Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 45:1 (Mar 2002)
Article: Reports Relating To The Fifty-Third Annual Meeting Of The Society
Author: Anonymous

JETS 45:1 (March 2002) p. 183

Reports Relating To The Fifty-Third
Annual Meeting Of The Society

The 53rd annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 14-16, 2001, with a record-breaking registration of 1850, nearly 200 more than the previous year’s record. The beautiful Broadmoor Hotel provided the setting. Participating publishers offered generous discounts on their books and other products from more than sixty booths in a large exhibit hall.

The program theme, “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries,” was explored in six plenary sessions and by many of the several hundred individual papers. Participants came from as far away as Israel, Jordan, Singapore, Korea, Canada, and Europe to fellowship, exchange ideas, critique one another, and to keep abreast of the most recent scholarship in their disciplines. Nearly twenty study groups also met as part of the overall program.

President-elect Millard Erickson served as program chairman and put together a superb array of plenary speakers. On Wednesday afternoon, William Travis of Bethel Theological Seminary began with an address on “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries Historically.” He argued that evangelicals have always held to the inerrancy of the Bible, that personal salvation was necessary, and that a holy life was to be emphasized. That evening, a record 903 persons gathered in the presidential ballroom for the fellowship banquet. After a delicious meal, President Bock presented Robert Newman with a plaque for his service as Vice-President, President-Elect, and President from 1994–96, and for his service on the Executive Committee from 1994–2001. We next heard ETS president Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary deliver a challenging, insightful, and almost prophetic message titled “The Purpose-Driven ETS: Where Do We Propose to Go? A Look at Jesus Studies and Other Example Cases.” His address appears in this issue of JETS.

On Thursday afternoon attendees heard back-to-back hour-long lectures presenting the cases for and against open theism. John Sanders of Huntington College answered the question “Is Open Theism Evangelical?” in the affirmative, while Bruce Ware of Southern Seminary argued, among other things, that divine exhaustive foreknowledge is essential to upholding God’s character and even the inerrancy of Scripture itself. Thus he concluded that open theism is indeed outside the boundaries that define evangelicalism.

The fourth and fifth plenary sessions were held on Thursday evening featuring David Dockery of Union University and Douglas Groothuis of Denver Seminary. “Defining Evangelicalism’s Boundaries Biblically” was Dockery’s topic, while Groothuis delivered an impassioned lecture on “Defining Evangelical...