—The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has circulated a "Sexuality: Some Common Convictions" message to churches. The denomination issued three study documents on sexuality in the past six years, although controversy over homosexuality kept any from being adopted (CT, Nov. 14, 1994, p. 64). The new document does not address homosexuality directly, although it does say Christians should respect all persons regardless of "sexual orientation." The message affirms heterosexual marriage and denounces adultery, promiscuity, prostitution, and pornography.

—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Ken Hemphill, despite complaints of censorship, has canceled the spring issue of the Fort Worth school's scholarly journal due to the "possible perception of unbalanced treatment" of the Baptist Faith and Message statement. The issue was to include articles written by moderate Baptist scholars who left Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, including Molly Marshall. Hemphill had not read the articles. Marshall, meanwhile, has become the first tenured woman professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas, where she had been visiting professor of theology, worship, and spiritual formation since August 1995.

—Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., will become the third president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary on July 1. Robert E. Cooley, 66, president of the seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, since 1981, will become its first chancellor, a part-time post. Kaiser, 63, is the Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and director of the Mockler program in biblical foundations for ethics at Gordon-Conwell. The seminary was founded in 1969.

—Paul ...