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Inter-Continental Developments: Matt to Speak in the US

July 9th, 2010 by Madeleine

When Matt wrote his blog series Joshua and the Genocide of the Canaanites Part I and Part II he had no idea just how far clicking the ‘publish’ button would end up taking him. It turns out that it will be taking him quite far;  half-way around the world from Auckland, New Zealand to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States to be precise.

What’s in Georgia? Well it is this years location for the annual conferences and meetings of the  Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), the Evangelical Philosophical Society (EPS) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Each organisation’s events dove-tail the others so that they all run between 17-23 November 2010 in pretty much the same location.

Anyway, in addition to the  Canaanite blog series being the catalyst to Matt’s receiving invitations to co-author chapters in edited books with Philosophers of Religion and Old Testament Ethicists  working at the top of the international field on the subject of Old Testament Ethics (see the upcoming publication list on Matt’s profile page) Matt will also be speaking on this topic in Atlanta.

At the EPS Apologetics Conference, Matt will speak on “God and the Genocide of the Canaanites” (full details here). The following day he will join Palm Beach Atlantic University Professor of Philosophy  and Ethics and EPS President Paul Copan, Denver Seminary Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages Richard Hess and Taylor University Associate Professor of Historical Theology Randal Rauser at the SBL Annual Meeting for a panel discussion entitled “Navigating Old Testament Ethics” (full details here). He’ll also be attending bits of the ETS conference too.

This is an incredible opportunity for Matt. Not only does he get to go somewhere where most of the Philosophers and Theologians at the top of his field will all be gathered in one place and meet them all but he gets to present his work to them and speak alongside them. The potential for Matt to obtain more research and speaking opportunities coupled with the fact that attending the EPS is seen in the evangelical academic world as one of the best ways to obtain employment makes this an opportunity that we are determined for Matt to take up.

The problem is cost. Almost every other speaker in attendance has institutional backing. Financially this translates to their respective academic departments funding most of their attendance. Matt does not have institutional backing. EPS President Paul Copan, who personally invited Matt to take up these speaking opportunities, is aware of this and has generously offered to help Matt out with accommodation and to and fro conference travel. This brings the total cost down considerably but we are still chasing a total of $2,481.55 NZD ($1746.52USD) to get Matt there.

From simply talking to friends about this opportunity we are aware that people who are able to would like to help Matt get to these conferences so we have decided to take a step of faith by accepting the speaking offers and purchasing the tickets. Given our employment woes and battle with ACC over my injury compensation being wrongfully discontinued, this has made things rather tight but we have faith we will get through.

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