Evangelical Theological Society

I’m at ETS in Atlanta this week and enjoying the time of theological reflection and seeing old friends. Over 2500 registered. It may be the largest ever for ETS. The theme this year is Justification by Faith. Wednesday night Tom Schreiner spoke on the subject in critiquing N. T. Wright’s views. Wright speaks on Friday morning. One of the sessions I sat in on Wednesday was “Creation: Intertextual Issues Relating to the Exegesis of Genesis 1.”  Bruce Waltke was one of the presenters. Others on the panel were Averbeck (Trinity), McCabe (Detroit) and Collins (Covenant) a cross section of views. Waltke suggests that Genesis 1:1-2 may represent a period before the “good” creation when there was darkness and water – symbols of chaos, where there was “surd” evil (as opposed to moral evil) and animal and plant death. In the question time, he affirmed his belief in an historic Adam and commitment to inerrant Scripture. Agree or disagree he provides food for thought. If you can find his essay online it would be an interesting read.