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With Biblical and Theological Studies faculty members Victor Ezigbo and Scott Hagley, 10 students traveled to Wheaton, Ill., to attend Wheaton College’s prestigious annual theology conference, this year themed: “Global Perspective in Evangelical Perspective.”

The conference explored the past, present, and future shape of biblical interpretation and theological engagement in the Majority World. Leading scholars from minority communities addressed key issues being discussed in their regions.          

“The conference enlarged our theological horizons. We had the opportunity to listen to premier theologians and historians tackling the questions that arise from their own contexts but which also have practical implications for global Christianity,” says Ezigbo.

Junior Greta Johnson most appreciated Native American speaker Terry LeBlanc, Director of My People International as well as the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies. “He challenged me to understand that it is important to have a theology of creation because creation is a part of God’s redemptive plan,” says Johnson, a biblical and theological studies major. “Creation is redeemed at the cross just like believers are.”

Among the 15 other speakers were James Kombo, associate professor of theology and deputy vice chancellor for academic affairs at Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, on African theology, and Martin Accad, director of the Institute of Middle East Studies of the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon and associate professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, on Middle Eastern theology.

Ezigbo says the conference was a reminder that the global Christian church includes some people who are not readily accepted as worthy members. “It also reminded us that our theologies have accents—they are inherently contextual,” he says. “Our theologies may remain too small for the peculiar theological issues from other Christian communities.”