Wesley Hill & Friends on Sexual Orientation at ETS 2014

Next week at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Diego, California, I moderate a panel on whether homosexual orientation is sinful or not. The presenters will be Wesley Hill, Denny Burk, and Preston Sprinkle.

Because of the timely nature of this discussion and the ability of these three scholars, this session should spark needed conversation and debate. I’m looking forward to a discussion among friends even as I am hoping that it will push the church’s thinking ahead on the topic of sexual orientation. This is a critical matter for Christian reflection. It is truly at the heart of the church’s confrontation of the secular world in our time.

Here’s the session info:

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 | 2:00 PM-5:10 PM, ISSUES IN SEXUALITY & GENDER, Hampton.

2:00 PM—2:40 PM
DENNY BURK
(Boyce College)Wednesday, 11/19 PM
Is Same-Sex Orientation Sinful?

2:50 PM—3:30 PM
PRESTON SPRINKLE
(Eternity Bible College)
Sexual Orientation in Paul’s World: It’s Not What You Think

3:40 PM—4:20 PM
WESLEY HILL
(Trinity School for Ministry)
Is Being Gay Sanctifiable? Scripture and the Great Tradition on Same-Sex Love and Christian Friendship

4:30 PM—5:10 PM
PANEL DISCUSSION
DENNY BURK
(Boyce College)
PRESTON SPRINKLE
(Eternity Bible College)
WESLEY HILL (Trinity School for Ministry)

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I am involved in two other panel sessions at ETS.

First, I give a paper on Wednesday morning at 10:10am on Park Street Church in Boston and its impact on New England Christianity. The session more broadly is on “The History of Park Street Church,” and my paper is entitled “The City on a Hill: Park Street Church and its Influence on New England Christianity.”

Other presenters in the session are Gordon Hugenberger, pastor of Park Street, Garth Rosell of Gordon-Conwell, and Mark Rogers of California Baptist University. I’m thrilled to be a part of this discussion of such an influential church, one I cover at length in my forthcoming monograph from Zondervan Academic, Reawakening the Evangelical Mind (Fall 2015).

Second, I moderate a session on Thursday at 8:30am entitled “Moments in the History of Christian Political Thought” that Matthew Arbo and I hope will become a consultation at ETS. This will be a great dialogue on public theology as it features Gregory Thornbury of The King’s College, Greg Forster, Arbo, and Brent Waters. We need a great deal more attention given to public theology. A rising generation needs to take up the torch carried for a while by figures like Hauerwas, the Niebuhrs, Carl Henry, and Richard John Neuhaus. My forthcoming book entitled The Colson Way (Thomas Nelson, summer 2015) is my first serious foray into this discipline.

If you’re coming to ETS, I look forward to seeing you. I continue to be amazed by how central this event is to the life of evangelical scholarship. It’s a powerhouse conference, and I’m thankful to be a part of it. Doesn’t exactly hurt anyone’s feelings that it’s in San Diego in November, either. The theme is on “Ecclesiology,” a great topic, and the President is Southern Seminary scholar Tom Schreiner. What a joy it will be to see Dr. Schreiner fill this role. I have fond memories of seeing his dear friend and my father-in-law, Dr. Bruce Ware, serve as President five years ago.