SAN DIEGO (ABP) — As hundreds of scholars, pastors and theologians gathered Nov. 14 for the opening day of the 59th annual conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, a question loomed over their heads: How narrowly to define who qualifies as an evangelical theologian.
It was the first meeting since the departure of former president Francis Beckwith, a Baylor University professor who resigned last May in order to return to his childhood faith of Catholicism.
During a business session, members planned to introduce a proposal to amend the group's current doctrinal statement, which the 4,100-member society has used since its formation in 1949. The current statement, described by some as “minimalist,” arguably allows for many non-evangelicals to be members.
This year's theme, “Teaching Them to Obey,” set the stage for the group's plenary sessions. Douglas Moo of Wheaton College provided the opening plenary address, which preceded a session in which his topic — the obedience of faith — was discussed by a panel of society members.
The way faith and works interconnect is important not only for understanding Scripture and theology, but also for the practice of a Christian life, Moo said.
“Paul called men and women to a faith that is always inseparable from obedience,” he said. “Working through love defines the faith that is developed through righteousness.”
In addition to plenary addresses like Moo's, the annual meeting will include the readings of more than 500 scholarly papers on topics ranging from spiritual formation and biblical ethics to gender roles and global missions.
Beckwith's departure from the group, which organizers have described as “a momentary crisis in the society,” prompted leaders to issue a statement examining the theological issues that divide evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics.
The group's theological statement says, “The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory.”
ETS members Ray Van Neste of Union University and Denny Burk of Criswell College—both Baptist institutions—have written a proposal to change the statement.
Though some documents incorporated in the proposed change date to 2001, an explanation of the proposal first appeared in a Fall 2007 edition of the Criswell Theological Review. Its authors say it is not a “knee-jerk” reaction to Beckwith's crisis of conscience. Rather, Beckwith's departure was “merely the latest event to draw attention to the inadequacy of our current statement,” Van Neste and Burk said.
“The long-standing problem of our current statement is that its minimalism arguably allows for many non-evangelicals (e.g. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox) and some who are outside Christian orthodoxy (e.g. Docetists, Pelagians) to affirm it in good conscience,” an online statement from Van Neste and Burk says. “We would argue that since the ETS constitution clearly intends for our society to be ‘evangelical,' it is important for each member of our society to affirm a clearly evangelical doctrinal basis. Apart from such an affirmation, the society cannot long retain its evangelical identity.”
More than 40 supporters have signed their approval of the document, on which society members will vote at their 2008 annual meeting in Providence, R.I.
The Evangelical Philosophical Society, which meets alongside the ETS, will hold a discussion titled “Evangelicals and Catholics in Dialogue.” The society will also sponsor a discussion of Beckwith's book, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion, at which Beckwith, a professor of church-state studies at Baylor, will speak.