November 16-18 // San Antonio, Texas

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The 2023 ASRS theme is “Cosmic Conflict: Out-of-Date vs. Up-to-Date.” This topic begins with awareness of the importance of the “cosmic conflict” story in Seventh-day Adventist theology utilizing terms such as the “great controversy” or “conflict of the ages.” Potential participants are invited to submit paper proposals relevant to this theme for the 44thannual conference from a wide range of perspectives: biblical studies, theology, theodicy, epistemology, Adventist Studies, religious history, philosophy, eschatology, literature, spiritual formation, ecology, ethics, racial conflict, and human experience.

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The cosmic conflict theme assumes that there is a non-human agent at work in the world that has theological and existential significance. From the Biblical perspective many stories evoke interest including the story of the fall, the story of Job, Isaiah’s and Ezekiel’s poems, the temptation stories from the synoptics, the expulsion of the ruler of this world in John, Paul’s “Philippian Hymn,” and the drama of Revelation. 

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The problem of evil remains present throughout history and yet rising to an unprecedented level in the 20th Century, evil demanding theological reflection.  The connection between theology and theodicy was close until the time of Augustine, parting ways after that, with theodicy falling into disrepute. Is this a flaw and a loss in the theological tradition?

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Submission Guidelines:

Papers proposals should have a working title and not exceed 200 words in length. The deadline for submission is March 31, 2023. Proposals should be sent to Lena Toews lena.toews@ucollege.edu in MS Word format. Notifications regarding proposals will go out in May 2023. Presenters are limited to twenty minutes for presentation (approximately 2,500-words), with additional time for questions and discussion of the paper. Presenters are expected to submit a complete draft of the paper by November 1, 2023.

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