Related articles and links |  1 of 3

In a surprise move one month before the Evangelical Theological Society is scheduled to again discuss open theism (the belief that God neither knows nor usually predetermines human actions), the society's executive committee issued differing recommendations on whether two major proponents of the theory should remain members.

Last year, ETS founding member Roger Nicole brought charges against Clark Pinnock and John Sanders, claiming they published books that violate the society's doctrinal statement.

Calling itself "a grand jury of sorts … [with] no binding power upon the Society," a majority of the executive committee recommended that charges be sustained against John Sanders, and recommended to ETS members that they vote for his dismissal from the group at their annual meeting next month.

However, after Clark Pinnock offered to change a controversial passage in his 2001 book Most Moved Mover, the executive committee unanimously recommended that he not be removed from the society.

The only requirement for membership in the ETS is the ability to subscribe to the doctrinal statement, "The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory." Thus the belief in open theism itself is not explicitly forbidden. Anyone who wanted to challenge open theists' membership had to frame it as a violation either of inerrancy or trinitarianism.

Agreement on Sanders, but disagreement on inerrancy's meaning
The executive committee unanimously found trouble with Sanders's open theism as it relates to inerrancy.

"Dr. Sanders holds that many biblical predictions about the future in Scripture may not come to pass as described," said the nine-member committee. "However, in his view, these are not errors. In the Committee's view, a statement about the future that does not come to pass is erroneous, provided that there are no other textual or historical indications conditioning the prophecy. On the basis of these considerations, it is the judgment of the Committee that Dr. Sanders' view is incompatible with the Doctrinal Basis of ETS as understood by the framers and as broadly understood by ETS members."

However, two members of the committee, ETS President David M. Howard and President-Elect Gregory K. Beale, while calling his teaching "idiosyncratic, esoteric, perhaps even strange," said that this did not require that Sanders's be banished from the group because not all ETS members agreed on the definition of inerrancy.

"We believe that the full intention of the framers about inerrancy is not as perspicuous as it could be," they said. "This is because the ETS has never defined inerrancy officially. For such a critical word, upon which rests such a heavy burden of being practically the sole determinant of membership in our Society, we believe that the Society should provide a clearer and expanded official understanding of what it means. … We believe that it is most likely incompatible with the ETS Doctrinal Basis, as it stands now, but not necessarily so."

Significantly, the committee did not say that open theism is necessarily at odds with inerrantist views, nor did their critique of Sanders focus on The God Who Risks, the 1998 book that provided the basis of the complaint against him. Instead, it was Sanders's comments during a meeting with the committee on October 3 that "proved crucial for many on the Committee," the committee members said. "The day ended in John Sanders' case without a mutual understanding. This was a source of sadness and frustration to all present."

next page... |  1 of 3

share this page

October (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47