Locating Atonement, the 2015 Los Angeles Theology Conference, will be held January 15-16 on the campus of Biola University.
Convinced that “theories and models” is a tired way of talking about the theology of the atonement, a trope with some limited pedagogical usefulness but not much prospect, we have designed LATC 2015 to do something more interesting. We’re asking theologians to describe the place, the position, the location within a larger biblical and doctrinal framework, of God’s reconciling act in Christ.
The headliners, our invited plenary speakers, are Michael Horton, Matthew Levering, Bruce McCormack, Ben Myers, and Eleonore Stump. I think those five guarantee a worthwhile conference.
But we also issued a call for papers, which received lots of great responses. Of the many possible configurations available, we have selected the following nine papers to be presented in breakout or parallel sessions. LATC attenders will be able attend three of these:
Matthew Emerson (California Baptist University): “He Descended to the Dead: The Burial of Christ and the Eschatological Character of the Atonement”
Joseph Jedwab (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania) and Daniel J. Hill (University of Liverpool): “Locating Atonement in Punishment and Retribution Theory”
David S. Koonce, L.C. (Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum), “Atonement in the Act of Faith”
T. Mark McConnell (Laidlaw College): “From ‘I have done wrong’ to ‘I am wrong’: (Re)Constructing Atonement as a Response to Shame”
R. Lucas Stamps (California Baptist University): “Atonement in Gethsemane: The Necessity of Dyothelitism for the Atonement”
Kyle Strobel (Biola University) and Adam Johnson (Biola University): “Atoning Wisdom: The Wisdom of God in the Way of Salvation”
Jeremy Treat (Reality LA): “Atonement and Covenant: Binding Together Aspects of Christ’s Work”
Adonis Vidu (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary): “The Place of the Cross within Trinitarian Opera Ad Extra”
Eric Yang (Claremont McKenna College) and Stephen Davis (Claremont McKenna College): “Atonement and the Wrath of God”
This suite of papers, in my opinion, would also make for an exciting conference in their own right. In dialogue with the plenaries, unpacked in conversations between the presentations, resourced by exhibitors with book tables, and situated on Biola’s campus in southern California in January, LATC 2015, Locating Atonement, is looking good.
