National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion--Southeast Region 2014 Annual Meeting

As Vice President for the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion--Southeast Region, I am pleased to announce the program for our 2014 annual meeting that will convene at McAfee School of Theology on the Mercer University--Atlanta campus on Friday, March 7. Below is the program for the meeting; a map of the Mercer University--Atlanta campus is available here.

National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, Southeast

2014 Southeast Regional Meeting

Friday, March 7, 2014

McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia

8:30-9:00  Registration and Refreshments

(McAfee School of Theology Student Lounge)

9:00-9:15  Opening Session (Cecil B. Day Auditorim)

Welcome from the President—Mikael Broadway (Shaw University Divinity School)

Welcome from the Host—Alan Culpepper (McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University)

Announcement of Program—Steven Harmon (Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity)

9:15-10:00  Presidential Address: “When Jesus Says Good News”

Mikael Broadway (Shaw University Divinity School)

10:00-10:15  Responses from Membership

10:15-10:30  Break

10:30-11:15  Panel Discussion:

The Challenge of Teaching World Religions in Baptist-Related Universities

Lisa Battaglia (Samford University)

Don Berry (Gardner-Webb University)

Kathryn Muller Lopez (Campbell University)

Marc Mullinax (Mars Hill University)

11:15-11:45  Discussion by Membership

11:45-12:00  Business Meeting

12:00  Adjournment for Lunch

Divine Immanence in Christian Philosophical Theology seminar

This weekend I'm headed to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where on March 1 I'm presenting guest lectures for an Analytic Theology Cluster Group seminar on "Divine Immanence in Christian Philosophical Theology." The cluster group involves students and faculty from the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond and Regent University, led by Elizabeth Newman, the Eula Mae and John Baugh Professor of Ethics at BTSR, and T. Ryan Byerly, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministry in the area of Philosophy at Regent. My lectures are titled "Natures and Narratives: Patristic Accounts of Divine Immanence in the Incarnation" and "Natures vs. Narratives: Suffering as a Test Case for Accounts of Divine Immanence in the Incarnation." My lectures will focus on the incarnation of God in Christ as an instance of special/local divine immanence; they will be paired with lectures by Alexander R. Pruss, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, who will give attention to the Eucharist as an instance of special/local divine immanence. (The cluster group seminar will also meet on April 5 in Richmond, with guest lectures by David Schindler, the Edouard Cardinal Gagnon Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family of The Catholic University of America, and Katherin Rogers, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Delaware.)

This cluster group seminar is funded by a grant from the Analytic Theology Project of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame. The Analytic Theology Project is in turn funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

Baptists and Catholics together--Twitter edition

(The following post was originally published by the Associated Baptist Press/Religious Herald ABPnews Blog]

What do Baptists and Catholics have in common?

That sounds like the set-up for a joke of some sort–or at least for a very brief response, given the anti-Catholicism that has marked much of the Baptist tradition (even when we were defining ourselves over against the Church of England).

When the Baptist World Alliance and the Catholic Church engaged in a series of international conversations from 1984 through 1988 to see what they might be able to say together, the two communions were actually able to say a great deal about their agreement on “God’s saving revelation in Jesus Christ, the necessity of personal commitment to God in Christ, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, and the missionary imperative that emerges from God’s redemptive activity on behalf of humankind,” as paragraph 2 of the 17-page report “Summons to Witness to Christ in Today’s World” summarized the matters on which Baptists and Catholics were able to say something together about our common commitment to the good news of our testimony that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

That report also identified deep differences evident in those conversations that warranted continued exploration: theological authority and method; the shape of ecclesial koinonia; the relationship between faith, baptism, and Christian witness; and the place of Mary in faith and practice.

