November 21-23 // San Diego, California

 

One hundred years ago several religious and social events profoundly marked the Western world and Seventh-day Adventism.

 

• The Paris Peace Conference set out to resolve the impact of World War I. Nevertheless, the treaties negotiations created the preconditions for World War II and left a legacy of devastating international conflicts and disillusionment about world peace.

• In Russia, while civil war and revolutions ended serfdom and destroyed czarist rule, the communist regime of the Soviet Union consolidated its power through aggressive political repression.

• The publications of Karl Barth’s Der Römerbrief (The Epistle to the Romans) brought about a paradigm shift in Protestant theology. Barth’s radical break with liberal theology of the modern era transformed the understanding of the church, its mission, and doctrines.

• In the United States, the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association formed in reaction to teaching rationalism, higher criticism, and evolution, and left in its aftermath a robust network of fundamentalist evangelical denominations and education systems.

• For Seventh-day Adventists, the 1919 Bible and History Teachers Conference was a landmark event confronting issues related to fundamentalist vs. modernist debates. Among the topics with the most lasting impact are questions of hermeneutics, the Trinity, the nature of prophecy, and the inspiration of Ellen G. White’s writings. The unresolved topics of 1919 have contributed to theological polarization among Adventists. 

 

We invite proposals that will discuss and reflect on the biblical, historical, theological, ethical, social, and missiological significance of any of the major events of 1919 and their continued impact on the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

 
Your proposal must include a 200-word abstract and a working title. Please submit proposals in MS Word format to Mathilde Frey (mathilde.frey@wallawalla.edu) no later than March 30, 2019. All presentations are limited to eighteen minutes (or approx. 2,500 words) if you wish to present the entirety of your thoughts. Notifications regarding proposals will go out by May 1. It is understood that the acceptance of a paper proposal commits the presenter to also submit a complete draft of the paper by the first week of November.