"Baptists and History" seminar in Prague

In a few days I and my family are off to Prague, Czech Republic, where I will share in the leadership of the Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy seminar on "Baptists and History" July 25-30 on the campus of the International Baptist Theological Seminary. Sponsored by Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky and Baylor University in Waco, Texas and funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, the Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy program annually convenes a select group of participants from across the academic disciplines, from Ph.D. candidates to mid-career professors along with senior scholars and other scholarly consultants, to explore a theme of relevance for the work of Baptist higher educators. This year's seminar focuses on the art of narrating the Baptist story and issues related to Baptist historiography and its theological underpinnings.

Along with David Bebbington, Professor of History at the University of Stirling in Scotland, I will serve as a scholar/consultant, in which role I will participate in the seminar discussions, deliver an evening lecture titled "The Baptist Vision and the Ecumenical Future," and offer a concluding evaluation at the end of the seminar. Biographical sketches of the seminar participants and a seminar schedule are available on the Young Scholars in the Baptist Academy web site hosted by Georgetown College, along with information regarding past seminars and past participants. Below are links to drafts of the papers to be presented by the young Baptist scholars during the seminar:

Philip Thompson, “Defining Theological Identity in Unsettled Times: The Strange Union of Dogmatics and History in Baptist Life and Thought”

Tommy Kidd, “From Dissenters to Patriots: Baptists and the American Revolution”

Jenny Howell, “Reading History with the Saints: An Examination of McClendon’s Biography as Theology”

Andrew Black, “Thank God, It (Never Should Have) Happened”: Historiography and Theology in John Howard Yoder and Herbert Butterfield”

Jordan Rowan Fannin, “Historiography as Healing: Reassembling a Narrative of Clarissa H. Danforth, Freewill Baptist Female Preacher, 1815-1822”

Jake Myers, “In Search of a Baptist Homiletic: The Legacy of John A. Broadus”

Mack Dennis, “Preaching the Sovereignty of God: How Will Campbell’s Radical Christian Witness Informs a Reconciling Homiletic”