When I served as a member of the Baptist delegation to a second series of conversations between the BWA and the Catholic Church from 2006 through 2010, we directly addressed those ongoing differences. The result was a nearly 100-page report, “The Word of God in the Life of the Church,”  published last summer and presented at the annual gathering of the BWA in Jamaica that July. The document is not a description of our differences. It is rather a statement of our surprisingly substantial consensus on the church’s participation in the koinonia of the Triune God, the authority of Christ in Scripture and tradition, baptism and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper, Mary as a model of discipleship, and the ministry of oversight (episkope) and unity in the life of the church.

We presented these agreements as a “differentiated consensus”: paragraphs set in bold type expressed our basic consensus, followed by paragraphs set in regular type that offered commentary on the nature of that consensus and/or identified the ways in which there are remaining differences in how each communion understands and embodies what Baptists and Catholics have been able to say together.

Having said these things together, Baptists and Catholics now have the responsibility of “reception” of the report. In a “Glossary of Key Ecumenical Terms” in my book Ecumenism Means You, Too: Ordinary Christians and the Quest for Christian Unity, I offered the following definition of that task:

Reception—The process by which worldwide communions, national churches and denominations, local parishes and congregations, and individual Christians become informed about, consider, and act upon the proposals and agreements that result from bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogue.

 

When the “The Word of God in the Life of the Church” went online last October, I launched an experiment in utilizing social media to encourage reception of the report. Beginning on October 11, I began posting a semi-daily “tweet” from my Twitter account summarizing in 140 characters or less a statement of agreement from the bold-type consensus paragraphs of the report (actually a good bit less than 140 characters, as the inclusion of the hashtag #BaptistsCatholics and the condensed URL link to the report left only 89 characters for summary and paragraph number reference). Since Facebook status updates don’t have the 140-character restriction, I posted a parallel series of Facebook updates with the full consensus statements from which the tweets were abridged.

I posted the final #BaptistsCatholics tweet on January 3 of this year. Here’s the tweet-by-tweet “Twitter edition” of the bold-type consensus paragraphs from “The Word of God in the Life of the Church,” sans hashtags and URLs:

