Every year Bible scholars from around the world gather for a series of conferences about the Bible and related topics. This year the conferences are being held in San Diego, making it convenient for many Biola faculty to attend the conferences, present papers, see friends, and wander the book tables. The following list (thanks to David Roberts for compiling it) includes the presentation titles by those associated with Biola. As you can read, our professors are engaged in research in many different and interesting areas!

Two Biola faculty are playing particularly important roles this year. Scott Rae is serving as President-elect and Program Chair of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) this year, working extensively behind the scenes to organize this year’s conference. Joe Hellerman is giving one of the plenary addresses examining one aspects of this year’s theme of ecclesiology, “When the Church Was a Family: Christian Communities as Surrogate Kin Groups.”

For those who are interested in attending or seeing the full program of the annual conferences of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), the Institute for Biblical Research (IBR), or Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), please see the following links:

1. ETS Annual Meeting at a Glance

2. IBR Annual Meeting

3. SBL Annual Meeting

ETS Schedule for BIOLA and TALBOT Speakers

Wednesday, November 19:

  • Sue Russell, Moderator of section “Evangelicals and Gender: Gender, Identity, and Sexuality: A Conversation for the Church”
  • Ronald W. Pierce, “Scripture and Same-Sex, Sexual Intimacy: Prescriptions and Proscriptions in an Honest Debate”
  • Christa L. McKirland, “Are We Really Sexual Beings? Implications for Human Personhood”
  • Fred Sanders, "What the Icons Say and Do for the Gospel: The Place of the Ancient Christian Iconographic Tradition in Evangelical Churches"
  • Gary Manning, “Gog and Magog: A New Look at John’s Appropriation of Ezekiel (Rev 20:7-9 / Ezek 38-39)”
  • Jonathan Lunde, “Jesus’ Entrustment of His Mother as Passover Imagery—John 19:25-27”
  • John Coe, Moderator of section “Spiritual Formation/Sanctification”
  • Kyle Strobel, “Sanctified in the Son: The Contours of the Doctrine of Sanctification”
  • Steve L. Porter, “Alston on the Transforming Work of the Holy Spirit: Fiat, Interpersonal, or Shared Life?”
  • Greg Peters, Moderator of section “Ecclesiology: The Apostolicity of the Church”
  • Fred Sanders, Moderator of section “Reformed Theology: Book Review Session of Michael Bird’s Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction (Zondervan, 2013)”
  • Doug Geivett and Nathan Lauffer, “Is Disagreement a Problem for Christian Belief?”
  • R. Scott Smith, “Craig’s Nominalism Applied to Scripture”
  • Ken Berding, “‘Gifts’ and Ministries in the Apostolic Fathers”
  • Walt Russel, “The Local Church Implications of Messiah Jesus as the Chief Pastor”
  • Dave Talley, “What Does It Mean To 'Wait on the LORD'?”

Thursday, November 20:

  • Scott Rae, “The Ethics of ‘Reproductive’ Technology”
  • Scott Rae, Participant in panel discussion on “A Dialogue on ‘Reproductive’ Technologies, the Church, and Society”
  • Doug Geivett and Erik Thoennes, Participants in Panel Discussion, “Death and Hope in the Writings of C.S. Lewis”
  • Doug Geivett, Participant in panel discussion, “What Is the Current Landscape of Lewisian Studies?”
  • John Bloom, Moderator of section “Creation: Creation, the Fall and the Problem of Natural and Moral Evil”
  • Sue Russell, Moderator of section “Evangelicals and Gender”
  • Darian R. Lockett, “‘Necessary But Not Sufficient’: The Role of History in the Interpretation of James as Christian Scripture”
  • Erik Thoennes, “Divine Jealousy and the Christian Life”
  • Freddy Cardoza, “Professional Networking Plan: Appropriate Ways to Build Relationships for Making Potential Position Connections”
  • Freddy Cardoza, “21st Century Cover Letters and CVs”
  • R. Scott Smith, Participant in panel discussion of In Search of Moral Knowledge by R. Scott Smith
  • William Lane Craig, “God and Abstract Objects: A Survey of the Landscape”
  • Joseph Hellerman, Plenary Session 2, “When the Church Was a Family: Christian Communities as Surrogate Kin Groups”
  • Darian Lockett, “Reflections on Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison of Theory and Practice”
  • Darian Lockett, Participant in panel discussion on “Biblical Theology”
  • Don Sunukjian, “From Theology to Sermon”
  • Don Sunukjian, Participant in panel discussion “Questions and Answers about Expository Preaching”
  • Fred Sanders, “Introducing the TECC Project, Theology and California, and the California Body”
  • Thomas J. Sappington, “The Ministry of Deliverance in the Acts of the Apostles: Reassessing the Evidence”
  • William Lane Craig, “Reflections on Molinism and Theology”
  • Joanne Jung, “Character Formation in Online Education”
  • John Coe, Moderator of section “Spiritual Formation / Sanctification”
  • John Coe, “Why Spiritual Formation is the Slowest Motion on Earth: The Weakness of the Will”
  • Robert L. Saucy, “The Biblical Heart and the Way of it’s Transformation: Growing into Christ”
  • Kevin E. Lawson, “Cave Lector: What Theologians and Biblical Scholars Need to Know to be Wise Consumers of Empirical Research”
  • Jeremy Treat, “Created To Play: A Theology of Sports”

Friday, November 21:

  • Ashish J. Naidu, “Mere Mimesis or Inner Transformation? Ancient Discourse and John Chrysotom on Christian Praxis”
  • Jason McMartin, “Evaluating Physicalist Options for a Theology of Holy Saturday”
  • Doug Geivett, “A New Apostolic Reformation? A Biblical Response to the Worldwide Apostles and Prophets Movement”
  • Adam J. Johnson, “Atonement: The Shape and State of the Doctrine”
  • Ben Rhoades, Moderator of section “Theology of Karl Barth”
  • John McKinley, “Towards a Fuller Expression of Complementarianism in Church Life”

SBL Schedule for BIOLA and TALBOT Speakers

Saturday, November 22:

  • Charlie Trimm, “Stealing the Gate: Another Reading of Samson’s Escapade in Judges 16:1-3”
  • Darian Lockett, “Why Have We Stopped Reading James, Peter, and Jude Together? Tracing the Early Reception of a Collection”

Sunday, November 23:

  • Charlie Trimm, “War and Peace in Canaan: Teaching Old Testament Geography and Politics through a Classroom Game”

Monday, November 24:

  • Kenneth Way, “The Meaning of the Minor Judges: Understanding the Bible’s Shortest Stories”