WHEATON, IL-Nearly a quarter of the presentations at Wheaton College’s 13th annual Theology Conference came from Canadians, prompting at least one host to utter vague murmurings about a Canadian "takeover plot.”

The conference, which interacts with viewpoints beyond those associated with evangelical Christianity, focused on "The Evangelical Doctrine of the Church.” The approach builds on the premise that evangelical Christianity has important things to learn from Christians of other affiliations.

Ellen Charry of Princeton Seminary, for example, disavowed affiliation with evangelicalism. She advocated a large-scale return to pre-Reformation belief and practice as a way to recover a healthy conception of the church. Yet this was hardly representative of the conference’s general thrust.

The marquee presenter was John Webster of Aberdeen, formerly of Wycliffe College in Toronto, who gave two masterful addresses on the church in contemporary theological discussion. Also impressive were Canadian presenters including Gary Badcock of Huron College, Craig Carter of Tyndale University College and Calvin College’s James K.A. Smith.

Jonathan Wilson of Acadia Divinity College took a practical turn with his overview of the distinctive conceptions of the Church found in four late 20th century writers: Francis Schaeffer, Chuck Colson, Rick Warren and Brian McLaren. (Plaudits were not awarded to the last two.)

It was clear throughout that evangelicals are capable of engaging in self-criticism. They were reminded that evangelicalism’s concern for the importance of individual religious experience has led to practical neglect of the church’s collective life; that premillennial dispensationalism’s pessimism about the institutional church has curtailed consideration of the church’s ongoing role, and that evangelicalism is sadly guilty of long-term neglect of the creative arts in church life.

On the other hand, evangelical representatives of historic mainline denominations admitted that the moral purity of the church has been seriously jeopardized by recent drift away from the demands the gospel lays on those who profess to be Christian.

Ken Stewart, a Canadian, is professor of Theological Studies in Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Georgia.