Essay / Theology

Call for Papers: LATC 2016, The Voice of God in the Text of Scripture

LATC voice of God cfp imageStarting today and running through July 17 there is an open call for papers for the 2016 Los Angeles Theology Conference. The conference this year (to be held in mid January at Fuller Seminary) has the title “The Voice of God in the Text of Scripture,” and our plenary speakers will be William Abraham, John Goldingay, Richard Hays, Amy Plantinga Pauw, and Daniel Treier.

Those five speakers already guarantee a worthwhile conference, but as in previous years, Oliver Crisp and I are hoping to select nine more presentations to enrich the schedule even more.

As the call says, we are seeking “theologically constructive accounts of Scripture, describing how God is said to speak by means of the biblical texts.” This is a systematic theology conference on the doctrine of Scripture, but you may have noticed that the 2016 conference is a bit more interdisciplinary than previous years. Because of the topic, two of our plenary speakers are from the field of biblical studies. It seemed rude to have a conference about the theological status of the Bible without scholars of the Bible on hand, because the doctrine about Scripture needs to be shaped by close attention to the details of Scripture. So in the shorter papers that we are soliciting, we are similarly open to proposals from biblical studies scholars who can bring constructive theses about the doctrine of Scripture. As long as the argument rises to the level of constructive dogmatics rather than being satisfied to linger at the descriptive level, we are eager to hear it: philosophical analysis, exegetical insights, history of interpretation, phenomenology of reading, theological interpretation of Scripture, etc. Anything goes, as long as it goes constructively doctrinal.

All the necessary information is at the call for papers site, along with an e-mail address for any questions. Please help us spread the word to anybody who might be interested; it’s a shame when somebody with a great idea doesn’t see the call until it’s too late!

And may I draw your attention to something new this year: we have some scholarships available to cover travel costs for presenters. Based on conversations with those who have presented or wished they could have presented in the past few years, we are especially eager to encourage women and minority scholars to consider the possibility that a travel scholarship could make Los Angeles Theology Conference a place to share their work and join this important conversation.

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