2025 Schedule Forthcoming
Fri Nov 22
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Indigo H (Second Level) - Hilton Bayfront
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the round that began in October 2023, is in part a battle over territory, a battle in which the Bible has played an important role. While biblical scholars have done thorough work on Land as a biblical theme, they often “stop before they get to the hard part,” as Walter Brueggemann has complained. This session dares to explore how modern interpreters, Jewish and Christian, have applied the Bible to contemporary debates about, and battles for, the Holy Land. An invited panel will explore questions that include: What does it mean to do theology in a time of war? What importance have interpreters attached to the biblical land promises in assessing modern Jewish territorial claims? How has ancient Israel’s conquest of Canaan shaped Jewish and Christian thinking about the establishment of modern Israel? What role have Old Testament expectations of ethnic Israel's territorial restoration played in Zionist and Christian Zionist discourse? Is the Bible relevant for you in assessing territorial disputes, contested borders, competing national claims, and the use of violence in the Holy Land today? How has Scripture shaped your thinking about Hamas and Israel since October 7, 2023? Are there instructive parallels and contrasts in the way Scripture has inspired various Christian colonial conquests?
Rob Dalrymple, Determinetruth, Introduction (2 min)
J. Ross Wagner, Duke Divinity School, Presiding (3 min)
Opening Statements from the Panel
Bruce N. Fisk, Westmont College (retired), Panelist (8 min)
Yousef AlKhouri, Bethlehem Bible College, Panelist (8 min)
Tommy Givens, Fuller Theological Seminary, Panelist (8 min)
Joshua Brumbach, The Spertus Institute, Panelist (8 min)
Discussions
Roundtable Discussion (51 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Closing Statements
Bruce N. Fisk, Westmont College (retired), Panelist (3 min)
Yousef AlKhouri, Bethlehem Bible College, Panelist (3 min)
Tommy Givens, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena), Panelist (3 min)
Joshua Brumbach, The Spertus Institute, Panelist (3 min)
4:00 to 6:00 pm
11/18/2023
Conference Room 3
2023 Israel and the Church: Complement, Fulfillment or Replacement? The focus of our second IBR session will be the relationship between Israel and the Church. New Testament authors grappled with the relationship between Jacob’s descendants and the community of Jesus’ followers, as did their earliest interpreters. Post-Holocaust Biblical scholarship continues to reckon with the Church’s long history of anti-Judaism, supersessionism, and Christian antisemitism, as scholars continue to debate the central biblical texts and themes relevant to understanding the relationship between ethnic Israel and the Church. Among the questions panelists will address are these: Did NT authors view the increasingly Gentile church as Abraham’s offspring? Did they see Gentiles in Christ as incorporated into Israel and heirs to covenantal promises? Do some NT texts suggest the Church “completes,” “fulfills” and/or “supersedes” the Jews in God’s plan? Did NT authors espouse Jewish restoration nationalism? Did NT authors reserve some covenant blessings (e.g., possessing the Land) for ethnic Israel apart from Jesus’ community? What role or benefits, if any, does Israel have today in light of promises made to her in the OT? How do various construals of the church's relationship to Israel influence contemporary Christian assessments of modern Israel and its territorial claims in the Holy Land? For more information, contact Rob Dalrymple ([email protected]) and Bruce Fisk ([email protected]).
Rob Dalrymple, Determinetruth Ministries, Presiding
Rob Dalrymple, Determinetruth Ministries, Welcome (5 min)
Michael Bird, Ridley Melbourne, Panelist (5 min)
Richard Harvey, All Nations Christian College (UK), Panelist (5 min)
Joel Willitts, North Park University, Panelist (5 min)
Roundtable Discussion (30 min)
Break (5 min)
Roundtable Discussion (30 min)
Alicia Jackson, Vanguard University of Southern California, Presiding
Discussion (20 min)
Scripture, Hermeneutics and the Middle East
3:30 PM to 5:30 PM
11/18/2022
Governor's Square 16 (Plaza Tower - Concourse Level) - Sheraton Downtown (SD)
Theme: Israel Then and Now
Welcome and Introduction to the Research Group
Rob Dalrymple, Determinetruth Ministries, Presiding (5 min)
Alicia Jackson, Vanguard University of Southern California
The Role of Violence in the Restoration of Israel (15 min)
David Crump, Calvin University
All Israel is Not Israel: Not in the Old Testament and Not Today (15 min)
Darrell Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary, Respondent (10 min)
Mitri Raheb, Dar al-Kalima University College, Respondent (10 min)
Break (5 min)
Alicia Jackson, Vanguard University of Southern California, Respondent (10 min)
David Crump, Calvin University, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (35 min)
Closing Remarks (5 min)
Bruce Fisk, Presiding (5 min)
