2024 Meeting

2024 Annual Meeting

Wesleyan Theological Society

Evangelical Catholicity?

 Plenary Speaker: Tom Greggs, University of Aberdeen

Presidential Address: James Pedlar, Tyndale University

Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, TN

March 1-2, 2024

Click here for Meeting Registration, Meals, and 2024 Membership Renewal

Link to WTS partner Hotels

More Hotel Options  

*All sessions held in Trevecca Community Church (335 Murfreesboro Rd Nashville, TN 37210) on the campus of Trevecca Nazarene University.

*MAP OF CHURCH AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

*Program questions or corrections should be sent to Justus Hunter, First Vice President (jhhunter@united.edu)

See details for Wesleyan Historical Society and the Wesleyan Dogmatics gathering below WTS Schedule. 

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WTS 2024 PROGRAM  

Friday March 1

 

7:30-9:00am                   NTS Doughnut, Fruit, and Coffee Reception and Gathering with NTS President ( "The Well" room at Trevecca Community Church)

8:00-9:00 a.m.                Registration – Church Foyer

9:00-9:30 a.m.                Opening Worship – Church Sanctuary

9:30-10:30 a.m.              Plenary Address:  Tom Greggs “Evangelical Catholicity or Catholic Evangelicalism? What is in an Adjective?” – Church Sanctuary

10:30-11:00 a.m.             Break/Refreshments – Church Foyer

11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.     Concurrent Sessions [see below]

12:30-1:30 p.m.              Lunch; 

                                       Meeting of the Executive Committee – President's Dining Room

                                       Graduate Student Lunch- Harris Loft (Upstairs in cafeteria-paid for by WTS)

Lunch on your own. Meals available at Trevecca campus cafeteria (buffet/cafeteria style) $13.00; Camp Hub offers burgers and sandwiches; There are several area restaurants within a mile of the campus—Tex’s Barbecue on Foster Avenue is recommended. 

1:30-2:00pm                   Wesley Works Digitization Project Presentation – Church Sanctuary

2:00-3:30 p.m.                 Concurrent Sessions [see below]

3:30-4:00 p.m.                Break/Refreshments – Church Foyer

4:00-5:30 p.m.                Concurrent Sessions [see below]

5:40-6:40 p.m.                WTS Business Meeting – Church Sanctuary

6:40-8:30 p.m.                Banquet – Church Gymnasium

8:30-9:30 p.m.                Receptions:

                                        Manchester Wesley Research Centre and Nazarene Theological College – Prayer Chapel (main floor)

                                         

Saturday March 2

 9:30-10:30 a.m.              Presidential Address: James Pedlar “The Catholicity of the Heart: Pathologies and Prospects”  – Church Sanctuary

 10:30-11:00 a.m.             Break/Refreshments – Church Foyer

 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.     Concurrent Sessions [see below]

 12:30 p.m.                      Boxed Lunches ordered in advance available in Church Foyer

 

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

**FRIDAY MARCH 1, 11:00AM CONCURRENT SESSION** 

 

Biblical Studies                                                                                              Sanctuary

Moderator: Jennifer M. Matheny, Truett Theological Seminary

Panel: “What Makes a Wesleyan Biblical Interpretation Wesleyan?”

      This session will be a panel discussion, the first of several to come in subsequent years, exploring the general question, “What Is Wesleyan Biblical Interpretation?” This session will consider the initial question, “What Makes a Wesleyan Biblical Interpretation Wesleyan?” The session will include an extended discussion with the panelists and audience.

