The 2016 conference will be at Toccoa Falls College in Northeast Georgia, April 1-2, 2016.
Warren Cole Smith, former editor of World Magazine and current vice president of the Colson Center and a speaker for Summit Ministries, will be the plenary speaker for the 2016 ISCA Conference at Toccoa Falls College, April 1-2. An accomplished apologist in his own right, Smith is an expert in communication and well poised to give us some practical guidance relative to our theme, “Apologetics in an Increasingly Hostile Age.” Come for grounded discussion of how to engage the audience that is increasingly out there!
We have added a second plenary speaker. Dan Crescenzo is a Christian philosopher who has spent the last several years earning his PhD in a very secular philosophy department, and in a field not very hospitable to traditional Christian ideas, Environmental Ethics. He can speak meaningfully to our topic as one who has had to develop proficiency in it as a basic survival skill. Dan is a good young thinker with a heart for evangelism, and I am glad we will have a chance to get to know him.
Housing for the 2016 ISCA conference at Toccoa Falls College, Fri.-Sat., April 1-2, will be at Country Hearth Inn & Suite, 1.5 miles from campus. Rates are $59.00/night for a room with two double beds, or a room with a single twin bed, $69.00/night for a room with one king bed, and $70.00/night for a suite with a hot tub. Rates are per room, whether single or double occupancy. Call 706-297-7799 and ask for Karen or the manager to make your reservations. Mention that you are with the conference at Toccoa Falls College to get these rates. We have a block of rooms reserved at these rates until March 1, so make sure you make your reservations by then.
Send your own paper proposals to Don Williams by Feb. 15.
Cost is $40 before March 15, and $50 after March 15.
Students cost $20 with a student ID.
There is a banquet available for $12.
Flyer:
ISCA2016Flier1.docx
Francis Schaeffer believed apologetics to be the servant of evangelism and said "pre-evangelism is no soft option." All too often, Christian Apologetics strives to make "a frontal assault on a superior force" (Greg Koukl), when in reality the force is not truly superior in thought, but only superior in numbers. Dr. Schaeffer's non-mechanical approach guides us toward not only a good apologetic, but a means to address the whole person amidst a hostile world.
The political environment can be (and often is) a difficult environment in which the believer can provide a Christian apologetic. As the church is the “pillar and support of truth,” it is incumbent upon believers to engage the political sphere. Scripture reveals that God ordains all powers, yet, of course, there are rare times when Christians cannot submit to the state. The purpose of this paper is to portray a biblical apologetic toward governing authorities by considering what Scripture reveals with regard to the church’s behavior toward government officials and how to minister to them. Consideration will be given to those uncommon instances when Christians must practice civil disobedience. The paper will also address the historical development of a Christian doctrine asserting the relationship between the church and state (by considering the notion of “two swords,” and various historical examples). The paper will conclude with the specifics for engaging the political environment with a biblical apologetic.
