Christianity,  Theology/Bible

Wayne Grudem coming to SBTS

Wayne Grudem has to be one of the most significant figures in the evangelical movement. He has published more books than I could attempt to count off the top of my head. But the one that he is known best for is his Systematic Theology, a text where innumerable young students have cut their theological teeth. That has certainly been the story on the campus of Southern Seminary and Boyce College where I teach. It would be difficult to overstate the influence of Dr. Grudem on an entire generation of theological students.

That is why I am so excited that Dr. Grudem will be in town later this month to lead a conference on the campus of Southern Seminary. Dr. Grudem has recently co-authored the book The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution with Barry Asmus, and the conference will be an elaboration of the themes in this work. Grudem and Asmus contend that the solution to poverty “lies in a comprehensive development plan that integrates the principles of a free market system with the Bible’s teachings on social ethics.” They take their first principles from scripture and make a compelling case for developing the wealth of nations in order to alleviate poverty in the world. Both Dr. Grudem and Asmus will be on campus to speak at the conference.

I heard a presentation of this material at a private gathering of Southern Seminary faculty last Spring, and it was really compelling and very well done. I’m so happy that we are going to be able to share this with our students and anyone else in the community who wants to attend.

The conference will be held on the campus of Southern Seminary on September 26-27, 2014. If you can make it to Louisville for this event, I highly recommend it. It will feature some outstanding breakout speakers, including Gregg Allison, Anne Bradley, John Stevens, and David Kotter. SBTS students can attend this as one of their free conferences for the year. Otherwise, the student price is a real value at $30. For more information, visit the conference website.

I hope to see you there!

REGISTER HERE

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SPEAKERS:

Wayne Grudem is research professor of theology and Biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Ariz. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.Div. and a D.D. from Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia, and a Ph.D. (in New Testament) from the University of Cambridge, England. He has published over twenty books, including Systematic Theology, Business for the Glory of God, and Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (co-edited with John Piper; Book of the Year for Christianity Today, 1992). He was also the General Editor for the ESV Study Bible (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Book of the Year, 2009). His newest book, The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution (Crossway, co-authored with Barry Asmus), was published in August, 2013.

He is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, a co-founder and past president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version of the Bible. He and his wife Margaret have been married since 1969 and have three adult sons.

Barry Asmus is a Senior Economist with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Dr. Asmus was named by USA Today as one of the five most requested speakers in the United States. He has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee regarding our income tax system and was a featured speaker in a privatizing Social Security conference for Western European leaders. On recent trips to Romania, Albania, China and Peru, Dr. Asmus encouraged government leaders to focus on economic freedom.

Dr. Asmus is the author of nine books including The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution, published in 2013 with co-author Wayne Grudem. As a Professor of Economics, he was twice voted University Professor of the Year and was honored with the Freedom Foundation Award at Valley Forge for Private Enterprise Education. Dr. Asmus is an advocate of free market economics and delivers his ideas in an enthusiastic and energy filled presentation.

SCHEDULE:

Friday | September 26
5:00pm | Conference Check-In Begins
5:30pm | Dinner (Optional Add-On)
7:30pm | Plenary Session 1
9:00pm | Dessert Reception

Saturday | September 27
8:00am | Breakfast
9:00am | Plenary Session 2
10:00am | Break
10:30am | Breakout 1: all speakers present separately
11:30am | Breakout 2: all speakers present separately
12:30pm | Lunch
1:30pm | Plenary Session 3
2:30pm | Break
3:00pm
| Plenary Session 4

BREAKOUT SESSION SPEAKERS:

Gregg Allison | Why Are You Here? Heavenly Work vs. Earthly Work
Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
David Kotter | Tools of Economics & the Church’s Ethical Decisions
Assistant Professor of N.T. Studies, Colorado Christian University
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
Anne Bradley | Why Does Income Inequality Exist?
Vice President of Economic Initiatives, Institute for Faith, Work & Economics
John Stevens | The Era of the Marketplace Professional
IMB Strategist

REGISTER HERE

7 Comments

  • Suzanne McCarthy

    Please ask Dr. grudem if women are individuals. One of his points is:

    6.High value placed on individual freedom. Individuals can generally be trusted to make better decisions than anyone else about what is best for them.
    The whole population should be allowed to be free even if a few people make some stupid mistakes.

    Do women have the right to make decisions for themselves? Are they individuals in this sense?

    • Adam Cavalier

      I really hope your comment isn’t serious. It almost doesn’t even merit a response, but I’ll give one. In the book mentioned (Systematic Theology), Dr. Grudem repeatedly affirms that men and women have equal value and worth before God. See pg. 455 of the book. “Just as the members of the Trinity are equal in their importance and in their full existence as distinct persons, so men and women have been created by God to be equal in their importance and personhood… Men and women are made equally in God’s image, and both men and women reflect God’s character reflected in each other’s lives… if we are equally in God’s image, then certainly men and women are equally important to God and equally valuable to him.” Of course he believes women are individuals.

  • Suzanne McCarthy

    “But in every decision, whether large or small, and whether we have reached agreement or not, the responsibility to make the decision still rests with me. I do not agree with those who say that male headship only makes a difference once in ten years or so when a husband and wife can’t reach agreement. I think that male headship makes a differ- ence in every decision that the couple makes every day of their married life. If there is genuine male headship, there is a quiet, subtle acknowl- edgment that the focus of the decision-making process is the husband, not the wife. And even though there will often be much discussion, and though there should be much mutual respect and consideration of each other, yet ultimately the responsibility to make the decision rests with the husband. And so in our marriage, the resposibilty to make the decision rests with me.”

    Biblical Foundations page 38

    There are thousands of preachers who teach that the husband has prior right to decision making. It is one of the key features of complementarianism. The husband can override the wife’s decision.

    • Adam Omelianchuk

      That’s a good point. It’s a strange view of equality to believe that women are equal in value with men, but in marriage, owing to their sex, need to have their decisions ratified by their husbands. If they were equally valuable, they could not be in a position to be so easily overruled merely because of their sex.

  • Suzanne McCarthy

    Well, I think Dr. Grudem does consider women are equal in value. Men want to have women in their lives.

    But in North America, maybe not so much in Africa, they need to acquiesce to their husbands decisions. In Africa we know that female led households are fed better than male led households. So I think the authors see women’s involvement in education and business is important in the third world. But here, where men have good jobs, women should look after the home, and do whatever the husband thinks is best.

    The puzzling part is that Dr. Grudem thinks he is responsible for decisions made with his wife in his own household, but for this book, he describes it otherwise. Perhaps Christians wives are excluded from this sentence – “Individuals can generally be trusted to make better decisions than anyone else about what is best for them.” I am perfectly serious in asking about this.

  • Suzanne McCarthy

    So my serious question for Dr. Grudem is this.

    Are female Christian wives in North America considered to be individuals, and best suited to making decisions for themselves, for the purposes of this book? And may Christian women cite this sentence as needed in order to make their own decisions as needed?

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