The Cost of Ambition with Miroslav Volf

What if your ambition is quietly making you a worse person?

It is one of the most uncomfortable questions of our time — and one of the most important.

We live in a world that celebrates striving, achievement, competition, and getting ahead. But what if the relentless drive to be better than others is shaping us in ways we barely notice? What if it is eroding our character, straining our relationships, and pulling us away from the life we were actually made for?

This September, world-renowned theologian and Yale professor Miroslav Volf comes to Calgary for a weekend of lectures, workshops, and worship exploring the spiritual cost of ambition — and what it means to follow Christ in a competitive world. This event is presented in partnership with the Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary.

Whether you come for the free Friday presentation or spend Saturday in deeper conversation, this weekend will help you examine how ambition shapes your faith, work, relationships, and inner life.

Tickets & Registration

Early Bird pricing is available until August 15. Secure your Saturday workshop seat early for the best rate.

Saturday Workshop + Catered Lunch

$65 —Full Friday and Saturday session access.

Saturday Workshop Only - NO LUNCH

$35 — Full Friday and Saturday session access.

Student Tickets: A valid student ID is required at the door.

$35 — Workshop + Catered Lunch

Friday Lecture Only

Free — Registration required.

Sunday Worship

Free — All are welcome.

About Miroslav Volf

Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School and founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.

Born in Croatia and profoundly shaped by the violence and trauma of war in the former Yugoslavia, Volf's work explores theology, identity, reconciliation, memory, public life, and what it means to live faithfully in a fractured world.

His books — including Exclusion and Embrace, A Public Faith, and The End of Memory — have made him one of the most widely read and respected theologians in the world today. His latest book, The Cost of Ambition, is a timely and deeply human exploration of how the drive to be better than others can make us worse.