Borland, James A.

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Liberty UniversityDigitalCommons@LibertyUniversityFaculty Publications and Presentations School of Religion3-2005Reports Relating to the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meetingof the SocietyJames A. BorlandLiberty University, jborland@liberty.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubsPart of the Biblical Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons,Epistemology Commons, Esthetics Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of PhilosophyCommons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, History of Religions of WesternOrigin Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Other Religion Commons, and the ReligiousThought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Religion at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has been accepted forinclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For more information,please contact scholarlycommunication@liberty.edu.Recommended CitationBorland, James A., "Reports Relating to the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Society" (2005). Faculty Publications and Presentations.Paper 16.http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs/16Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.REPORTS RELATING TO THE FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETYJames A BorlandJournal of the Evangelical Theological Society; Mar 2005; 48, 1; ProQuest Religionpg. 207JETS 48/1 (March 2005) 207-12 REPORTS RELATING TO THE FIFTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY The 56th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society had the second highest attendance on record with 2284 persons registered. The record was nearly 2400 in Atlanta in 2003. The meetings were held at the spacious Marriott Rivercenter and Riverwalk Hotels in downtown San An-tonio, TX, right next to the historic Alamo. Participating publishers offered generous discounts on their books and other products from one hundred booths in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center. The program theme, "What Is Truth?" was explored in four excellent plenary sessions, which are published in the present issue of the Journal, and by many of the more than 450 hundred individual papers. Participants gathered from four continents and the islands of the seas to fellowship, exchange ideas, critique one another, and to keep abreast of the most recent scholarship in their disciplines. More than twenty study groups also met as part of the overall program. President-Elect Craig Blaising served as program chairman and put together a superb array of plenary speakers. On Wednesday afternoon, JETS Editor Andreas J. Kostenberger of Southeastern Baptist Theological Semi-nary addressed the society on the conference theme "What Is Truth? Pilate's Question in its Johannine and Larger Biblical Context," adeptly exploring the historicity of Jesus' trial before Pilate, the major themes of judgment, kingship, and the notion of truth, and examining the major characters-Jesus, Pilate, and the Jewish leaders. That evening, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., writer, radio host, columnist, denominational leader, and president of South-ern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke powerfully on "Truth and Contem-porary Culture," emphasizing a declining emphasis on doctrine and truth in our culture and even among some evangelicals who cater to postmodern thought. On Thursday morning attendees heard a third ETS member, J. P. More-land, distinguished professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, CA. He addressed "Truth and Contemporary Philosophy," care-fully explaining the meaning of the correspondence theory of truth, and telling why postmodernism is a relative theory awash in subjectivity. He identified postmodernism's five "confusions" and challenged those holding such a po-sition to admit its bankruptcy. The fourth and final plenary was an insightful session titled "Lost in In-terpretation? Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics," delivered on Friday morn-ing by Kevin J. Vanhoozer of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. More than twenty parallel sessions ran concurrently on such disciplines as Old Testament, New Testament, biblical, historical, and systematic the-ology, church history, archaeology, philosophy, hermeneutics, evangelism and missions, pastoral ministry, and psychology and theology. Parallel programs Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.208 ,JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY were also conducted by the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the Near East Archaeological Society, and the Adventist Theological Society. In addition, twenty-one