Is Gender Dysphoria a Moral Matter? On My ETS Presentation Next Week

This is a blistering and fun season for many evangelical scholars. It’s ETS time.

Next week, the Evangelical Theological Society meets in San Antonio, Texas (Alamo at right) for its annual conference. I’ve been thankful to be a member of ETS for some time, and I’ll present this year on three separate topics. All three sessions I’m involved in take place on this coming Tuesday, November 15, 2016:

1: A paper on “The Clarity of Complementarity: Transgender in Moral & Theological Perspective” (Hyatt-Lone Star Salon A, 9am-9:40). I’ll be presenting material not dissimilar from the brief case I made in The Grand Design, interacting as I go with Mark Yarhouse and other important voices on this new matter (or is it new?) confronting the church.

2: A panel on “Baptist Pastor-Theologians of America” (panel in Hyatt-Travis B from 11:30am-12:10.) This is a session of the Baptist Studies group with the theme this year of “Pastor-Theologians Among Baptists in America.” I obviously love this topic and am excited to see it featured in a panel, particularly one focused on the Baptist tradition, which I hope will see a rising generation of pastor-theologians in days ahead.

3: A paper on “Billy Graham and Harold John Ockenga” (Marriott-Rivercenter — Rooms 17 & 18, 4:30pm-5:10). This is a session for the Christian History and Thought since 1700 group, the theme of which is “Billy Graham and His Relationships.” I’ve written a good deal about Ockenga and Graham, having covered their fascinating and catalytic friendship in Awakening the Evangelical Mind. To understand Ockenga, you must understand Graham; to understand all Graham did, you must understand Ockenga. It’s been fun to study the largely-forgotten Boston pastor-theologian over the last decade or so, for he is indeed a key figure in the neo-evangelical renaissance, and thus the present evangelical story.

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A number of scholars from Midwestern Seminary, where I teach, will be presenting at ETS. It is as exciting as ever to see this school participate in the life of the mind, an endeavor that is so deeply worthwhile. I hope I’ll see some of you next week at ETS, and I also look forward to seeing some Tex-Mex on the plate (not that the two receive equal levels of anticipation).

(Image of the Alamo: used by permission from Wikimedia Commons)