AAR/SBL/ETS Torrance-related sessions | The T. F. Torrance Theological Fellowship

November 23-26, 2019

Event Location

San Diego Convention Center

If you are a member of the T. F. Torrance Theological Fellowship and are presenting a paper at AAR, SBL or ETS, or if you know of a Torrance-related presentation not listed below, please contact us. This page will be revised as we gain more information.

AAR/SBL

The annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature will be in San Diego, CA, November 23-26. AAR meeting info. | SBL meeting info. Based on a key word search for "Torrance," there is one related presentation, which occurs on Tuesday. The Karl Barth meeting on Sunday is also relevant, with Paul Molnar as a panelist. In chronological order:

P24-300
Books under Discussion
Karl Barth Society of North America
Theme: Discussing Dogmatics after Babel: Beyond Theologies of Word and Culture by Rubén Rosario Rodriguez
Presiding: Unregistered Participant
Sunday - 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Hilton Bayfront-Indigo 204A (Second Level)
This session will feature a roundtable discussion of Dogmatics After Babel: Beyond Theologies of Word and Culture by Rubén Rosario Rodriguez.
Panelists:
Paul D. Molnar, Saint John's University
Orlando Espin, University of San Diego
Cambria Kaltwasser, Northwestern College
Unregistered Participant
Responding:
Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, Saint Louis University
Business Meeting:
Keith Johnson, Wheaton College

A26-121
Christian Systematic Theology Unit
Theme: Trauma, Disability, and Grace
Presiding: Jessica Wong, Azusa Pacific University
Tuesday - 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Convention Center-21 (Upper Level East)
How do recent studies in the areas of trauma and disability affect our understanding of the nature and communication of grace? This session will explore these questions, as well as the notion of covenant and its relation to norms.
#3 of 3: Charles Guth, Princeton Theological Seminary
Binding Grace: On Covenants, Norms, and Conditions
Divine-human covenants are central to the Reformed tradition’s theology of grace, but post-Barthian critics claim that much of this tradition was corrupted by “legalism.” According to J. B. Torrance, God’s covenant is truly gratuitous only if unilateral and unconditional. Drawing upon philosophical work on normative pragmatics, I argue this understanding of covenants is importantly mistaken. Covenants are essentially multilateral and are not unconditional in one salient sense because they essentially confer normative roles and obligations on each party. Recognizing this is crucial for avoiding the danger that ideals of unconditionality will ideologically reinforce oppression, a danger I illustrate with empirical evidence concerning abusive marriages. The grace of God’s covenant consists not in unconditionality but in God’s binding Godself to humans, and humans to God, in a relationship that is valuable for its own sake. I conclude by showing how worries about legalism can be accommodated within this understanding of covenants.

ETS

The Evangelical Theological Society will hold its Annual Meeting, Wednesday through Friday, November 20 - 22, 2019, San Diego. ETS meeting info.

Unfortunately, based on a key word search for "Torrance," the only two relevant sessions occur opposite the annual meeting and keynote of the T. F. Torrance Theological Society. How did that happen? But here they are, two papers in the same afternoon session:

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND // 1:00 PM – 4:10 PM
D 1:00 PM-4:10 PM
Session: Systematic Theology Theological Anthropology 33rd Floor – Mt. Whitney
Moderator: Timothy Kleiser (Boyce College)

1:00 PM—1:40 PM
Christopher Woznicki (Fuller Theological Seminary)
What Is the Proper Starting Point for Christological Anthropology? T.F. Torrance's Contribution

1:50 PM—2:30 PM
Dennis Greeson (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Theosis and Herman Bavinck? T.F. Torrance’s Reconstruction and Its Promise for Bavinck’s Thought