wfn.org | Academics from Adventist World Church Meet to Debate

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

December 23, 1998
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Academics from Adventist World Church Meet to Debate in 
Florida
[98/36/04]

Orlando, Florida, USA [ANN/APD] Seventh-day Adventist 
scholars and educational administrators met in Orlando, 
Florida during November 19-21 to debate current issues and 
aid the Church's educational development program.

Participants from several countries represented a wide range 
of Adventist institutions of higher education. The meetings of 
two private scholastic societies, the 1979 founded "Adventist 
Society for Religious Studies" (ASRS) and the 1988 organised 
"Adventist Theological Society" (ATS) are both scheduled to 
coincide with the annual joint conference of the American 
Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature 
which attracts thousands of Biblical scholars and religion 
students.

In a joint opening session of the two Adventist societies held 
at Celebration Health Hospital on November 19, Gordon Bietz, 
president of Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, 
spoke of the need for greater co-operation between scholars 
and administrators in the Church. Illustrating the trend by 
reference to a Baptist college that finally became independent 
of its founding church, Bietz noted that "academics more 
often have led to separation from the church rather than 
service to the church."

Appealing to the educational professionals, Bietz urged closer 
links between the teaching institutions and the Church's 
administration as a means of reducing mutual misgivings. He 
also called for a deeper level of true spirituality, rather than 
the current cultural emphasis on what he called 
"sentimentality instead of spirituality."

Responding, Larry Geraty, president of Atlantic Union College 
in Massachusetts, remarked that the date of the meeting, 
November 19, was the anniversary of the formal end of the 
Cold War on November 19, 1990, and that the coincidence 
might be worth some consideration for the assembled group.

Commenting on the value of the meetings for theologians, 
Zack Plantak of Croatia, now in England en route to a teaching 
position in the U.S. said that they provided a useful forum for 
sharing ideas and advancing the professional growth of 
Adventist scholars.

"Without these kinds of events, we would tend to develop in a 
vacuum," said Plantak. "We need to be aware of what is going 
on in the theological world. While there are areas of 
controversy, we need to be aware of the issues."

Robert Surridge, currently a church pastor in the U.K. and a 
doctoral student at Kings College, London, spoke of the need 
for theologians to be more relevant.

"We need to recognise that theology must be relevant to the 
experience of the Church," said Surridge. "As a pastor, I see 
the great need to make sure that academic studies of religion 
have practical impact in terms of both ministers and 
members."