Panelists:   Brad E. Kelle, Point Loma Nazarene University (10 min), Joy Moore, Luther Seminary (10 min), Rob Wall, Seattle Pacific University (10 min), Karen Strand Winslow, Azusa Pacific University (10 min), H. Ray Dunning, Trevecca Nazarene University (10 min)

 

Philosophy                                                                                                     Choir Room

Moderator: Craig Boyd, Saint Louis University

Thomas Jay Oord, “Why it Matters that God Experiences Time’s Flow”

Walter Scott Stepanenko, “Epistemic Permissivism and Evangelization”


 Practical Theology/ Christian Formation                                                    LL01

Moderator: Rob Haynes

Dean G. Blevins, “Contempt or Care? A Wesley Virtue Ethic for Today”

Douglas Strong, “Wesley's Prudential Means of Grace:  Arts of Holy Living”

Joseph William Cunningham, “Frederick Douglass on the Limits of Methodist Catholicity?”

 

Systematic Theology                                                                                     LLO2

Moderator: Tom McCall, Asbury Theological Seminary

Panel on Thomas Noble's Christian Theology, Vol. 1: The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Panelists:         Randy Maddox, Christopher Bounds, Sandra Brower, Richard Thompson, Thomas A. Noble


 Wesleyan Holiness Connection                                                                    Prayer Chapel

Moderator: Steven Hoskins, Trevecca Nazarene University

The Wesleyan Holiness Connection sponsors a yearly paper with a cash award from a senior scholar promoting Wesleyan Holiness scholarship. The paper engages the different academic disciplines as they relate to the history of Wesleyan thought. This year’s paper is presented by William Kostlevy, editor of The Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement. 

“The Ecumenical History of Holiness Christianity” 

William Kostlevy, Archivist Emeritus of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives 

Respondents: Donald Thorsen and Howard Snyder 

 

Wesleyan Liturgical Society                                                                         LLO3

Moderator: L. Michaels, Eastern Nazarene College

Bennett Ellison, “Transformation Without Invocation? The Significance of the Epiclesis for Wesleyan Theology”

Russell D. Clarke, “John Wesley and the Communion of Saints: sanctified people called into fellowship as the body of Christ”

Michael Blythe, “Sacraments, Love Feast, and Inspired Meals in Luke-Acts”

 

**FRIDAY MARCH 1, 2:00PM CONCURRENT SESSION** 

  Biblical Studies                                                                                              Choir Room

Moderator: Jennifer M. Matheny, Truett Theological Seminary

Karen Strand Winslow, “Outsider Women and Exogamy in the Torah: The Case of Moses’s Cushite Wife” (20 min)

David B. Schreiner, “Porous Yet Definitive Boundaries: Herem in Joshua as a Foundational Concept for the Debate of Particularism and Holism” (20 min)

Rodney Kilgore, “Continuity and Reform on Trial within Matthew's Gospel: A Study of Divine Presence in Matthew’s Prosecutorial Texts (Matt 10:16-20; 26:36-27:26) through the Lens of the Delian Sarapis Hymn” (20 min)

Michael J. Falgout, “When Love Becomes Law: The Jerusalem Council in Early Christian Memory (Acts 15:1-29; Gal 2:1-14) and as a Paradigm of Evangelical Catholicity” (20 min)

 

 Ecumenical Studies                                                                                       LLO3

Moderator: Hunter Cummings, 

Bradley Dale Edwards, “Watson and Wesley: A Study in the Ecumenical Links of Methodism and Puritanism”

Don Thorsen, “Evangelical Catholicity? A Wesleyan Ecumenical Perspective”

Frank E. "Smith" Lilley, “Canonical Theism as a Resource for an Evangelical Catholic Spirit”

 

Historical Studies                                                                                          Prayer Chapel

Moderator: Ryan Danker, John Wesley Institute

Joshua Toepper, “The Catholic, Wesleyan Spirituality of Thomas Walsh (1730-1759)”

Lane E. Davis, “Methodists on the Tiber: Wesleyan Perspectives from Vatican II”


 Practical Theology/ Christian Formation                                                   LLO1

Moderator: Doug Strong, Seattle Pacific University

Jeffrey T. Barker, “Tending God’s Vineyard: Cultivating the Produce of the Spirit”

Reuben T. Lillie and Charles L. Perabeau, “Empowering Colonized Communities: Integrating Districts in the Church of the Nazarene USA/Canada Region”

