WTS Paper Proposal: Any Thoughts/Suggestions

I am preparing my paper submissions for the Wesleyan Theological Society Meeting this coming spring. The deadline is June 30th. What do you think about the following proposal?

Beyond Darwin and Intelligent Design: A Trinitarian Account of Creation
A Paper Proposal for the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society
Scott Langford
June 27, 2007

In recent years, the issue of evolution and its teaching in U.S. public schools continues to stir controversy and animus. On one side, secular scientists ridicule the fundamentalists’ literal reading of a six-day creation. In response, proponents of “creation science” or “intelligent design” attack evolutionary accounts of creation. In this paper, I will begin by critiquing the theological and philosophical assumptions of both sides, revealing that they share common epistemological assumptions that emerge out of Enlightenment accounts of human reason and knowing. To paraphrase Alasdair MacIntyre, the debates that emanate out of this flawed epistemology are incommensurable. Following this analysis, I will develop an account of creation that emerges out of the Triune God. In Trinitarian theology, creation proceeds ex nihilo from the Father through the Son in the Spirit. Creation is the outworking of God’s own being, a material manifestation of divine love. Further, creation is not reducible to a one time static event but continues in the superabundant love of the Triune God, as revealed in the incarnation. Out of this account of creation, I will move beyond the current incommensurable debates to explore evolution as the function of the ongoing participation of the Triune God in creation.

Coming Home: Becoming a Senior Pastor (Again)

I hope everyone is doing well. I should soon begin blogging again. On June 11th, I accepted God's call to become the senior pastor of Madison First Church of the Nazarene in Madison, Tennessee. Madison is a transitional urban area just outside downtown Nashville. The church is located in an area with a great deal of diversity, poverty, while at the same time being on the fringe of Nashville's rapid gentrification. I am looking forward to pastoring and leading a congregation into a radical new approach to holiness and envisioning how the reign of God is revealed to us daily on the ground, in our local parish.

I appreciate your prayers.

Grace and Peace,
Scott

Who are the poor?

Here is a conversation among friends on who are the poor in society or life in general.