Open Theism, an emerging theological approach adopting a somewhat constrained view of God's omniscience, is rather controversial to orthodox Evangelicals. I blogged on Open Theism in November; the newly formed Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology will host a conference on that theme in March, 2004. The two keynote speakers at the conference will be Evangelical scholars Dr. Clark Pinnock and Dr. John Sanders. Well, it turns out these two scholars were the target of a membership challenge by the Evangelical Theological Society for advocating Open Theism in their published writings. Orthodox Evangelicals take their doctrine of inerrancy very seriously, so seriously they are willing to kick these two scholars out of their club if they don't reaffirm inerrancy to the satisfaction of the Society. Go read the documents for a fascinating view of a scholarly Christian food fight.
I'll give ETS credit, it gave both scholars an extended and fair hearing at which they were given the opportunity to present and defend their views at length with members of the Executive Committee. That's two cuts above the Mormon practice of knifing scholars in the back and doing everything behind closed doors. In a letter, the President of the Society characterized the discussions as serious, sober, substantive, respectful, and collegial. . . . I was pleased to see the cordial mood and tone that prevailed, even in the midst of some very intense questioning and discussion. On the other hand, it reminds the general public how inflexible and picayune fundamentalist Christians can be, even the scholars. However, I have no doubt these two Evangelical scholars will find a warm welcome and a great deal of sympathy for both their views and their recent difficulties at the upcoming conference.
9:51:59 PM 
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