Richard J. Saunders-Hindley, “‘A disunion in mind and judgment’? A Wesleyan Critique of Contemporary Church Planting”


Special Panel                                                                                                 LLO2

Panel: “‘A Thing That Is Not’: This Catholic Church, This Crucified People”

Panelists:   Craig Keen, Mindy Hancock, Nate Kerr, Eric Severson


Systematic Theology                                                                                     Sanctuary

Moderator: Chris Bounds, Asbury Theological Seminary

Tom McCall, "Amipotence and the Problems of Evil: More Mysteries But No Solutions"

Brent Laytham, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, "Uniting the Pair So Long Disjoined: Trinity as Catholic Truth and Evangelical Love"

Joel Chopp, "'To Each Believer a Bible and a Miter:' A Reply to Brad East on Sola Scriptura"


Theological Education                                                                                  The Well

Moderator: L. Michaels, Eastern Nazarene College

Jeffrey Conklin-Miller, “Revisiting the Course of Study: Catholic Theological Education for a Wesleyan Evangelical Mission”

Patrick Oden, “Theological Education Outside the Cities”

Kenny Johnston, “Logic as a Core Skill in Ministerial Curricula”

 

**FRIDAY MARCH 1, 4:00 PM CONCURRENT SESSION** 

Biblical Studies                                                                                              Choir Room

Moderator: Brad E. Kelle, Point Loma Nazarene University

“Crowdsourcing the Conference Theme: ‘Evangelical Catholicity’ and Biblical Studies” (20 min) *An open and collaborative discussion brainstorming and exploring how specific biblical texts, as well as approaches, methods, and perspectives from within biblical studies, might intersect with the theme of "Evangelical Catholicity." All session attendees are welcome to share ideas together in a round-table format.

Clifton Jason Borders, “‘Good News to the Poor:’ Luke 4:18, the Gospel, and Poverty in the Wesleyan Tradition” (20 min)

Stephanie Smith Matthews, “Eve’s Physick 2024: A Biblical, Wesleyan Mandate for Alleviation of Women’s Reproductive Health Pains” (20 min)


Historical Studies                                                                                          Sanctuary

Moderator: Philip Tallon, Houston Christian University

Peter J. Smith, “What Was “Catholic” about the Catholic Church?: Catholic Identity from the Second to Fifth Century”

Steven Hoskins, “‘That Real Holiness Will Not Lose Sight Of Its Catholicity:’ The History of the National Holiness Association/Wesleyan Holiness Connection as a Unifying Force in an Age of Division”

William Purinton, “"Restless Evangelicals: Evangelical Identity among the Wesleyan Churches in the National Association of Evangelicals, 1942-2022" 

 

Practical Theology/ Christian Formation                                                   LLO1

Moderator: Dean Blevins, Nazarene Theological Seminary

J. Matthew Barnes, “Nurturing Communal Spirituality: Evangelical Catholic Ethos in Wesleyan Structures within Seminary Life”

Lisa Jo Fanelli-Greer, “John Wesley, Spiritual Director for Our Time:  His Class Meetings and Bands:  A Guide for Christian Formation and Spiritual Direction”

Jonathan Sutter, “Pushing the Boundaries of the Evangelical Enterprise and Catholic Spirit in the Chaplaincy”

 

Systematic Theology                                                                                     LLO2

Moderator: Joel Chopp, Wheaton College

Austin Rivera, "Piety and Peace: Framing Evangelical Catholicity with Ephrem and Limborch"

Daryl McCarthy, "John Wesley as a Christian Worldview Thinker"

Nathan Adams, "Proto-Wesleyan-Arminian? Lessons from Melanchthon on Predestination and Human Agency”


Theological Education                                                                                  The Well

Moderator: L. Michaels, Eastern Nazarene College

Kent Dunnington and Benjamin Wayman, “Is Chapel Church?: The Missed Adventure of the Christian College”

Abram Book, “Be Persistent Whether the Time is Favorable or Unfavorable: A Wesleyan Perspective on Crisis Communication in Local Churches”

