| Grace Evangelical Society | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | GES |
| Formation | 1986 in Dallas, Texas |
| Type | Advocacy organization |
| Purpose/focus | "The aim of GES is to promote the clear proclamation of God's free salvation through faith alone in Christ alone, which is properly correlated with and yet distinguished from issues related to discipleship." |
| Headquarters | Denton, Texas, USA |
| Region served | Worldwide |
| Executive Director | Bob Wilkin |
| Website | http://www.faithalone.org/ |
Grace Evangelical Society (GES) is an evangelical Christian advocacy organization based in Denton, Texas whose purpose is to promote Free Grace Theology. Founded in 1986, GES is a non-profit, evangelical publisher specializing in books that deal with soteriology from a free grace perspective. Ges also holds an annual conference every year at Southwestern Baptist School of Theology's Riley Center in Ft. Worth, TX. The Executive Director, Bob Wilkin, also speaks across the country at churches and regional conferences. Bob is also an author with three published books and another to be published in 2011. The ministry critiques certain ideas in evangelism and theology, especially strains of Covenant theology, Puritanism and Lordship salvation.
Contents |
GES was founded in June 1986 when dispensationalist Bob Wilkin sent out newsletters to likeminded associates regarding soteriology within conservative American churches [1] Art Farstad was the first editor of the JOTGES. Wilkin obtained a BS at the University of California at Irvine in 1973, a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1982, and a PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1985.[2] That same year, conservative Christian Publishers, Zondervan, would publish The Gospel According to Jesus by Dr. John MacArthur Jr., a work which would crystallize the influence of Lordship salvation Theology in Dispensational circles.[3] In 1994, The GES published The Epistle of James, Proven Character Through Testing by Zane Hodges, the first title in a project conceived as single book length commentary for each NT book.[4] As the representative of the GES in public debates, Dr. Wilkin has engaged Progressive Dispensationalist and former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Darrell Bock, and the Calvinist apologist, avid debater, and writer James White.
The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society (JOTGES) was first published in 1988, and is published semi-annually. JOTGES has been included in the Trinty Journal CD [5] and The Theological Journal Library CD.[6] JOTGES examines issues relating to the GES core orientation toward the Gospel.
GES has two commentary projects. The first is a long term effort in publishing verse by verse commentaries of each book in the NT (The Epistle of James: Proven Character Through Testing, Hodges, 1994. The Epistles of John: Walking in the Light of God's Love, Hodges, 1999).[7] The other is a two-volume New Testament Commentary. UPDATE: In March 2010, GES published The Grace New Testament Commentary, a 1300 page, 2 volume, hardcover commentary on the entire New Testament. The commentary contains work by thirteen contributing authors, including J. Paul Tanner, Gary Derickson, Dwight Hunt, Hal Haller, Rene Lopez, Al Valdes, the late Zane Hodges, and Bob Wilkin.