Tony Jones makes this comment about one of the ETS papers this year:

(Frankly, I’m a bit shocked that "scholarship" like this is allowed in an academic guild like ETS.)

Tony shouldn’t be shocked.  There is no quality assurance whatsoever at ETS.  I should know because I presented this year at the Evangelical Theological Society and my paper was not that good!  It is my impression that ETS accepts papers from anyone who proposes them.  The person simply needs to have a Th.M or Ph.D. or is working on it.  They also need to sign the inerrancy clause and thus be a member. 

No one looks at your paper before you deliver it.  No one looks at it after you deliver it.  You simply deliver your paper for 20 minutes and then take 10 minutes of questions.  If you are a no name, you may have 0-20 people.  If you are a big name, you may have 150.

Thus, there is zero structure that would ensure the papers have any certain quality.

Because I knew what the setting would be like, I viewed my paper as a kind of learning experience working paper draft that I was looking for feedback on . . . Since then I have decided to completely redo it!  🙂 

This lack of quality control differs from the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and American Academy of Religion (AAR) where it is difficult to have a paper accepted.  You have to submit your paper to a specialized area to get it approved and there are only a limited number of spots.  In some of these instances, the paper must be approved ahead of time.

It just goes to show that peer-reviewed journals are still the best way to get reliably good content. Not conferences.   

It is my perception that ETS functions as two things. 

First, it is a place for conservative evangelicals to talk with one another.  This is good in one way because sometimes in the broader guild you have to talk about methodology for a week to establish your presuppositions in order to actually talk about the topic.  For example, does the New Testament have anything to do with ethics?  You have to argue that at SBL. At ETS, you can consider that a given and move on to talking about specific issues. 

Second, the ETS also functions as a kind of minor league in the scholarship world.  The major scholars tend to present papers at more specific, scholarly settings like SBL and AAR. 

How have we gotten to this place?

The Boomer inerrancy wars have taken quite a toll on this organization. (See the musings from conservative Roger Overton here at the A-Team blog and here and here from Norman Geisler about his resigning because of the doctrinal slide of ETS on inerrrancy!) (H/T afriendnamedben here). 

Also note Tony’s comments about inerrancy here which I have pasted below.

5) The Authority of the Bible: Again, I am not mentioned, so maybe I’m OK here, too. But I am on the record as reviling the so-called "doctrine of inerrancy." It’s a doctrine that demands so many relative clauses ("in the original manuscripts"(which, by the way, we don’t have), "in the author’s intention" (which, by the way, we can’t know), etc.) as to render it worthless. I choose, instead, to speak of the trustworthiness, even infallibility, of scripture.   

I’m not sure how to sort all of this out.  While people continue to beat each other up over inerrancy, maybe there are some other things we can do.   

How do we reform ETS and make it a place where outstanding rigorous discussion scholarship is done?  So people don’t read half-baked papers like I read!  🙂

I know this discussion is being held by the hierarchy of ETS as well.  Many of them are known for their rigorous scholarship.  Greg Beale comes to mind.   

If ETS conferences are going to be renewed and reformed, they are going to need younger people in their 20’s and 30’s like us to take a leadership role in the process.

Here are some suggestions for overhauling ETS conferences. 

1. I think what we need to do at ETS is to appoint coordinators of each of the major areas.  These coordinators need to look through the papers before hand, which people submit in March.  They then choose the best papers to be presented in November.  Hopefully, they also send editorial suggestions back to the person.  In the end, there are less papers, but more quality ones. 

If not with the whole conference, we designate a strata that does it that way.  There are the level 1 papers and sessions.  Then we have also the typical open sessions.

We need to invite first tier scholars to pioneer these level 1 papers and sessions.   

These scholars also need to be from a range of evangelical schools and include evangelicals that teach at secular schools.  See my list of seminaries and where they fit on the evangelical spectrum.  The whole range needs to be represented.   

2. We need to provide scholarships for women and international guests to increase the diversity. 

3. We need to charge more for the conference.  Right now it costs $20 for the early registration for the member and $40 for the late registration!  Ridiculously cheap.

