The new project called Theological Engagement with California Culture is moving out of the initial planning phase and onto the public stage this November. Since the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society is in California this year, we are holding our first major presentation in conjunction with ETS in San Francisco. You can read more about TECC’s goals and plans in an interview by Joe Gorra here.
We had a lot of good submissions in response to our call for papers, and here are the four presentations that were chosen:
Robert S. Covolo (Fuller Theological Seminary): “From The Beach Boys to Surfer’s Chapel: A Theology of California Surf Culture”
Richard J. Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary): “The ‘Enigma’ of California: Some Theological Reflections”
Monica Ganas (Azusa Pacific University): “‘I Have Adonis DNA’: California’s Celebrity Culture and Evangelicalism”
Fred Sanders (Biola University): “California, Localized Theology, and Theological Localism”
That lineup is a little too tilted toward southern California, but maybe during the panel discussion and the Q&A with the audience we can hear from bay area participants, since we’re on their turf this time.
So we’ve got surfing, the president of Fuller, the author of a recent book on California culture, and a reflection on theological method for the whole TECC project.
We’ll make the papers as available as possible at the TECC website in due course. But anybody attending ETS this November (registration required) should come by and hear about the theology of California.