7. The one God exists from eternity in a life of relationship–a koinonia of persons

7. Jesus Christ, God’s self-revelation, draws us into communion with God & each other

7. The Word of God in the church in the fullest sense is Christ himself

11. The church is a koinonia (fellowship) grounded in the koinonia of the triune God

11. Believers are joined in koinonia through participation in communion of Triune God

11. Believers also in koinonia through participation in community gathered by Christ

11. “Communion ecclesiology” expresses the heart of the nature of the church

12. Principle of koinonia applies both to local church & to gatherings of congregations

12. Local church does not derive from universal church, nor is universal a mere sum of local forms

12. There is mutual existence & coinherence between local and universal church of Christ

16. The koinonia of the church may also be understood as a ‘covenant community’

16. Covenant is God’s initiating relationship with us & our commitment to each other & God

16. Church is gift in being gathered by Christ, & gathers in response to call of Christ

16. Koinonia of church is both gift & calling, as unity of church is both gift and task

20. Communion with triune God & whole church is continually actualized in Eucharist/Supper

20. In Euch we share communion not only w/ congregation but whole church in time & space

20. Because we hear word of God in eucharist, it is a sharing in both word and sacrament

23. Local churches must be in visible communion w/ each other, or communion lacks fullness

26. Local churches have communion w/ each other to hear Word of God & find mind of Christ

37. The Bible is the divinely-authorized written norm for faith and practice

37. The normativity of Scripture is principally located in the worship of the church

37. The Bible was canonized by and for the worshipping community

37. Bible supplies narrative content of acts of worship that recall/represent acts of God

37. Scripture is the source of story of the triune God in which worshippers participate

41/42. God is the author of Sacred Scripture…through human instrumentality

46. OT and NT together form coherent story that requires a Christ-centred interpretation

56. Bible is written embodiment of living tradition handed down through work of H. Spirit

56. The source of this process of transmission is the living Word of God, Jesus Christ

58. Scripture & tradition coinherent–mutual indwelling & interweaving of 1 in the other

58. Scripture and tradition should not be considered as separate and unrelated sources

58. Scripture & tradition = 2 streams flowing together from same source: God’s revelation

63. Apostolic tradition distinguished from merely ecclesiastical trad; apostolic normative

73. Sacraments/ordinances = signs through which God acts, visible signs of invisible grace

77. Sacrament and ordinance express both God’s gift of love & faith-filled human response

77. Sacrament/ordinance becomes intersection between divine commitment & human commitment

79. Christ central to meaning of sacraments/ordinances & their relationship to the church

81. There is a coinherence between sacraments/ordinances and preaching of the Word of God

83. Baptism and the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper are central to the life of the church

85. Sacraments/ordinances are encounters w/ Christ that transform worshipers by the Spirit

85. No experience of salvation is fully whole without entrance of the believer into church

85. There can be no experience of grace apart from faith

91. Rel. of faith & sacrament/ordinance involves faith of individual believer & community

93. We baptize in obedience to Christ’s command ‘Go therefore..baptizing them’ Mt 28:19-20

93. Baptism has its foundation & meaning in the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology

93. Through baptism we are brought more deeply into the communion of the triune God

93. Through baptism…we [also] share in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ

97. Faith is always necessary for baptism

101. Initiation into Christ & his church is a process wider than the act of baptism itself

101. Can recognize different forms of initiation as an entire journey of faith and grace

107. Baptism is with water, in name of Father & Son & Holy Spirit, & a once-for-all event

109. In baptism we are united with other believers in the church of Christ (1 Cor 12:13)

113. Baptism signifies forgiveness of sins and new birth

116. Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is essential to the church & celebrated in obedience to Jesus

119. The Bible must play a formative role in the liturgy of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

121. There is a trinitarian pattern in the order of worship of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

125. Christ is really present to his disciples in celebration of Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

130. There is a strongly ethical & eschatological dimension to the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper

