ICETE News – January 2006

Special Opportunity for Academic Deans

A professional workshop for Academic Deans and other academic officers will be offered in conjunction with the ICETE International Consultation in August 2006. The workshop will take place immediately following the Consultation, and at the same venue, from Friday afternoon, 11 August, through Monday breakfast, 13 August. Sessions will be highly interactive, and will include focus on: “The Dean and Curriculum Development”; “The Dean as Administrator”; “The Dean and Faculty Development”; “The Dean and Conflict Resolution.” Facilitators will include Paul Sanders of Beirut and Fritz Deininger of Bangkok. The composite charge, including lodging and meals, will be US$80. This exceptional opportunity for professional development at an international level will be limited to 25 participants. Those interested must first register for the ICETE Consultation, and then should apply for participation in the workshop through the ICETE Consultation Directorate, at: . For additional information, contact the workshop facilitators, at: [email protected], or [email protected]

Global Christianity & Theological Education

ICETE’s 2006 International Consultation for Theological Educators will take place from the late afternoon of Monday, 7 August through lunch of Friday, 11 August, at facilities in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The 2006 ICETE Consultation will be focusing on the emerging global character of Christianity, and the implications of this for theological education. The new reality is that the Christian community we serve is global, and that more and more it displays a ‘southern’ tilt. The 2006 Consultation is designed to assist theological educators from around the world in reflecting together on the nature of this new framework, and in understanding ourselves freshly within this context of service. How we deal with the now global nature of the Christian community, and particularly with its increasingly non-western character, will prove vital to the future of evangelical theological education around the world.

The ICETE Consultation is intended for the ICETE constituency throughout the world. Available space will be limited, so priority will be given to representatives from schools affiliated with one of the eight continental associations that make up the ICETE family, namely ACTEA, AETAL, ATA, ABHE, CETA, EEAA, E-AAA, and SPABC. The composite Consultation participation fee per individual will be US$450 (covering registration, accommodation, meals, etc.). Travel and related expenses are the responsibility of the individual or sponsoring institution. Any school that is formally linked to one of the ICETE member associations listed above will be eligible for a 50% discount on the Consultation fee, for up to two delegates per institution. Guests or observers will be accommodated on an invitation basis as space is available. Since space will be limited, those interested in attending the Consultation should begin registration proceedings immediately, by contacting the ICETE Consultation Directorate at:

ICETE Consultation 2006 Programme

Addressing the ICETE Consultation 2006 will be the distinguished international scholar Philip Jenkins, author of the widely-acclaimed The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford, 2002). Through multiple publications and presentations Philip Jenkins in recent years has almost single-handedly ‘mainstreamed’ into the secular academic and media worlds a growing awareness that Christianity has now become a truly global faith, and one with a decidedly ‘southern’ tilt. Jenkins holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and is presently a professor of history and religious studies in the United States. [An excellent abbreviated essay summation of Jenkins’ The Next Christendom is available on the web at: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i29/29b00701.htm]

Also addressing the Consultation in plenary session will be Carver Yu, professor of dogmatics at China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong, who will explore implications of the Consultation theme for the churchward orientation our theological education in meant to embody. Consideration of vital north/south issues will be the focus of Chris Wright, Ministries Director of John Stott’s Langham Partnership International. Carlos Pinto, Rector of the Seminario Biblico Palavra da Vida in Sao Paulo, Brazil, will develop the important challenge of forming ‘global Christians’, while Brian Stiller, President of Tyndale University College & Seminary in Canada, will interact on how best our theological educational institutions may be appropriately ‘globalised’. The Consultation programme will also feature a selection of seminars, workshops, roundtable discussions, and opportunity for much informal contact on other areas of interest additional to the Consultation theme, enabling rich stimulation, interaction, reflection and fellowship.

ICETE’s international consultations are widely valued for offering theological educators from all parts of the world a unique opportunity to engage such larger issues together on an international basis, thus furthering our shared commitment in preparing biblically-based church leadership adequate to the variant needs and opportunities of the global evangelical community in the 21st Century.

Services and Resources

New Journal from Europe

Just released is the first issue of the new journal from Europe, The Theological Educator. The journal is to be published twice yearly by the network of evangelical theological schools in Europe, EEAA. It intends to further networking among theological schools and to promote best practice in theological education. Each issue will contain news of theological schools and related initiatives in Europe, will feature articles on theological education, and will reference research and publications related to theological education. The first issue is available at: www.eeaa.org/TTE.htm To receive the publication on a regular basis, send your request to: [email protected]

Lausanne 2004 Reports Now On-line

ICETE was an official participant in the Lausanne Global Forum which met in 2004 in Thailand, thus serving as a presence and voice for its international constituency of theological schools within the structures of global evangelicalism. ICETE leaders were active in two of the Global Forum study groups, namely one on mentoring future leaders and one on theological education and evangelisation. The former group was led by Doug Birdsall of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, now LCWE’s Executive Chair. The second group was headed by Pieter Theron of Alliance Biblical Seminary in the Philippines, who also led one of the workshops at the ICETE 2003 Consultation. Substantial reports deriving from these two groups are now available on-line. The first is titled: IG12 – Future Leadership: A Call to Develop Christ-like Leaders; and the second: IG28 – Effective Theological Education for World Evangelization. They may be accessed at: www.lausanne.org/Brix?pageID=13890 In addition, a three-volume compendium of all documents from the 2004 Forum, titled: A New Vision, A New Heart, A Renewed Call, is to be released shortly by William Carey Library.

