Later this week I am heading to Indianapolis to participate in the “State of the Evangelical Mind” conference. This two-day conference will explore how the evangelical mind is faring since Mark Noll wrote his seminar The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind in 1994.
Somehow I managed to end up in the opening plenary session with my old partners-in-crime Eric Miller and Jay Green. Needless to say, we are happy to be Mark Noll’s warm-up act. But like most warm-up acts we don’t have a lot of time to play our full repertoire. We each get 12 minutes to offer a review of The Scandal and reflect on the state of the evangelical mind today.
Unfortunately, registration for the event is closed. I will try to keep you updated via social media, but I am not sure how much time I will have or what the Internet connection will be like.
Here is that schedule:
Thursday, September 21, 2017
- 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM – Preconference Roundtable (filmed live): Comments in Context – Donald Cassell (Sagamore Institute) & Abson Joseph (Indiana Wesleyan University)
- 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM — Reception of Guests
- 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM – Opening Dinner, Welcome – Jay Hein (Sagamore Institute), Opening Remarks and Tributes to John Wilson – David W. Wright (Indiana Wesleyan University)
- 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM -The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind: A Tripartite Review
John Fea (Messiah College), Jay Green (Covenant College), & Eric Miller (Geneva College)
Session Host — Abson Joseph - 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM – Reflections upon the Past
Address – Mark A. Noll (University of Notre Dame)
Session Host – David W. Wright
Emcee – Jerry Pattengale (Indiana Wesleyan University)
Friday, September 22, 2017
- 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM – Continental Breakfast
- 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM – The Church
Keynote Address – Jo Anne Lyon (The Wesleyan Church)
Paper Overviews – Andrew Draper (Urban Light Community Church & Taylor University),
Christopher Smith (The Englewood Review), & Maureen Miner Bridges (Excelsia College)
Session Host – Mark Bowald (Christian Scholar’s Review) - 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM – Break
- 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM – Para-Church Organizations
Keynote Address – David Mahan/Don Smedley (Rivendell Institute & Yale University Divinity School)
Paper Overviews – Rachel Maxson (John Brown University), Mark Stephens (Excelsia College), & Tim Dalrymple (Polymath Innovations)
Session Host – Jon Boyd (InterVarsity Press) - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM – Lunch
- 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM – The University
Keynote Address – Timothy Larsen (Wheaton College)
Paper Overviews – Rick Ostrander (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities), David Johnstone (George Fox University), & Jack Baker/Jeff Bilbro (Spring Arbor University)
Session Host – Stacy Hammons (Indiana Wesleyan University) - 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM – Break
- 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM – The Seminary
Keynote Address – Lauren F. Winner (Duke University Divinity School)
Paper Overviews – Karen Johnson (Wheaton College), Erin Devers (Indiana Wesleyan University), & Grant Taylor (Beeson Divinity School, Samford University)
Session Host – Jim Vermilya (Indiana Wesleyan University) - 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM – Break
- 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM – Dinner
- 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM – Prospects for the Future
Address – James K. A. Smith (Calvin College)
Session Host – David L. Riggs (Indiana Wesleyan University) - 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM – Closing Remarks – Mark Galli (Christianity Today)
Emcee – Jerry Pattengale (Indiana Wesleyan University)
This would be a better conference if Christians, even evangelicals, at major secular research universities were among the speakers. Christian voices in the “lions’ dens” are the real test.