133. Mary has significant place in NT–witness to Christ, mother of Savior, called blessed

133. Beliefs about Mary should be rooted in, warranted by, & not contradicted by Scripture

135. Mary belongs to the Jewish people….Mary may be called ‘Daughter of Israel’

137. A number of Old Testament passages may be interpreted as referring to Mary

139. The Gospels present Mary as ‘hearer of the Word’–a disciple who heard, obeyed Word

140. Jesus conceived by Spirit, born of Virgin Mary–sign of divine origin & true humanity

143. Mary is properly named the Theotokos or ‘God-bearer’–safeguards identity of Christ

146. Mary has a special calling in plan of salvation, but also redeemed by Christ by grace

150. Mary is a model of discipleship in faithful listening and obedience to God’s Word

154. Mary is not only a member, but also representative figure, of the church of Christ

156. The church prays with Mary and learns to pray like Mary in the communion of saints

159. The representations of Mary in particular cultures are subject to the gospel as norm

162. Christ is the head of the church, her founder, creator and cornerstone

162. The church owes her whole existence to Christ, who is her ‘episkopos’ (1 Pet 2:25)

162. Christ nourishes/sustains church with Gospel & celebration of sacraments/ordinances

165. Episkope (oversight) is Christ’s gift to church to enable ministry of people of God

165. Christ calls whole people of God to share in his ministry as prophet, priest & king

165. The episkope of some is a gift of Christ to enable & equip body of Christ as a whole

168. Our differing patterns of episkope seek to be faithful to Scripture & apostolic trad

173. Episkope is exercised in personal, collegial and communal ways in the church

176. Episkope primarily exercised in local church, but always in communion w/ wider church

179. Personal episkope is established by Christ for the good of the church

182. One principal purpose of the ministry of episkope is the promotion of Christian unity

184. Jesus’ prayer for unity (=both spiritual&visible) sets out vocation of all Christians

186. The unity of the church reflects its apostolicity, expressed both by faith & ministry

186. Ministry is apostolic if it hands on apostolic faith & fulfills missionary mandate

200. Past failures of both Baptists & Catholics must be addressed with due repentance & appropriate action

The report itself says those things much more fully and with all the necessary qualifications and distinctions. I hope this radical abridgement of the essential Baptist-Catholic consensus expressed in “The Word of God in the Life of the Church” will pique the interest of ABPnews Blog readers enough to encourage further reception of the report—which is not necessarily agreement with its take on Baptist-Catholic consensus, but “the process by which worldwide communions, national churches and denominations, local parishes and congregations, and individual Christians become informed about, consider, and act upon the proposals and agreements that result from bilateral and multilateral ecumenical dialogue.”

That sort of reception starts with reading—even if it’s only 140 characters (or less) at a time.

"Baptists and Catholics together--Twitter edition" on ABPnews Blog

My post "Baptist and Catholics together--Twitter edition" appears today on the ABPnews Blog published by ABPnews/Herald. I'll post the full text here at Ecclesial Theology in a few days; meanwhile here's a snippet from the beginning of the post:

What do Baptists and Catholics have in common?

That sounds like the set-up for a joke of some sort–or at least for a very brief response, given the anti-Catholicism that has marked much of the Baptist tradition (even when we were defining ourselves over against the Church of England).... (read the full post at ABPnews Blog)

U2, "Invisible," and theological anthropology

Beth Maynard over at the U2 Sermons blog has kindly referenced my observations--originally aired as a Facebook status update--on the theological import of the line "a body in a soul" in the newly-released U2 song "Invisible." (The post also mentions Ecclesial Theology blog and my book Ecumenism Means You, Too, which draws illustrative material from the music of U2.) Read the U2 Sermons post here. The song debuted as an iTunes download on February 2; a provisional transcription of the lyrics appears on the atu2.com fan site.

Ecumenical Review on The Church: Towards a Common Vision

The current issue of The Ecumenical Review, a quarterly journal published by the World Council of Churches, is a thematic issue devoted to articles offering commentary on the landmark convergence text The Church: Towards a Common Vision (Faith and Order Paper No. 214), which was presented at the 10th Assembly of the WCC in Busan, South Korea this past fall and commended to the churches for study and response. The World Council of Churches web site has posted a release with information about the issue.

Devotional reflection for December 9, Second Week of Advent

Each year Gardner-Webb University publishes an Advent Devotional Book as an aid to personal devotion during this season in the Christian year, with brief devotional reflections for each day of the season written by faculty, staff, students, and alumni. The text of my contribution for today, December 9, appears below; the entirety of the 2013 Advent Devotional Book is also available online in PDF.

December 9 (Nahum 1:15; James 3:18)

On his very first Christmas, we began reading with our son Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz. Besides demonstrating the wonderfully varied ways children around the world say “peace” in their own languages, the book declares that “all around the world today, children will wish for peace, hope for peace, and ask for peace.” The children—and adults—of the world share a hope for peace because all people are created in the image of the God whose hope for the world is peace.  We also share a hope for peace because the world currently lacks the peace for which God created the world and toward which God is moving the world.

It’s appropriate that the first week of Advent’s focus on hope is followed by the second week’s focus on peace, for “peace” sums up in a word the biblical vision of the world for which God and people hope. Today’s text from Nahum is a call to envision this future peace: “Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace!” (1:15). The whole book of Nahum is a contrast of two stories with different end-pictures: the story of violence that underwrites the present evil order of things, epitomized by Nineveh, city of the violent Assyrian empire, which ends in “devastation, destruction, and desolation” (2:10), and the radically other story of God’s goal of peace for all creation, epitomized by Jerusalem, city of those who seek the peace of God’s reign. Today’s text from James makes the same contrast, for the antidote to the diabolical wisdom of the world that leads to conflict is the heavenly wisdom that leads to “a harvest of righteousness…sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:18).