Marie Gregg, “We Don't Need No Education...Except, We Always Do”

 

Theology and Science                                                                                   LLO3

Moderator: Thomas G. Hermans-Webster, Orbis Books and Memphis Theological Seminary

Sarah Newman, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, "A Wesleyan View of Divine-Dream Context"

Keegan Osinski, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, "Mushroom Church: A Mycelial Vision of Wesleyan Catholicity"

Kate Common, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, "Archaeology, Ancient Israel, and Ecclesiology: Integrating New Discoveries into Christian Theology and the Church"

 

 Women’s Studies                                                                                           Prayer Chapel

Moderator: Christy Mesaros-Winckles, Adrian College

Panel on Silenced: The Forgotten Story of Progressive Era Free Methodist Women

Panelists:   Kristina LaCelle-Peterson, Karen Strand Winslow, Priscilla Pope-Levison, David Bundy

 

**SATURDAY MARCH 2, 11:00AM CONCURRENT SESSION** 

 

Ecumenical Studies                                                                                       Sanctuary

Moderator: Aaron Perry, Indiana Wesleyan University

Panel: “Wesleyans on Fire? Robert Barron and the Word on Fire for Wesleyans”

Panelists:   Christopher Bounds, Tammie Grimm, Justus Hunter, Jon Morgan, David F. Watson


Intercultural Studies                                                                                     Prayer Chapel

Moderator: Beverly Hall

Austin Troyer, “Wesleyan Evangelical Catholicity and the Harmony Way”

Beverly Hall, “Where is the Emphasis? Are Wesleyans “evangelical catholics” or “catholic evangelicals?” Is it a Difference in Perspective?” 

  

Moral Theology                                                                                             LLO3

Moderator: Gregory P. Van Buskirk, Wesley Works Digitization Project

Maureen Knudsen Langdoc, “Stop Putting God First: An Evangelical and Catholic Approach to Moral Formation?”

Hannah Grubbs-Oechsle, “Holiness in the Matrix of Division: A Call for Epistemic Virtue”

David Lilley, “Refusing False Holism: Powers, Principalities, and Community with the Poor”


 Historical Studies                                                                                          The Well

Moderator: Jim Fitzgerald, Southern Nazarene University

Andy Miller III, “’More than’ a Church: William Booth’s Ecclesiology”

Philip Wingeier-Rayo, “Evangelical-Catholic Tensions in Early Methodist Missions: the Case of Thomas Coke's Failed Venture in Sierra Leone”

 

Practical Theology/ Christian Formation                                                   LLO1

Moderator: Joseph Cunningham

Steve Johnson, “John Wesley’s Liturgical Theology on a Pendulum”

Ronald L. Adkins II, “Mosaic or Photomosaic of Atonement? Interpreting and Communicating Biblical Metaphoric Pixels of the Atonement Theology Picture”

Jonathan F. Dean & Janet B. Dean, “Wesleyan Sin, Aristotelian Action, and the Implications of Ambiguous Moral Responsibility for Pastoral Care”

  

Systematic Theology                                                                                     LLO2

Moderator:  Matt Johnson, Ohio Christian University

Cole Jodon, "Tom Greggs and the Priestly Catholicity of the Church Today"

Martin Philips, "Is Thy Heart Right with Mine? Catholicity and the Affections"

Michael Brain, "The Catholic Spirit: Robert Jenson's Evangelical Catholicism and Wesleyan Theology"


Theology, Culture, and the Arts                                                                  Choir Room

Moderator: Philip Tallon, Houston Christian University

Craig A. Boyd, “Narrating Avarice in The Hobbit: Dwarvish Vice & Catholic Virtue”

Bradley Jenson, “Disfiguring the Soul of Faith: Homogenizing Catholicity in the Dune Chronicles”

Wallace Thornton, Jr., “‘Truth, Crushed to Earth, Shall Rise Again’…through Material Culture”

 


