Alan's Conference Papers
These are papers I have presented at conferences and scholarly societies. The papers are in Adobe .pdf format.*
"On The Compatibility of Ontological Equality, Hierarchy and Functional Distinctions." A paper presented at the Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting, Nov. 20, 2009. This paper is an assessment of recent arguments in favor of the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father in the doctrine of the Trinity. The paper argues that such notions are the intrusion of a non-Christian ontology into the reading of the Scriptures. The notion of a permanent functional subordination amongst those who are ontologically equal is inherently contradictory, whether in reference to the Trinity or to relations between men and women.
"Is Pluralism Tolerant? An assessment of the pluralist interpretation of world religions in light of charges of Evangelical "hinduphobia"." A paper presented at the
Evangelical Theological Society annual meeting, Nov. 19, 2008. A
report by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), entitled Hyperlink to Hinduphobia; Online
Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus, alleges that Hindus in America are in imminent danger of violent attacks due to "hate speech" found on many Evangelical web sites. This paper examines these charges and concludes that far from promoting tolerance, the pluralist philosophy supported by the HAF actually is a new type of totalitarian thinking that is profoundly intolerant of any ideas that disagrees with it.
"Can Joseph Smith Save Us From The Evils of Modernity? A critical assessment of the post-modernist turn in Mormon apologetics." A paper presented to The Society for the Study of Alternative Religions at theEvangelical Theological Society annual meeting, Nov. 18, 2004. Argues that the attempt to combine Mormon cosmology with process theology as a way of avoiding post-modern relativism and skepticism is a failure.
"A Missionary Looks at Evangelicals and Catholics Together." A paper presented at the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions Conference, Denver, Colorado, Feb. 20, 2000.
"Black Religion and Social Justice in Brazil: The Movimento Negro in the Roman Catholic Church." A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Albuquerque, New Mexico, November, 1994.
"Recent Trends in Liberation Theology: Black Liberation Theology in Latin America." A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Tysons Corner, Virginia, November, 1993. I recently found a hard copy of this and hope to have it posted here in the future.
"New Age Nursing: Religion and Empowerment in a Traditionally Female Profession." A paper presented at annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Arlington, Virginia, November, 1992.
"Liberation Theology and the Kingdom of God." A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Kansas City, Missouri, November, 1991.
*In case you have trouble opening the files, right click on the link and click on "Save Target As..", then save the file your hardisk. You must have the free Adobe Acrobat reader installed in order to view the files.