As we join God in wishing, hoping, and asking for peace this Advent, let us also join God in working for the peace for which we hope. Such pictures of the end, suggested the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, are “enough to make me change my whole life” (Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology, and Religious Belief, ed. Cyril Barrett [University of California Press, 1967], p. 57). Nahum tells us how to change our lives in light of this end: “Celebrate your festivals”—in other words, worship and in so doing be transformed by and become participants in the story of the peace of God’s reign, and “fulfill your vows”—in other words, live out the practice of peacemaking mentioned by James that we take on in our covenantal vows to live as the people of God, joining God in what God is doing to move the world toward its end of peace.

We won’t have to look very hard to find where God is working for peace. Wherever there is war, violence, division, and interpersonal conflict—in short, wherever there is broken relationship—God is already at work to realize the divine hope of peaceful community. Let us be open to opportunities to join in during this Advent season.

(Download the complete 2013 Gardner-Webb University Advent Devotional Book)

Georgian Baptist-Orthodox dialogue text published

The International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church has published "A dialogue between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia (1979–1980) with its wider Baptist context" by Paul S. Fiddes and Malkhaz Songulashvili, to which is appended the full agreed text from the dialogue (published in full and in English translation for the first time). The abstract of the article appears below:

In 1979–80 conversations were held between representatives of the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia in a situation of oppression by the Communist state. The agreed document that emerged from this dialogue is printed here, and is preceded by an article which expounds it from a Baptist perspective, sets it in the wider context of Baptist theological and ecumenical theology, and relates it to the practices of the present-day Baptist Church of Georgia. The stated purpose of the dialogue was to achieve reconciliation and unity between Orthodox and Baptist Christians in Georgia, first by agreeing substantial matters of doctrine and then by adopting a common liturgy and common sacramental life. Among the range of subjects reviewed, including the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, nationalism, confession and icons, the discussion on baptism is perhaps the most adventurous, and remains promising though flawed. The document does not represent the views of the present-day Orthodox Church of Georgia, and its contents clearly reflect the political pressures under which it was composed. However, it is of historical interest, and some will see it as a sign of hope for co-operation in the mission of God.

The full text of this article is published online by Taylor & Francis, the journal's publisher, in advance of its print publication as part of a rapid online publication program explained as follows: "For most journals, accepted articles are copy-edited and typeset and appear in a 'Latest articles' list on the journal's webpage. This counts as formal publication.  They are identical to the print edition in every way except that they lack page spans. They may be formally cited using their DOI and year of publication. These 'Latest articles' are later assigned to a particular issue of the journal, and given page numbers." Thus the time during which the article is available in this fashion may be limited; it is possible that at some point after being assigned to a specific print issue that article may only be downloaded through libraries that have electronic access subscriptions to Taylor & Francis journals. In the meantime, readers of Ecclesial Theology may try to access the article by clicking on the hyperlinked title above.

Global Baptist leader addresses World Council of Churches in unity plenary (VIDEO)

A previous post reported on Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam's address to the World Council of Churches in a plenary session on unity during the Tenth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea on November 5. Here is a video recording of the unity plenary (unfortunately audio and video are not fully synchronized); Callam begins speaking at 48:40 (click on this hyperlink to watch in a separate window on YouTube at the point that begins Callam's address). Callam's address is a grateful celebration of the progress that has been made toward full visible unity, an honest lament of the churches' failures in seeking this unity and incisive identification of contemporary impediments to the quest for visible Christian unity, and a stirring challenge to the churches to live into Jesus' prayer that his followers might be one in a way that the world can see, that the world might become unified under the Lordship of Christ.