Agenda – Annual Business Meeting

Wesleyan Theological Society (http://www.wtsociety.com)

March 1, 2024

1.Minutes

            a. 2023 Business Meeting

2.Ballot 

          Link to ballot: WTS 2024 Ballot

  1. Second Vice-President

          b.   WTS Secretary-Treasurer 3 year renewal

          c.   WTS Promotional Secretary 3 year renewal

3.Treasurer’s report (2023) – Brent Peterson

4.Proposed budget (2024) – Brent Peterson

5.  Update from Wesleyan Theological Journal –Jason Vickers 

          a. Journal and paper/article submissions 

6. Website Update- Laura Garverick

7. 60th Anniversary Membership Drive (auto-renewal)

8. Reports from Affiliated/Auxiliary Groups

         a. Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy

         b. Ecumenical Involvements 

         c. Wesleyan Dogmatics Working Group

         d. Wesleyan Historical Society

         e. Wesleyan Liturgical Society

9.2025 meeting information and call for papers – Justus Hunter 

                   March 15-16, Baylor University, Waco, TX

10.Other Business

11.Adjournment

Wesleyan Theological Society

Business Meeting Minutes

March 3 2023

Asbury Theological Seminary

Luther Oconer, WTS President, Presiding

1.  2022 Minutes

2. Ballot 

3. Treasurer’s report (2022-2023) 

4. Proposed budget (2023-2024) 

5. Update from Wesleyan Theological Journal 

6. Reports from Affiliated/Auxiliary Groups

               a. Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy

0.o report given.

 b. Ecumenical Involvements 

c. Wesleyan Philosophical Society

d. Wesleyan Dogmatics Working Group

e. Wesleyan Historical Society

 f.  Wesleyan Liturgical Society

7. 2023 meeting information and call for papers

8.        Other Business

9.        Adjournment






WTS Ballot Bios

2nd Vice-President

Karen Strand Winslow is professor emeritus of Biblical and Theological Studies at Azusa Pacific University, where she taught since 2004. She has also taught Biblical Studies and Women’s Studies at Seattle Pacific University, the University of Washington, and Greenville University, where she was chair of Jewish and Christian Studies. She is an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church, serving with her husband, Dale, in Sweet Home, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and Azusa, California.Her research interests include Jewish and Christian biblical interpretation, the formation of Scripture, early Judaism, women in religion, ethnicity and identity formation, and science and religion. Her books include Exogamist Marriage and Ethnic Identity: Early Jewish and Christian Memories of Moses’ Wives (2005), 1-2 Kings (2017), Imagining Equity: The Gifts of Christian Feminist Theology (2021). She has also published commentaries on Esther and Isaiah (2018-2020) and has contributed nuermous chapters in edited volumes such as Mixed Marriages: Intermarriage, and Group Identity in the Second Temple Period (T. & T. Clark International, 2011), The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, and the Global Wesleyan Theological Dictionary (2013). She has been a member of the Wesleyan Theological Society since 1989 and chaired the Women's Studies section for many years. 

Jennifer Woodruff Tait was for over a decade the managing editor of Christian History magazine, where she is now senior editor. She has also served as an adjunct and/or affiliate faculty member over the last seventeen years at various times at Asbury Theological Seminary, United Theological Seminary (Ohio), Huntington University, and Southwestern College. Woodruff Tait is the author of Christian History in Seven Sentences (IVP, 2021) and of The Poisoned Chalice: Eucharistic Grape Juice and Common-Sense Realism in Victorian Methodism (University of Alabama, 2011), which won the 2013 Smith/Wynkoop Book Award from WTS as well as an award from the Historical Society of the United Methodist Church. She co-edited the Cambridge Companion to American Protestantism (Cambridge, 2022) with Jason Vickers. Woodruff Tait has been ordained in the Episcopal Church since 2016 and currently serves St. John's Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY as a supply priest. She has been a member of WTS since 1996.




