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Through this experience, Boyd says he learned "how important it is to weigh your words when you put them on the Net." Once a message is posted, "you can't pull it back—they won't let you pull it back."

Traffic to the Foreknowledge site has fallen off since the vote, and few posts are dated more recently than early autumn. Marsh says he has received requests to take the site down but has decided to "let it ride" for the time being.

Brushaber says the conference has "moved beyond" the foreknowledge debate, "but it's not over." He figures the topic will be discussed in venues like the Evangelical Theological Society for another 10 to 15 years, but discussion at that level is unlikely to generate the kind of tumult that has roiled the conference for the past few years.

Brushaber does not attribute all of the turmoil to the Internet, but he feels the free-for-all nature of the new medium bears significant blame. The Web "encourages immediacy over wisdom" and is "the medium of emotion more than considered judgment," Brushaber says. "The flood which comes from the Web makes all comments, all opinions, all rumors, and all accusations of equal value by reducing them all to 'stuff.' It devalues dialogue and debate. It cheapens discourse."

Brushaber believes the Web can contribute to discussion, but as a publishing tool rather than a public square.

"The distinction must be made if electronic media are to be useful for the progress of theology," he says. "I pray we may all learn some lessons from the limitations of the media, which have now become apparent."

Author Elesha Coffman is associate editor of Christian History Corner.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Visit the Foreknowledge discussion site, where all of the essays by Boyd, Piper, and others are posted.

John Piper's works are readily available at DesiringGod.org. The five articles pertaining to openness include "Foreknowledge," "We Took a Good Stand and Made a Bad Mistake," "Martyn Lloyd-Jones," "What denomination is BBC a part of and why?" and "Take Heed How You Hear."

Greg Boyd's books, articles and debates are available from Boyd's Christus Victor Ministries. At this site you can order Boyd's God of the Possible or read openness materials.

Both Boyd's Woodland Hills Church and Piper's Bethlehem Baptist Church have Web sites that discuss core beliefs.

Read Roger E. Olson's "Analysis of the 'Openness of God' Theology." Olson, who claims to be "open to aspects of openness" is a professor of theology at Baylor and a member of the Baptist General Conference.

Bethel College and Seminary's President George Brushaber believes that online theological debate would benefit from more order and thoughtfulness.

Previous Christianity Today articles about openness theological debate include:

God vs. God | Two competing theologies vie for the future of evangelicalism (Feb. 7, 2000).

Do Good Fences Make Good Baptists? | The SBC's new Faith and Message brings needed clarity—but maybe at the cost of honest diversity. (Aug. 8, 2000)

The Perils of Left and Right | Evangelical theology is much bigger and richer than our two-party labels. (Aug. 10, 1998)

The Future of Evangelical Theology | Roger Olson argues that a division between traditionalists and reformists threatens to end our theological consensus. (Feb. 9, 1998)

A Pilgrim on the Way | For me, theology is like a rich feast, with many dishes to enjoy and delicacies to taste. (Feb. 9, 1998)

A Theology to Die For | Theologians are not freelance scholars of religion, but trustees of the deposit of faith. (Feb. 9, 1998)

The Real Reformers are Traditionalists | If there is no immune system to resist heresy, there will soon be nothing but the teeming infestation of heresy. (Feb. 9, 1998)

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February 19 2001, Vol. 45, No. 3