I hope readers of Ecclesial Theology will listen to Callam's address and the other addresses in the unity plenary in their entirety. Below is a transcription of a portion of the "lament" portion of Callam's remarks:

We have reason to lament the painful divisions that still remain. We are the body of Christ, and we should reflect the koinonia inspired by the vision of the perfect unity existing in the Godhead. We are not what we should be. We lament persistence in cherishing our peculiarities and in failing to draw sufficiently from the from the well of divine provision that is able to quench our thirst for unity in the truth. We lament our inclination to seek in other expressions of the church a replica of the church to which we belong. We have not been content to seek in other churches, as much as in our own, signs of the one church of our Lord Jesus, nor have we been sufficiently vigorous in giving expression to the depth of communion in faith that already exists.

[Another previous post reproduces a BWA press release summarizing Callam's address and reporting on participation in the assembly by at least 77 Baptists from 24 countries.]

Baptist participation in World Council of Churches 10th Assembly

Today (November 8) the Baptist World Alliance issued the following press release regarding the noteworthy degree of Baptist participation in the Tenth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan, South Korea October 30-November 8:

BWA leader appeals for church unity

Washington, DC (BWA)--Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Neville Callam said the unity of the church, wherever and whenever it exists, should be celebrated.

 

Callam, who was speaking during the 10th assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, South Korea, lauded the work of the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC to aid the church in its quest for visible unity. The commission has published such ground breaking documents as Baptism Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), which came about through extensive theological engagement in the Christian ecumenical community. He argued for detailed study of the most recent Faith and Order documents, The Church: Towards a Common Vision and Baptism: Towards Mutual Recognition.

 

Callam also took note of bilateral theological dialogues that have taken place between various Christian traditions. These, he said, have resulted in an "increase in understanding" and have "facilitated responsible rapprochement between Christian communions."

 

Despite these and other signs of progress, Callam acknowledged that disunity is a stain on the church's life and witness. There is "persistence in cherishing our peculiarities" and an unwillingness to see "signs of the one church of our Lord Jesus" in other churches other than one's own. Callam asserted that the church has failed to "reflect the unity for which our Lord prayed in John 17."

 

Such disunity has "compromised our faithfulness in mission;" has led to a failure to confront social and other injustices such as racism, poverty, exploitation and disease; has resulted in self-centeredness that leads to the degradation of creation; and has caused a failure to "respect peoples of other faiths who are all creatures of the one God and inhabitants of a shared planet."

 

The appropriate response to Christian disunity, the BWA leader claimed, is "to repent of the sin of our divisions, to petition God's forgiveness and to pray for the joy of full communion."

 

Callam called the assembly's attention to serious challenges that compromise the mission of the church because of disunity. These include conflicting positions on moral issues, which pose difficulty for the unity of the church. "Churches are actually participating in the entrenchment of divisions in society by offering disparate teaching on issues that profoundly affect people's lives. The current situation is intolerable."

 

The solution, Callam asserted, is for the church "to commit, with greater urgency, to the search for convergence around the sources of authority in the church, and on how to interpret responsibly the sources we regard as authoritative."

 

Callam urged the Faith and Order Commission to provide additional resources, in a variety of media formats, to aid persons involved in assisting the church's quest for unity, especially at the international level.

 

At least 77 Baptists from 24 countries, including BWA President John Upton, attended the WCC meetings, held October 30 to November 8 in Busan, South Korea's second largest metropolis after capital city Seoul. The assembly, normally held every seven years, elected a 150-member Central Committee that includes eight Baptists. The Central Committee serves as the chief governing body of the WCC until the next assembly. It meets every 12 to 18 months and is responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the assembly, reviewing and supervising WCC programs and for adopting the budget.

 

Four BWA General Council members were elected to the WCC Central Committee - Samson Ayokunle from Nigeria, Yam Kho Pau from Myanmar, Karl Johnson from Jamaica and Carroll Baltimore of the United States. Other Baptist Central Committee members are Marceline Mbingasani Maluavanga from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joyanta Adhikari from Bangladesh, and June Totten and Angelique Walker-Smith from the US.

Note: This is an experiment in posting via iPhone using the Blogger app. Please pardon any resulting formatting oddities.