WTS Business Meeting

March 1, 2024

Trevecca Nazarene University 

Treasurer’s Report

Through some unique events, the WTS is in its strongest financial position in regard to account balances probably ever in our history.. However, there are some concerns regarding membership that need to be addressed.

I will start with some areas that were positive and then report on a concern

  1. 2023 Asbury meeting: We had a very strong attendance and Asbury is a wonderful host that minimizes expenses so we ended up showing a positive cash flow coming out of our meeting. This is a very rare occurrence and cannot be counted in for previous years. 
  2. A donor has made consistent contributions to the Doug and Cindy Strong Endowment in 2022 and 2023 and we have a robust balance to help students participate in WTS.
  3. Our CD will mature in December 2024, in total that will provide us with nearly $4000 total in interest income in 2022 and 2023.
  4. Lower membership: As you will see on the report 2023 had our lowest membership total since I have been secretary-treasurer. There are lots of reasons for this. Often every year we will have 100-175 people and institutions who were current one year but do not renew the next. This year with our move to a new website I am told that will allow us to start an auto-renewal feature. I think this will not only pay for the new annual costs with the new website but could hopefully capture an additional 100 members each year. It would be great if you would be wile
  5. Our AAR dinner’s have been a great success but we have expanded the budget.
  6. Dues, Meeting Registration fees and Officer Honorariums: You may notice that in my 10 years in office we have not raised any of the membership dues, meeting registration fees, or honorariums to officers. Financially I don’t think we need to do so this year, but the executive board and members should consider something in the future. Also it is important to state that we do not offer any honorarium to the promotional secretary and that should be remedied in my opinion.

God has been faithful to the WTS. Thanks for being a part of this fellowship.

It is a joy to serve.

Brent Peterson

WTS Secretary-Treasurer

Proposed 2024 Budget

2024 Conference

Budget

INCOME

Budget 2023

Actual 2023

Proposed 2024

Membership dues/WTJ Subscriptions

18000.00

14001.00

16000.00

Registration

13000

Advertising in WTJ

1000.00

680.00

1000.00

Income from exhibitors

1200

Net Conference Income

0.00

5282.00

0.00

Friday Banquet

3250

Interest

400.00

1606.00

1900.00

TOTAL CONFERENCE PAYMENTS

17450

ATLA/CopyWright Clearance

2500.00

2487.00

2500.00

Strong Scholarship

5000

Consortium chair honorarium

-3000

WTS Conference speaker(s)

-1000

TOTAL INCOME

21900.00

29056.00

21400.00

Hotel

-500

Travel

-1700

EXPENSES

Meals

-150

Costs of the journal/printing and mailing

12000

9649

11000

Misc

-500

Costs of the journal/postage (cost of returned journals)

200

136.00

200

Awards

-500

*Costs of services/journal editor

2000

2000.00

2000

Friday Food Banquet

-3250

Cost of WTJ Assistant Editor

1000

1000.00

1000

Conference Snacks

-2000

Costs of services/secretary-treasurer

2000

2000.00

2000

2025 Call for papers

-50

Costs of services/secretarial

2000

1490.00

2000

2025 Graphic design poster

-250

AAR & SBL receptions

2500

3529.00

3000

2024 APP Program design

0

Misc expenses (office, future wts site visits, photocopy, etc

1000

380.00

750

2024 Advert flyers and bus meeting

-25

Website and app link

0

69.00

750

2024 Name Tags

-100

TOTAL EXPENSES

22700

20253.00

22700

Student travel reimbursement

-4000

Total Expenses

-17025

Net income/expenses

-800.00

8803.00

-1300.00

Total Income

17450

Remaining

325

ICCU 24 Month CD (Mature 12/1/2024) 12/31/2024

46,556

WAFED Checking 1/18/2024

1,204.00

NNU Account 12/31/2023

55,015.00

Total for WTS 12/31/23

89,634.00

WPS 12/31/2023

5933

WHS 12/31/2023

66

WLS 12/31/2023

-993

Donations for WTS Endowment Fund 12/31/2023

515

Doug and Cindy Strong Endowment 12/31/2023

7620

2023 members 590 (541 US) (49 Non-US)

