Criswell College Review addresses

DALLAS?The spring 2004 edition of the Criswell Theological Review (CTR) tackles “open theism,” the belief that God’s knowledge is limited and that he changes his mind about things based on human circumstances. This aberrant theology has made inroads into evangelicalism, especially into the seminaries, said CTR Editor Alan Streett, professor of evangelism and pastoral ministry at The Criswell College.

CTR is the first academic journal to examine and address the openness issue as it relates to the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) controversy over whether to expel some of its members who embrace openness.

Two exclusive interviews with Darrell Bock and Norm Geisler, past presidents of the ETS, reveal how scholars can hold diametrically opposed opinions on the issue. Bock, a New Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, believes ETS, as a society, is inclusive enough to embrace members with different orthodox theologies as long as they hold to inerrancy broadly defined. A different perspective is offered by Geisler, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and past president of ETS. Geisler resigned after the ETS members voted to sustain the membership of Open Theism proponents Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity School in Canada and John Sanders of Huntington College in Indiana.

An article by Boyd Luterand Emily Hunter McGowin, “From Bad to Worse,” examines the theological implications of Pinnock’s open theism. Pinnock responds, followed by further response from Luter and McGowin.

Douglas Huffman’s article “Some Logical Difficulties in Open Theism” shows that despite how well-intentioned open theists are in attempting to explain why God “changes his mind” or why some of his prophecies “seemingly fail,” they are logically inconsistent in their analysis, he writes.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary theology professor Bruce Ware takes aim at the faulty theological base of openness in his article “Robots, Royalty and Relationships.”

For TEXAN readers a one-year subscription to Criswell Theological Journal is available for $15 and a two-year subscription is $25. Write to: CTR, 4010 Gaston Ave., Dallas, TX 75246 and indicate you read about the offer in an SBTC publication.