Last year at the Evangelical Theological Society's annual meeting (which I attended) Dr. Roger Nicole raised allegations against Dr. Clark Pinnock in regards to open theism and inerrancy. (Note: "open theism" is the belief that God does not know the future; "inerrancy" is the position that the Bible does not contain errors.) Greg Boyd deliberately failed to pay his membership dues (you can't kick me out--I quit!). John Sanders and Clark Pinnock were to have their membership voted on in 2003. Since then, some interesting exchanges have taken place, perhaps the most significant being the results of the Executive Committee inquiry:
(1) In the matter of Clark Pinnock's stance vis-à-vis inerrancy, the Executive Committee unanimously (9-0) believes that the charges brought against him in November 2002 should not be sustained. This is a direct result of extensive discussion with Dr. Pinnock, including his clarifications of many points, and his clarifying and rewriting of a critical passage in his work, retracting certain language therein. (2) In the matter of John Sanders' stance vis-à-vis inerrancy, the Committee believes by a 7-2 margin that the charges brought against him in November 2002 should be sustained. This too is a direct result of extensive discussion with Dr. Sanders, including his clarification of many points, and his retraction of a critical word usage.
The ETS members are free to ignore the Executive Committee's recommendations, but I suspect that their influence will be significant when the Society gathers November 19-21 in Atlanta.