2022 members 612 (561 US) (51 Non-US)

2021 members 629 (571 US) (58 Non-US)

2020 members 639 (586 US) (53 Non-US)

2019 members 592 (550 US) (42 Non-US)

2018 members 679 (608 US) (71 Non-US)

2017 Members 729 (675 US) (54 non-US) 11/21/17

2016 Members 702 (626 US) (76 Non-US)

2015 Members 768 (685 US) (83 Non-US)

WESLEYAN THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

REPORT OF PROMOTIONAL SECRETARY, STEVEN HOSKINS

2023-2024

It is with pleasure that I offer this report of yearly service to the society.

During this year, it has been a privilege to serve with the other officers on the Executive Committee. In my work as Promotional Secretary of the WTS this year, I have accomplished the following in accordance with my duties and responsibilities:

1.      Promotional Correspondence: I have kept the society’s membership appraised of society activities and meetings through email, phone calls, and other promotional correspondence in regard to meetings, the call for papers, annual meeting needs, and other society inquiries and events. During this year we have continued the use of a mass email service, Mail Chimp (www.mailchimp.com), in order to provide better email service to the membership.  Credit goes to Brent Peterson and his assistants for keeping up with and continuing to build the email database.  This is a free service and does not require any cost to the membership. This year I sent out twenty mass emails to a database of over 1500 addresses. We have averaged just over 700 opens for each email.

I have also corresponded with a great number (over 500) of requests for information, replies to our partners and vendors for their needs directly related to society matters, and general interest. I have been impressed by the continued enthusiasm for the society, it’s fellowship and friendship, and the work of our journal in my correspondence.

2.      WTS Website: This has been a year of planning as we are moving, for the third time in my tenure, to a new updated website to keep up with the growing needs of the society. I have worked with Laura Garverick, WTJ Assistant and Book Review Editor, who is heading up that effort and Jonathan Sprang, a former student, who is our web designer. The new site will retain our name, www.wtsociety.org, and centralize a number of our yearly activities. Many thanks to Brent Peterson and the webmaster at NNU for their hard work over the past four years in maintaining our website. Their work is much appreciated.

3.      Planning the 59th Annual Meeting for 2024 at Trevecca: I have served as the meeting planner for this year’s meeting and have been ably assisted by the officers and many folks on the ground in putting together this year’s meeting. We especially owe a great deal of thanks to Justus Hunter, 1st Vice-President, who has done the scheduling and put together a fine program.

4.      Planning 60th annual meeting: I have led the planning efforts for our 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Meeting which will be held at Baylor University next March 2025, with the other officers. We are planning a fine celebration at the event  and a 60th Anniversary book of essays from the long history of the Wesleyan Theological Journal. The book will be published by Baylor University Press and edited by me, Jason Vickers, and Laura Garverick.

5.      AAR/SBL Reception in San Antonio: I planned the AAR/SBL reception we held in San Antonio. What has become an annual gathering of friends that highlights the year was attended by 74 members of the society at the Iron Cactus Restaurant. The meal cost was covered by the WTS. It was a memorable evening and good to see so many of our members as we shared in fellowship and a meal. Plans are already underway for the 2025 AAR/SBL.

In addition to these duties, I have kept a great deal personal correspondence (over 400 emails, calls, and letters) with officers, members, friends, and vendors in order to further the aims of the society, to promote our fellowship as an international community of scholars in the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition, and to provide communication as necessary on a wide variety of societal needs. The work has been a joy, and I am grateful to have a role in it. The reach of our society is indeed long and our voice, friendship, and helpful guidance remains necessary to the broad efforts of the Wesleyan-Holiness world on many fronts, in many interesting ways, and in many relationships (by my count we have corresponded “officially” with over 130 churches, denominations, schools, and other societies and institutions this year). Most of all, I remain grateful that I get to take part in our efforts with those who remain my good friends.  

