Conference theme: Receiving Redemption
How do we receive the blessings and benefits of the salvation that is achieved through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? The 2025 Los Angeles Theology Conference will focus on soteriology, giving special attention to the way salvation is received by human persons and communities. In dialogue with Scripture and the Christian tradition, LATC seeks to develop constructive theology for today.
Plenary Speakers
Frederick Bauerschmidt
Loyola University
"Gift and Growth in the Christian Life"
Julie Canlis
Regent College
"Conformed to his image: Recapitulating Christ in the Church Calendar"
J. Todd Billings
Western Theological Seminary
"From Sheol to Temple: A Theology of Healing for Pilgrims on the Way"
Kathryn Tanner
Yale Divinity School
"Unconditional Grace and the Problem of Reception"
Andrew Davison
Oxford University
"God's good work brought to completion: What does it mean to receive salvation?"
Call for papers
The organizers of the conference invite the submission of paper proposals on soteriology from people holding completed doctoral degrees and from students enrolled in doctoral programs. We are exclusively seeking papers that offer theologically constructive accounts of soteriology, as the conference is tightly themed with publication in view. Papers should be exercises in systematic theology rather than allied fields such as exegesis, the history of doctrine, or social scientific approaches to religion. Papers that engage the theological tradition as a means of theological retrieval are most welcome, and preference will be given to papers that offer constructive accounts rather than merely critiques of existing ideas.
Paper proposals of no more than 200 words in length should be sent by November 15, 2024 to LAtheology@gmail.com. The actual papers should be approximately 3,500 words in length (to be delivered in 30–35 minutes with 5–10 minutes for Q&A). Some of the papers delivered at the conference will be selected for publication in the Zondervan Academic conference volume together with the five plenary papers.
Schedule
Wednesday, March 12
- 7:00pm: Welcome, Plenary 1
Thursday, March 13
- 9:00am: Plenary 2
- 10:30am: Break
- 11:00am: Parallel Session 1
- 12:00pm: Lunch
- 1:30am: Parallel Session 2
- 2:30am: Break
- 3:00am: Parallel Session 3
- 4:00am: Plenary 3
- 5:30am: Dinner
Friday, March 14
- 9:00am: Plenary 4
- 10:30am: Break
- 11:00am: Parallel Session 4
- 12:00pm: Lunch
- 1:30pm: Plenary 5
- 3:00pm: Plenary Panel, Closing Remarks
- 4:00pm: Dismissal
Conference Organizers
Fred Sanders (PhD, Graduate Theological Union) is professor of theology in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in La Mirada, California. He is author of numerous books including The Triune God in the New Studies in Dogmatics series; The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything; Union with Christ and the Life of Faith; The Holy Spirit: An Introduction; Fountain of Salvation: Trinity and Soteriology; and Dr. Doctrines’ Christian Comix. He is coeditor of Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology and Retrieving Eternal Generation. He is co-founder of the annual Los Angeles Theology Conference.
Uche Anizor (PhD, Wheaton College) is associate professor of biblical and theological studies at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He is the author of Kings and Priests: Scripture's Theological Account of Its Readers, Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care and How to Read Theology: Engaging Doctrine Critically and Charitably.
