Archives for 12.3.08

more musings on the ETS

Is there a more defining evangelical organization than the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS)? Some might say that the quintessential Evangelical organization would be the National Association of Evangelicals, but would that really be true? One key area of comparison is the doctrinal standards of each organization. The NAE requires members to affirm their statement of faith. The ETS requires members to hold to their doctrinal basis. (Of course, the ETS requires a level of scholarly attainment for membership as well, due to its differing nature. We are not comparing that aspect of these organizations.)

Now, which organization requires the more exclusive standard of doctrinal agreement as its foundational basis?

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one-handed catch up

While I am laid up, I’m going to try to catch up on a few things I have noticed but not given any commentary on over the last few months. These comments are going to come in the order that they appear in my Bloglines reader.

First item: a little something from 9marks back in October, Three Books Church Planters Should Read, and A Lesson in Not Following Instructions. The point of interest to me in this post is Dever’s recommendation of J. I. Packer’s Fundamentalism and The Word of God. Packer’s thesis concerning fundamentalism in this book essentially goes this way: “Fundamentalists were useful idiots in their day, but thank God, this isn’t their day.” So much for the hopes of influencing conservative evangelicals towards fundamentalism.

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