Sincerely,

Steven Hoskins

 Wesleyan Theological Society

March 1, 2024

Wesleyan Theological Society

60th Annual Meeting

March 14-15, 2025, Baylor University 

Partakers in the Divine Nature

 Keynote Address: Khaled Anatolios, John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame

 Presidential Address: Justus H. Hunter, Associate Professor of Church History, United Theological Seminary

 The Wesleyan tradition seeks to take seriously the dual confession of Revelation 15:4, “only God is holy,” and 1 Peter 1:16, “be holy as I am holy.” Elsewhere, St. Peter says divine gifts – faith, life, and knowledge – are given in order that we might become “partakers in the divine nature.” Wesleyans have sought to articulate this Scriptural conviction in varied doctrines of sanctification and holiness, doctrines that have been both instruments of unity and division. Moreover, the last generation considered the Wesleyan view of sanctification and holiness in conversation with diverse strands of Christian tradition, especially the Greek traditions of early Christianity and those of Reformed Scholasticism. Given recent developments in our understanding of the “Greek East” and “Latin West,” as well as ongoing tensions over conceptions of holiness and sanctification among members of the Wesleyan traditions, it is a suitable time to consider the theological, biblical, historical, and practical considerations related to the claim that God invites us to partake of his own holiness and righteousness.

 The theme should be interpreted broadly. Proposals that do not fit the theme will be welcome as well, as space permits. Potential topics that could be explored:

 ●       Biblical views of holiness, sanctification, divinity, and participation

●       Hermeneutical implications of holiness

●       The varied nuances of the terms “holiness,” “deification,” “union,” and “sanctification” in historical contexts

●       Perspectives on holiness, deification, and sanctification from outside the Anglo-American world

●       Conceptions of holiness, deification, and sanctification from outside of the Wesleyan tradition

●       Wesley’s doctrine of holiness, deification, and sanctification

●       Holiness as a means of unity and division in the Wesleyan or broader Christian tradition

●       Preaching and worship as means of holiness, deification, and sanctification

●       Christian formation for the sake of holiness, deification, and sanctification

●       Depictions of holiness, deification, and sanctification in the arts and popular culture

●       The place of holiness, deification, and sanctification in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.

 SUBMISSION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 15, 2024 – Details at wtsociety.com

WTS Section Chairs

2024-2025

Biblical Studies

Jenny Matheny

George W. Truett Theological Seminary

jenny_matheny@baylor.edu

 

Brad Kelle

Point Loma Nazarene University

BradKelle@pointloma.edu

 

Ecumenical and Interfaith Studies

Kelly Yates

Indiana Wesleyan University

kelly.yates6249@indwes.edu

 

Historical Studies

Ryan Danker

The John Wesley Institute

rdanker@wbs.edu

 

Intercultural Studies

Nell Becker Sweeden

Nazarene Theological Seminary

nbeckersweeden@nts.edu

 

Moral Theology

Gregory P. Van Buskirk

Wesley Works Digitization Project

greg.vanbuskirk@gmail.com

 

Philosophy

Thomas Jay Oord

Northwind Theological Seminary

tjoord@nnu.edu

 

Practical Theology/ Christian Formation

Robert E. Haynes

World Methodist Evangelism

drrobhaynes@gmail.com

 

 Systematic Theology

Tom McCall

Asbury Theological Seminary

thomas.mccall@asburyseminary.edu

 

Theological Education

L. Michaels

Eastern Nazarene College

lisa.michaels@enc.edu

 

Theology and Preaching

Levi Jones

Nazarene Theological Seminary

lcjones@nts.edu

 

Theology and Science

Thomas Herman-Webster

Maryknoll Press

THermans-Webster@Maryknoll.org

 

Theology, Culture, and the Arts

Philip Tallon

Houston Christian University

ptallon@hbu.edu

 

Women’s Studies

Kimberley Majeski

Christian Women Connection

kmajeski@wchog.org

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 15, 2024