I just got the news that the Evangelical Theological Society has accepted my paper proposal for the November annual convention. The working title of my paper is The Jesus Quest and the Evangelical Question: Learning from and Responding to a New Fundamentalist Challenge. Here is the abstract of the paper proposal: In March 2014, Norman Geisler and David Farnell co-edited a large volume of essays entitled _The Jesus Quest: The Danger from Within_ (amazon/The-Jesus-Quest-Danger-Within/dp/162839465X). Endorsed by several evangelical seminary presidents, the essays decry the use of literary and historical tools of biblical criticism in the study of the Gospels and the participation by evangelicals in the quest for the historical Jesus. It features a lengthy critique of the recent book _Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy_, essays warning of philosophical compromise in evangelical Gospel scholarship, and chapters seeking to expose dangers in the historical and hermeneutical methods of many contemporary evangelical scholars. The Evangelical Theological Society is specifically criticized for supposedly compromising the doctrine of Scripture and failing to uphold its own doctrinal standards. This paper provides a review of _The Jesus Quest_ and a critical analysis of the issues it raises with regard to evangelicals, biblical interpretation, and historical Jesus studies. It identifies areas in which its contributors express criticisms from which evangelicals may profitably learn, while also noting some of its more troubling problematic assumptions and claims. It is argued that the real danger within evangelicalism is of a growing fissure created not by the hermeneutical and methodological disagreements but by intolerance reflecting a failure to distinguish essentials from non-essentials in evangelical theology. The paper closes with some suggestions as to how evangelicals might work to address this controversy in a constructive manner. Note that the abstract represents where I expect the paper to go, but since it isnt actually written yet, it is possible the end result may differ somewhat from this description.
Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2014 15:37:05 +0000