4.  Someone needs to redo the website.

See my thoughts on doing ETS well and the kinds of scholars that present there here.   

There are a number of conferences this fall that you might be interested in hearing about. 

Below I discuss the:

1. Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting
2. Institute for Biblical Research Annual Meeting
3. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting
   • How to Survive and Thrive at ETS and SBL
4. The North American Professors of Christian Education Annual Conference
5. Catalyst Conference
6. The Drive Conference at North Point Community Church
7. The Youth Specialities 2006 National Youth Worker’s Convention

The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) Annual Meeting is November 15-17, 2006 in Washington, DC.  They have just posted their full program today at the link above.   I attended this meeting last year and enjoyed a number of excellent presentations (in the areas of New Testament, Old Testament, philosophy, church history, practical theology) from a conservative evangelical perspective.  The condition for membership into the ETS is subscribing to the following statement:

"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."

• Some well-known people I would enjoy listening to at ETS include: Ron Sider, Scott Hafemann, Robert Yarbrough, William Lane Craig, Jean Bethke Elshtain, J. Budziszewski, Gordon T. Smith, Craig Blomberg, William J. Webb, Tremper Longman, Greg Boyd, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Kenneth Barker, Larry Hurtado, Scot McKnight, Clark Pinnock, and I. Howard Marshall.  This gives you a flavor of some of the quality of people involved. 
• From Taylor University’s Biblical Studies, Christian Educational Ministries and Philosophy department, we have eight (Win Corduan, Michael Harbin, Bill Heth, Sheri Klouda, Bob Lay, Ed Meadors, Jim Spiegel and me) presenting!
• See Justin Taylor’s quick preview of ETS here.   

In between ETS and SBL, is the Institute for Biblical Research Annual
Meeting (Nov 17 evening and Nov 18 morning).  You can find it in the
SBL Program Book under Additional Meetings.  "The Institute for
Biblical Research, Incorporated (IBRI) is an organization of
evangelical Christian scholars with specialties in Old and New
Testament and in ancillary disciplines. Its vision is to foster
excellence in the pursuit of Biblical Studies within a faith
environment."  Craig Blomberg and Craig Evans, among others, are presenting this year.  Its out of date website was pulled down two weeks ago but you can still see it via google cached. 

The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting is November 18-21 in Washington DC.  "The Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of biblical scholars in the world. At this combined meeting with the American Academy of Religion, scholars benefit
from sessions on religion, philosophy, ethics, and diverse religious traditions."  I also attended this event last fall. 

• Some well-known names (at least to me) at SBL include: Larry Hurtado, Judith Gundry-Volf, Robert Walter Moberly (friend Joel Lohr doing dissertation under him), Michael Bird, Phyllis Trible, Thomas Long, Christopher Stanley (Regent College grad), Joel Green, Marcus Bockmuehl, Peter Machinist, James Dunn, Walter Brueggemann, Bart Ehrman, Douglas Campbell, Sheri Klouda (Taylor University colleague), Mark Goodacre, Rikk Watts (Regent College prof), Edith Humphrey, Donald Hagner, Philip Jenkins, John M. G. Barclay, Richard A. Horsley, Craig A. Evans, Richard Bauckham, Ben Witherington, Joel Willitts, Michael Theophilos (Regent College grad with me), Ellen Charry, Jacob Neusner, Luke Timothy Johnson, John G. Stackhouse, Jr. (Regent College prof), William Willimon, N. Thomas Wright, Richard B. Hays, Clark Pinnock, Francis Watson, Beverly Gaventa, John Sanders, Scott Hafemann, Robert Derrenbacker (Regent college prof), Susan Eastman, Robert Wall, Marianne Thompson, and Miroslav Volf.  (I have put hyperlinks to those I know have blogs).

How to Survive and Thrive at ETS and SBL:

ETS is followed by SBL so that you can attend both if you are interested.   

(1) The paper writers present their own papers.  They basically read the academic paper aloud.  You hear regular laments in the hallway about bad pedagogy.  "We present with PowerPoint and illustrations in our classrooms back home but read papers when we are together.  Oh academia . . ." But it is still pretty fun if you are interested in seeing the scholars or are interested in the topic.  Need I mention that caffeine helps? 