Africa Journal Available on CD

The Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Scott Theological College in Kenya, is Africa’s premier journal of evangelical thought. All back issues from the journal’s first two decades of publication 1982-2002 have now been made available on one convenient CD. The cost (postage included) to addresses within Africa is US$20, and to addresses overseas US$40. Most advanced-level theological libraries globally will want to have this rich resource available for their users. Inquiries may be addressed to: AJET CD, Scott Theological College, PO Box 49, Machakos, Kenya.

Don Carson’s Church and Faith Series Re-issued

In the 1980s and 1990s a remarkable study project, sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and ably led by Professor Donald Carson, brought together a select team of evangelical theologians from around the world to produce jointly five extraordinary international studies. This unique “Church and Faith” series has been out of print for some time. Now the five books in the series have been re-issued by the publisher Wipf & Stock. The reissued titles, all listed under the editorship of Don Carson, are:

· Biblical Interpretation and the Church, 1984

· Church in the Bible and the World, 1987

· Teach Us To Pray, 1990

· Right with God, 1992

· Worship: Adoration and Action, 1993

Evangelical theological reflection specifically on an international collaborative basis is rare indeed, which makes these publications especially valuable. Theological libraries in all parts of the world will want to ensure that their holdings include the full series. Inquiries and orders should be addressed to: Wipf & Stock, 150 West Broadway, Eugene OR 97401, USA ([email protected]; www.wipfandstock.com).

Theological News—now available on CD

All issues of the evangelical newsletter WEA Theological News, from its inception in 1969 through the year 2004, are now available on CD. The newsletter is a publication of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance. The CD presents each page of the newsletter in its original format in PDF for easy reading, and is fully searchable. The cost is US $35, including postage. During these 35 years of publication WEA Theological News has tracked a wide range of evangelical theological events and developments around the world. Libraries and others who have not been able to receive the newsletter throughout its period of publication will now be able to make its resources available to their readers. Address inquiries and orders to WEA TC Publications at: [email protected]

WEA Theological News is presently published quarterly in a print version, with a two-year subscription for individuals costing $10 (send inquiries to the email address just listed). An electronic edition of the newsletter is published free of charge approximately every six weeks. To get on the list, send an email to [email protected] with the following character string in the email “Subject” line: subscribe wef-tc-tn (and put nothing in the message area). For full information on all WEA TC publications, visit the
website: www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/commissions/tcpubs.htm

About ICETE

ICETE is a global community, sponsored by eight continental/regional networks of theological schools, to encourage excellence and renewal in evan­gelical theological education world­wide. ICETE was established in 1980, and functions under the auspices of the World Evangelical Alliance. ICETE now represents the point of cooperative intersection among a formal constituency of more than seven hundred evangelical theological colleges and seminaries in some 100 countries, predominantly in the majority world (with an estimated combined student community in excess of 60,000). Many of these are the principal evangelical institutions in their parts of the world.

The continental/regional associations sponsoring ICETE are:

· Africa Accrediting Council for Theological Educa­tion in Africa (ACTEA)

· Asia Asia Theological Association (ATA)

· the Caribbean Caribbean Evangelical Theological Asso­ciation (CETA)

· Europe European Evangelical Accrediting Associa­tion (EEAA)

· Euro-Asia Euro-Asian Accrediting Association (E-AAA)

· Latin America Association for Evangelical Theological Edu­cation in Latin America (AETAL)

· North America Association for Biblical Higher Education [North America] (ABHE)

· South Pacific South Pacific Association of Bible Colleges (SPABC)

ICETE Officers—Chair: Vera Brock, (Brazil); Director: Dieumeme Noelliste (Jamaica);

Administrator: Paul Bowers (USA/South Africa)

ICETE Council of Reference—Dr Rolf Hille (Germany); Dr Emilio Nuñez (Guatemala); Dr Chris Wright (UK); Dr Wilson Chow (Hong Kong); Dr David Kasali (Kenya); Dr Peter Kuzmič (Croatia)

for further information, or to contact ICETE, go to:

http://www.icete-edu.org

ICETE’s Mission:

Strengthening evangelical theological education

through international cooperation.