*NCU is co-owned and operated by the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (JAMU) and the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists (ACUM), both of which came out of the reorganization of the former West Indies Union Conference on November 29, 2010.

Jerusalem, Israel

Mark Kellner/Adventist Review

For the first time, members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church will be able to “attend” a weeklong International Bible Conference of the movement’s top scholars and theologians.

While the physical event takes place in Kibbutz Nof Ginosar, near Tiberias, Israel, and in Jerusalem, live Internet streaming of almost every session will allow viewers to hear discussions and major presentations.

“Our goal is to bring the International Bible Conference to the people, and the people to the conference,” said Clinton Wahlen, an associate director of the church’s Biblical Research Institute (BRI) and conference coordinator. The 2012 International Bible Conference, at which nearly 300 scholars, theologians and Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders are expected to attend, is the third such event. The first two were held in 1998 and 2006.

The theme chosen for the 2012 conference is “Issues in Biblical Anthropology from an Adventist Perspective.” A total of twelve plenary sessions are planned, some exploring the theme in connection with the ancient Near East, the Old and New Testaments, Greek philosophy and Judaism, Christian history, culture, and contemporary theology. Other plenary sessions will deal with ministry in an age of spiritualism, creation, evolution, and human nature, and death and hell in Scripture.

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