Joshua Sturgill, et al





2020

For I Am Holy: The Command to be like God by Dr. David Fagerberg, Fr. Stephen Freeman, Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, et al



2019


Eros & the Mystery of God: On the Body, Sex & Asceticism by Hans Boersma, Adam Cooper, David Ford, Ephraim Radner, et al



2018


Strangers & Society: Cultivating Friendship in a Fractured Age by Peter Kanelos, Ken Myers, Joseph Pearce, et al



2017


Where Are the Watchmen: Theology in the Public Square by Martin Cothran, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian Zahnd, et al



2016


Soil & Sacrament: The World as Gift by Mike Aquilina, Hans Boersma, Rod Dreher, Vigen Guroian, et al




2015


Whatever Happened to Wonder: The Recovery of Mystery in a Secular Age by Bishop James Conley, Rod Dreher, James Kushiner, James K. A. Smith, et al



2014


Constantine, Christendom & Cultural Renewal by Vigen Guorian, Alan Kreider, Peter Leithart, Benjamin Wiker, et al


2013


Dostoevsky: The Divine & the Demonic by Scott Cairns, Martin Cothran, John Hodges, Ralph Wood, et al


2012


What's Wrong with the World: An Inkling of a Response by Warren Farha, Ralph Wood et al


2011

Imagination & Soul: Harry Potter, Twilight & Spiritual Formation by John Granger, Fr. Josiah Trenham, et al