Thought Life
It’s that time of year again: the Evangelical Theological Society meets Tuesday-Thursday of this week. I’m traveling today to Baltimore for the 64th annual meeting, organized around the important theme of “Inerrancy.” I’ll be presenting two papers this year, both on the neo-evangelicals.
My first paper is on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 4:30pm in Hilton-Latrobe. I’m part of a session on inerrancy with John Woodbridge and my friend Doug Hankins; Rob Caldwell is the chair. My paper is entitled “The Clash of Ambitions: Inerrancy, Academic Witness, and the Neo-evangelical Legacy.” I’ll be covering the tension that Carl Henry, Harold Ockenga, and others felt between biblical ambition and cultural ambition; I’ll also be mixing it up with my Patheos colleague Peter Enns. This is a fun paper, because it gives me the opportunity to talk about the life of the mind and to present new sources on the topic.
My second paper is on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 4:25pm in BCC 439. I’m part of a session on David Swartz’s important new book Moral Minority. My paper is entitled “Of Grand Narratives & Master Strategy: A Fresh Appraisal of the Neo-Evangelical Project of Cultural Engagement.” Swartz’s book is on the evangelical left; it was recently reviewed by the New York Times. If you enjoy evangelical history, you’ll find this book stimulating and profitable.
It’s exciting to see the full list of papers by Southern Seminary and Boyce College folks. I think we’re giving something like 45 presentations out of 900 or so–that’s roughly 5% of all papers at ETS given by someone currently affiliated with SBTS, a pretty remarkable number. The confessional life of the mind is alive and well at SBTS and Boyce College.
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