(2) If two papers are scheduled at 8:30 am, you have to choose one to attend.  But if the paper is over at 9:10, you can run to another one.  In other words, you don’t have to attend all three papers of one session.  There is lots of movement in between papers.  So make your schedule ahead of time and run around and go to the papers you want to. 

(3) If nothing looks good, go to the book room.  Every publisher in the world has all of their books at 50% off.  Very cool.   

(4) Don’t bother going to see a moderator because they really don’t do a thing except make sure that the person doesn’t go over time.  If it says that the moderator is participating in a discussion, then it could be interesting. 

(5) Schedule lunch and dinner with your friends or acquaintances.
You’ll be running around all day but you don’t want to get stuck eating
alone (unless you found a good book in the book room).  And it easy to
lose your friends in the chaos around mealtimes.  So schedule your
meals and meeting places ahead of time. 

(6) The General sessions are also optional.  I would recommend the one at ETS with the dinner though.  I sat next to Gordon Wenham last year.  Again, I recommend booking people ahead of time to sit with.   

(7) The theme really means nothing except for influencing the general sessions.   

(8) Book a place to stay now as things get filled up and you’ll get stuck with the real expensive hotels. 

The North American Professors of Christian Education (NAPCE) Annual Conference is October 19-21, 2006 in Denver, CO.  The keynote speaker is Richard Osmer, professor of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary and author of the new book The Teaching Ministry of Congregations. 

The Catalyst Conference is October 5-6 in Atlanta, GA. "Catalyst was conceived as a Next Generation Leaders Conference in 1999 by a small group of influential young leaders.  Catalyst was created to meet the felt need existing within the church for a leadership event that was focused on a new generation of church leaders.  Catalyst was able to meet the demand for fresh leadership insights for young leaders by creating a conference experience specifically focused on leaders under the age of 40 . . . and this October, over 10,000 young leaders will gather again to experience Catayst up close."   Speakers this year include Andy Stanley,  Donald Miller, John Maxwell, Gary Haugen, Louie Giglio, John Stott, Marcus Buckingham, and George Barna.  Some of their "Catalyst Lab" speakers include some of my favorite people: Eugene Peterson, Mark Buchanan, Andy Crouch, Lauren Winner, and Shane Claiborne.  Catalyst has a blog here. 

The Drive Conference at North Point Community Church is November 6-8, 2006 in Alpharetta, GA.  North Point, pastored by Andy Stanley, is the "third most influential church in the nation" according to TheChurchReport.com here. "DRIVE ’06 is an opportunity for our staff to download what we’ve learned over
the past ten years about creating and maintaining irresistible ministry
environments."  Here are my posts that have touched on Andy Stanley.    

The Youth Specialities 2006 National Youth Worker’s Convention is:

• Austin: Oct 5-9
• Anaheim: Nov 2-6
• Cincinnati: Nov 16-20
• Charlotte: Nov 30-Dec 4

Speakers and musicians vary by location but some locations will include some of my favorites: David Crowder Band, Mike Pilavachi, Shane and Shane, Donald Miller, Kenda Creasy Dean, and Shane Claiborne. 

Update February 18, 2007: Check out this series of article in Christianity Today on Calvary Chapel.   

Original post:

I enjoyed learning more about Chuck Smith, Sr., founder of the Calvary Chapel fellowship of churches, and his son Chuck Smith, Jr. in this excellent LA Times article.

Father, Son and Holy Rift: For Pastor Chuck Smith, the big issues are undebatable. For Chuck Smith Jr., also a pastor, it’s not so crystal clear. Something had to give.

By Christopher Goffard, Times Staff Writer
September 2, 2006

Summary:  Chuck, Jr. was asked to sever ties with the Calvary Chapel fellowship of churches because he has become less of a fundamentalist.  Father and son still have a good relationship with one another.

All the bloggers I have read feel the article is quite well done and fair with both sides.   

The wikipedia article on Calvary Chapel gives good background on the movement. 

If you know someone who attends a Calvary Chapel or you attend one, this is must reading.