separate ETS study groups also presented programs. Tables and a large bulletin board were provided for members to display resumes and for institutions to advertise available positions. The first business session was called to order by ETS President Greg Beale at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, November 17. He introduced ETS Vice-President Edwin Yamauchi, who gave a brief devotional on the ancient Greek Olympic Games and Paul's references to athletics in his epistles, pointing out that Paul may have attended the Isthmian games. It was moved, sec-onded and carried (MSC) to adopt an amended agenda, that is, the meeting program which had been printed and distributed to all members previously, plus a single addition to the program-the consideration of a proposed res-olution on inerrancy. The Secretary-Treasurer James Borland then presented both the membership and financial reports. MEMBERSHIP REPORT Active Membership Total Full Assoc. Student 11-21-03 4043 2019 717 1307 New Members (2004) 701 139 69 493 Members Reactivat ed 108 56 23 29 Members Changed Status 96 (3) (93) Members Dropped (765) (199) (123) (443) Failed to pay 2004 dues 713 176 111 426 Dropped per request 19 12 6 1 Bad addresses 26 5 6 15 Deceased 7 6 0 1 Total Membership 11-19-04 4089 2111 683 1293 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.ANNUAL REPORTS 209 FINANCIAL REPORT EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY STATEMENTS OF REVENUES, EXPENSES, AND CHANGES IN FUND BALANCE YEARS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2004 AND SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 REVENUES 2004 2003 Dues and Subscriptions $ 127,190 $ 122,116 Annual Meeting 60,830 138,708 Interest on Savings 7,523 7,109 Miscellaneous Income 18,611 24,596 $ 314,154 $ 292,529 EXPENSES Journal (JETS) $ 59,407 $ 58,039 Accounting 2,000 1,800 Annual Meeting 74,757 47,340 Newsletter 1,757 1,725 Office and General 12,208 12,540 Postage 19,746 12,193 Regional 6,000 5,000 Secretarial Help 13,123 16,350 Stipends 81,550 71,100 $ 270,548 $ 226,087 INCREASE (DECREASE) IN UNRESTRICTED NET ASSETS $ 43,606 $ 66,442 NET ASSETS, beginning of year $ 468,973 $ 402,531 NET ASSETS, end of year $ 512,579 $ 468,973 The financial report was audited by Geoffrey R. Mather, CPA, Lynch-burg, VA. Five members were then nominated for three slots to serve on the nom-inating committee along with the two most recent ETS past presidents, Mil-lard Erickson and David Howard, Jr. It was MSC to close the nominations and to vote for three persons each. The three selected to serve were Wayne House, Russ Bush, and Paige Patterson. Elected to serve by acclamation on the resolutions committee were Leland Ryken, George Joseph Gatis, and Aida Spencer. On Wednesday evening, President Greg Beale called to order a special business meeting at 7:15 p.m. to discuss the resolution on inerrancy unan-imously proposed by the Executive Committee. This resolution was called Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.210 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY for by a motion passed at the final business session in 2003 which stated, "That the ETS Executive Committee consider and recommend to the Society appropriate ways to clarify our Society's understanding of our doctrinal basis." The proposed resolution was: "For the purpose of advising members regard-ing the intent and meaning of the reference to biblical inerrancy in the ETS Doctrinal Basis, the Society refers members to the Chicago Statement on Bib-lical Inerrancy (1978). The case for biblical inerrancy rests on the absolute trustworthiness of God and Scripture's testimony to itself. A proper under-standing of inerrancy takes into account the language, genres, and intent of Scripture. We reject approaches to Scripture that deny that biblical truth claims are grounded in reality." Comments, both pro and con, were expressed about the resolution, but the vote was scheduled for Friday morning's business session. On Thursday evening, ETS President Greg Beale of Wheaton College Graduate School spoke at the fellowship banquet on "The Use of Old Tes-tament Prophecy in the New Testament: 'Literal' Fulfillment, Allegory or Analogy?" Nearly 1,000 members were in attendance. The final business session was called to order on Friday morning at 7:50 a.m. by ETS President Greg Beale who then asked ETS President-Elect Craig Blaising to lead in prayer. James Borland, ETS Secretary-Treasurer, mentioned that full reports of the ETS regional meetings would appear in the January Newsletter and then presented brief memorials for the seven members who had passed away during the year. Andreas Kostenberger, Editor of JETS, gave his report on the journal, pointing out that the last eight years of JETS are now accessible at our website, www.ETSJETS.org, and that each issue of the Journal would be increased from 192 to 224 pages in 2005. The Resolutions Committee of the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, composed of Leland Ryken, Aida Besancon Spencer, and George Joseph Gatis, having convened, respectfully proffered the following resolution which was read by George Gatis. 