Join us for a two-day conference as Presbyterian scholars, thinkers, pastors, and authors come together.
Cost $50—can be paid at the door and covers all meals and snacks.
Where: Harbor House on the campus of Wheaton College (this is not a function of Wheaton College)
To register please email Jeff McDonald at jsmcdonald47@gmail.com
Conference Dates: October 21st and 22nd, 2025
2025 Conference Schedule
Tuesday, October 21st
9:00 a.m. “"Jonathan Dickinson, Friendship, and Denominational Identity”
-Dr. Bradley J. Longfield, Professor of Church History, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
-RESPONSE: Dr. Mark Noll, McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
10:00 a.m. “Under the Influence? : J.T. Mueller and Evangelical Presbyterian Connections to the Conservative Revival in the LCMS”
-Dr. Jeff McDonald, Executive Director, Presbyterian Scholars Conference, Adjunct Professor, Birmingham Theological Seminary
-RESPONSE: Dr. Kirk Farney, Vice President and Assistant Professor of History, Wheaton College
11:00 a.m. Panel Discussion on Danny Olinger’s Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian
-Dr. Owen Anderson, Professor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
-Dr. Luke Johnston, Pastor, Glen Haven Church, Member-Theology Committee, EPC
-Dr. Camden Bucey, Executive Director, Reformed Forum, Historian of the OPC
-Dr. Danny Olinger, General Secretary, Christian Education, OPC
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. “Warfield’s Calling to the New Testament Chair at Allegheny Seminary”
-Dr. Brad Gundlach, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Trinity College
2:00 p.m. “1925 and All That: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and the Scopes Trial”
-Dr. Ted Davis, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Messiah University
3:00 p.m. Panel on the Secularization of Higher Education
-Dr. Paul Kemeny, Dean and Professor of Religious Studies, Grove City College
-Dr. Owen Anderson, Professor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
-Dr. James Ungureanu, Adjunct Professor, Carthage College
4:00 p.m. Panel on the PCUSA’s 1925 Special Commission
-Dr. Bradley J. Longfield, Professor of Church History, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
-Dr. Darryl G. Hart, Associate Professor of History, Hillsdale College
-Dr. John Wiers, Retired Professor, Kirkwood Community College
5:00 p.m. Session on Presbyterians and the American Revolution
-Dr. Darryl G. Hart, Associate Professor of History, Hillsdale College
-Dr. Mark Noll, McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
6:00 p.m. Dinner
7:10 p.m. 100th Anniversary Panel on the Scopes Trial
-Dr. Elesha Coffman, Professor of History, Baylor University
-Dr. Ted Davis, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Messiah University
-Dr. Deb Haarsma, Past President, BioLogos
-Dr. Brad Gundlach, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, Trinity College
-Dr. George Marsden (Via ZOOM), McAnaney Professor History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
Wednesday, October 22nd
8:00 a.m. "Perry Miller and the Works of Jonathan Edwards”
-Dr. Steve Crocco, Former Librarian, Yale Divinity School, Princeton Seminary, and Pittsburgh Seminary
-RESPONSE: Dr. Mark Valeri, Reverend Priscilla Wood Neaves Distinguished Professor of Religion and Politics, Washington University, St. Louis.
9:00 a.m. Panel Discussion on John D’Elia’s George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship
-Dr. Daniel K. Williams, Associate Professor of History, Ashland University
-Mr. John Muether, Professor of Church History, Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando
-Dr. John D’Elia, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, San Luis Obispo, CA
10:00 a.m. “Howard A. Kelly, M.D.: One of the “Hopkins 4” and an Evangelical Defender of the Faith”
-Dr. Tom Miller, Professor of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
-RESPONSE: Dr. Allison Ruark, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Wheaton College
11:00 a.m. “Arthur Perkins: Forgotten Titan of Wisconsin Presbyterianism”
-Rev. Brian DeJong, Executive Director of the Perkins Center for Midwestern Presbyterianism
11:30 a.m. “Francis Schaeffer and Science”
-Dr. Joshua Abraham, Instructor in History, Dallas College
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. “Significant Mission Shifts for American Presbyterians, with attention to Mission in Africa, c.1940s to c.2020s”
-Dr. Jack Whytock, President, Haddington House Trust, Prince Edward Island, Canada
2:00 p.m. “The Search for a Rational Faith: Christian Apologetics in Protestant America from the Puritans to the Present."
-Dr. Daniel K. Williams, Associate Professor of History, Ashland University
-RESPONSE: Dr. Paul Helseth, J. Edwin Hartill Endowed Professor of Christian Thought, University of Northwestern-St. Paul.
3:00 p.m. “The Response to and Reception of Machen’s Hope”
-Dr. Richard Burnett, Executive Director, Theology Matters, and Director of the M.A. program in Reformed Theology, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
