Evangelical Trends, Part 1

A Report on the Evangelical Theological Society 2008

The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) celebrated its 60th year at Providence, Rhode Island, with about 2,200 participants and around five hundred papers read. The society has but two requirements for membership—that one believe in inerrancy and in the Trinity. Despite this minimalist position, the society has been recently forced to take action on members whose views were outside these nominal limits.

In the past few years, the society has been wrestling with pressures to adopt a more substantive doctrinal position. A new generation of conservative scholars, especially among the Southern Baptists, led by men such as Paige Patterson and R. Albert Mohler, are exerting influence within the society.

In 2007, two Southern Baptists introduced a motion to adopt the eleven-point doctrinal statement currently used in England by the Tyndale Fellowship. This statement, while fuller than the current ETS two-point position, still allows for wide latitude, including people who are “Calvinists, Wesleyans, Baptists, Anglicans, etc.” The amendment was put to the membership recently, and this is what happened.

Preparations—The first step was a meeting in which ETS members could ask questions of the executive committee and the amendment’s co-sponsors, Van Neste and Burk. About fifty people attended—some speaking for and some speaking against the motion. Some members of the executive committee spoke against the proposal because, in their words, the two-point ETS statement is not a “doctrinal statement” or “creed” but rather a “doctrinal basis” (N. B. This is a distinction without a difference). ETS secretary James Borland was critical of procedure. He charged that the amendment’s co-sponsors, Ray Van Neste and Denny Burk, acted hastily and outside proper channels. Craig Blaising, member-at-large on the executive committee, responding to an ETS member’s question, suggested that the two points were not meant to define an evangelical but were merely a basis of mutual understanding. The meeting lasted forty minutes and was informational.

The second meeting was the formal business meeting held Wednesday night, where the ETS membership debated the proposal. Society president Hassell Bullock moderated the one-hour discussion, allowing one member to speak for the motion and one to speak against it in rotation until the hour was over. Among those who argued for the amendment were Wayne Grudem, R. Albert Mohler, Robert Saucy, John Warwick Montgomery, and Michael Haykin. Mohler publicly wondered whether ETS would be a society about evangelicalism or a society of evangelicals. Those speaking against the motion were Craig Blasing, James Borland, and Bruce Ware, all from the executive committee, as well as regular society members. These opponents rejected the particular eleven-point statement because too many existing members could not sign it for one reason or another, because it was hastily presented and because there was general reluctance within the society to more narrowly define the broad constituency. After an hour of vigorous discussion, the vote was announced for Friday at the 8:30 AM business meeting. No further discussion prior to the vote would be allowed.

Hallway conversations after the first business meeting indicated that few believed the motion would pass as presented. The statement simply was unsatisfactory to many people, though some who opposed the particular statement favored additional doctrinal strengthening. Grudem indicated in a personal conversation that he knew the motion would fail but that he intended, upon its rejection, to move that the executive committee form a study group to determine the need for a stronger doctrinal basis than simply two points. At least some executive committee members knew this plan, and some members favored it.

The Vote—The final business meeting came early Friday morning. The final issue on the agenda was this vote which was placed before the membership. Less than 5 percent of the society’s 4,600-plus members attended the business meeting, but the constitution specifies that such an amendment requires an affirmation from 80% of those attending the business meeting, not of ETS as a whole. A standing vote took place, and 46 of the 177 members who voted favored the amendment. Apparently, people who attended the business meeting simply abstained. Immediately after the vote, ETS secretary-treasurer James Borland moved to adjourn. President Bullock accepted the motion with a second, despite loud objections. He then put the motion to the gathered members. Over the voices of more noisy protests, the motion carried and the meeting was adjourned. Members quickly filed out of the hall.

Several members approached the platform to question President Bullock’s speedy closing of the meeting. Grudem, among others, was frustrated that his planned proposal was preempted. Bullock explained to those gathered around him on the platform that had the vote been stronger, he would have allowed for the Grudem motion. Since, in his opinion, there was a weak showing to the amendment, he felt justified in closing the meeting. Other members of the executive committee seemingly were caught off guard. It was an unexpected and disappointing conclusion.

It remains to be seen what the ETS membership will do in light of this decision. Many of those present, including Grudem and the two Southern Baptist men who originally proposed the motion, were disappointed. Since the meeting ended, however, Burk and Van Neste think they have gained some ground in that the executive committee is now motivated to take up the matter more closely. One thing became patently obvious: the society needs a parliamentarian to help run its meetings. For two members of the executive committee to limit further discussion, without the knowledge of the committee as a whole, seems odd. Time may have played a factor as further discussion would have taken the meeting over its allotted time slot.

The motion failed for several reasons. First, those who supported it early in the discussion failed to attend the vote in sufficient strength to carry the day. Even some who favored the motion on Wednesday were missing at the vote on Friday. Moreover, the statement itself, while broad enough for some, was too narrow for others. One Arminian argued that he could not sign it because the statement affirms that all humans are guilty. He believes, however, that infants, though sinful, are not actually guilty until they commit personal sin. So it seems that while the statement is broad, it is not broad enough. Another man suggested that the statement would omit Landmark Baptists because it affirmed the universal church. In the end, perhaps Mohler will prove to be prophetic. Maybe ETS is really a society about the study of evangelicalism rather than a group of evangelical scholars, though doubtless many will dispute this interpretation. Time will tell.

Christmas (I)

George Herbert (1593-1633)

All after pleasures as I rid one day,
My horse and I, both tir’d, body and mind,
With full cry of affections, quite astray;
I took up in the next inn I could find.

There when I came, whom found I but my dear,
My dearest Lord, expecting till the grief
Of pleasures brought me to him, ready there
To be all passengers’ most sweet relief?

Oh Thou, whose glorious, yet contracted light,
Wrapt in night’s mantle, stole into a manger;
Since my dark soul and brutish is thy right,
To Man of all beasts be not thou a stranger:

Furnish and deck my soul, that thou mayst have
A better lodging, than a rack, or grave.

Dr. Jeff Straub is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN), and has served an adjunct professor at Calvary Baptist Seminary in Moscow, the Ukraine, and Romania, at Piedmont Baptist College, at LIFTS Institute (Kitchener, Ontario) and most recently at Central Africa Baptist College in Kitwe, Zambia. He has been a senior pastor and church planter in Canada and was a missionary among the Ojibway Indians in Wanipigow, Manitoba. He has had several articles published in the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, as well as in FrontLine Magazine. Dr. Straub is married to Rebecca, and they have three children. He enjoys books, golf, hunting, and fishing.