1. WHEREAS the hotel staff, managers, and hosts of the Marriott Interna-tional Rivercenter and Riverwalk of San Antonio, Texas have provided warm hospitality, gracious conveniences, and helpful assistance in the hosting of the annual meeting; 2. WHEREAS the facilities have provided a beautiful and restive environ-ment for the holding of the annual meeting; BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the hotel staff, managers, and hosts of the Marriott International Rivercenter and Riverwalk of San Antonio, Texas be thanked and commended. The Resolutions Committee respectfully proffered this second following resolution: Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.ANNUAL REPORTS 211 1. WHEREAS the President, Gregory Beale, President-Elect, Craig Blaising, and Secretary-Treasurer, James Borland, have demonstrated tireless zeal, indefatigable energy, and faithful service to the benefit, well-being, and functionality of our Society; 2. WHEREAS the Executive Committee members have demonstrated Chris-tian commitment, conscientiousness, initiative, and due diligence to pro-vide leadership for our Society; 3. WHEREAS the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society has proved to be a blessing, challenge, and opportunity to exchange edifying information and forge life-long fellowship and collegiality; 4. WHEREAS the Editors of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological So-ciety have maintained remarkably low overhead, providing an outlet for scholarship, and timely publications; BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Officers, Executive Committee Members, and Editors of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society be thanked, commended, and recognized for their remarkable dedication and outstanding service. To our beloved colleagues we commend the following verses of Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:2: "Moreover, it is required of stewards, than they be found faithful." 1 Corinthians 15:58: "Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Hebrew 6:10: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." The above resolutions were passed unanimously by voice vote. Russ Bush moved the report of the nominations committee, that the fol-lowing persons be elected: President-Craig Blaising President-Elect-Edwin Yamauchi Vice-President-Francis Beckwith Secretary-Treasurer-J ames Borland Vacancy on the Executive Committee-Greg Beale Vacancies on the Membership Committee-Leland Ryken and Steve Lemke The motion carried to elect the above slate of officers. President Beale had tellers pass out blank paper ballots so that ETS full members could vote on the proposed resolution that was introduced and discussed at the special business session on Wednesday evening. The vote was 234 in favor and 58 opposed. Thus, the motion carried by an 80% to 20% Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.212 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY margin. The leadership of ETS was then transferred from Greg Beale to in-coming President Craig Blaising, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 a.m. Scheduled Future Annual Meetings are: 2005 "CHRISTIANITY IN THE EARLY CENTURIES" Nov. 16-18, Valley Forge, PA 2006 "CHRISTIANS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE" Nov. 15-17, Washington, DC 2007 "TEACHING THEM TO OBEY" Nov. 14-16, San Diego, CA 2008 "TEXT AND CANON" Nov. 19-21, Providence, RI 2009 "PERSONAL AND SOCIAL ETHICS" Nov. 18-20, New Orleans, LA During 2004, our Society grew to a record 4089 members. We anticipate continued growth and effectiveness in our scholarly presentations and dis-cussions in the years ahead. I encourage each member to join us November 16-18, 2005 (Wed.-Fri.) at the Valley Forge Convention Center in Valley Forge, PA. The theme is "Christianity in the Early Centuries." Rooms are at the Radisson Hotel Valley Forge (and the Scanticon Hotel) are $122 per night for Single or Double; $132 for Triple; and $142 for Quads. The Radisson and Scanticon Hotels are attached to the Convention Center. Rooms at these rates may be secured until October 16 at 888-267-1500, or 610-337-2000. We also have rooms at the Hilton Valley Forge for $122 Single/Double, and $132 Triple/Quad. The Hilton shuttle van will be provided from this location. For rooms there call 610-337-1200. JAMES A. BORLAND 

Reports Relating to the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Society

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