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Vol. 6 No. 5
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The Jesse Mercer Plaza
Mercer University, Macon Campus |
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Produced by The Center for Baptist
Studies, Mercer University
A Monthly EMagazine, Bridging Baptists
Yesterday and Today
Please Note: This Publication is best viewed using the Microsoft
Internet Explorer browser.
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Visit The Center for Baptist
Studies' Web Site at www.centerforbaptiststudies.org
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Table of
Contents
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I Believe . . .
: Walter B. Shurden
"En
Route With My Teachers"
The Baptist Soapbox: Roy Medley
"Why
I am Excited About the Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant"
Baptists and Creation Care: Robert U. Ferguson
"Has Anyone Seen Noah?"
Baptists and Public Policy:
Melissa Rogers
"Policy
Engagement That Respects Democracy, Religious Liberty and Religion"
The World's Greatest Baptist Preachers:
B. M. Sudheer
"Purushottam Chowdhari: India's Greatest
Baptist Preacher"
In Response To . . .
: Bruce T. Gourley
"The
Death of Jerry Falwell"
Dates to Note
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THE MERCER PREACHING
CONSULTATION 2007
23-25 September 2007
The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort
St.
Simons
Island,
GA
Featuring Barbara Brown Taylor
Click here for more information and registration. |
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I
Believe |
"En Route with My Teacher"
By Walter B. Shurden
 I believe . . .
that New Testament scholar Eduard Schweizer
(d.2006) set a model for each of us in the last chapter of his 1987 book,
Jesus Christ: The Man from Nazareth and the Exalted Lord. He entitled that
marvelous autobiographical chapter, “En Route with My Teachers.” Schweizer had
an incomparable tale to tell. He studied with Rudolf Bultmann, Gottlob Schrenk,
Emil Brunner, Rudolf Otto, and Karl Barth! He studied during the time of the
German Church Struggle. What people with whom to study and what a time to
study with them!
During this graduation
season, you and I would do well to thumb back through the pages of our own
histories and place a yellow sticker by the pictures of those
teachers―grammar school, middle school, high school, college, and graduate
school―who profoundly formed and shaped our lives. Phone calls, post cards,
and emails would be in order for the season. Let them know that they made a
difference.
Nell Thomas, a high
school English teacher, acted as though she believed in me when she had no
reason to do so.
Rex Ray Pierce, a
sociology professor at Mississippi College, took a can opener to my parochial
soul and gently stretched it almost to the breaking point.
Howard Spell, my
college dean, surprised my sophomore mind with the truth that the Bible had a
context.
Frank Stagg, my New
Testament prof at seminary made a lasting impact on how I have read and
interpreted the Bible. I can happily say of him what Schweizer said of
Bultmann: [Stagg’s] very critical mind interpreted the text in as scholarly a
way as any of his colleagues might have been able to do. But he interpreted it
so that its meaning for human existence became clear” (58). He was listed in
the New Testament department, but Stagg wrote books on biblical ethics: race,
the role of women, aging. He always came down in the middle of life with his
Greek New Testament.
Sadly, I have heard
a number of seminary graduates bemoan the boredom of their theology classes.
They obviously never studied with Bob Soileau (pronounced Swallow). His
passion so lit up the room that I have never understood a calm and cavalier
approach to the subject.
Morgan Patterson
brought me to church history; William A. Mueller showed me how large an ocean
it was; Claude L. Howe’s seminars in Baptist history have been models for my
teaching throughout my career. These three Baptist scholars gave me something
to do with my life.
You need to know
one other fact about Eduard Schweizer. He studied with all the greats, but it
was a “young chaplain,” unnamed by Schweizer, who launched him into the
ministry and the life of faith. “We experienced in him the reality of a life
with God,” said Schweizer. “If I had not been able to tell him many years
later that this time had been, among other experiences, decisive for my
decision to become a minister of the church, he might never have known the
significant impact of the witness of his life during those difficult days”
(58). Teachers come in all stripes, don’t they?
Let us give
thanks for teachers.
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Baptist
Soapbox
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The Baptist Soapbox: Invited guests
speak up and out on things Baptist (therefore, the views expressed in this
space are not necessarily those of The Baptist Studies Bulletin, though
sometimes they are).
Climbing upon the Soapbox this month is Roy Medley,
Executive Director of the American Baptist Churches - USA.
"Why
I am Excited About the Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant"
By Roy Medley
The North American Baptist Covenant is an exciting
step forward in pan-Baptist cooperation in North America. As such, it is one
more way in which Baptists of North America are cooperating in common mission,
common ministry, and common witness.
Such cooperation
will only serve to strengthen our witness for Christ throughout the world.
One clear example
of how our growing cooperation is enhancing our mission is in Baton Rouge.
Just days after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding
parishes, the executive committee of our General Board, our national executive
directors, and I were meeting in Atlanta. Sometime before, we had invited
Daniel Vestal and the staff of CBF to meet with us during that time. As we
sat around the table, the question we posed to one another was, “What are you
doing in response to Katrina?”
That initial
dialogue opened a fruitful joint relief effort in Louisiana that grew to
include not only ABC and CBF but also the Progressive National Baptist
Convention, and BWAid. As a result we tied together the congregational
networks of all three bodies plus resources contributed to CBF by Canadian
Baptist Ministries to establish work that focused on Baton Rouge and the
tremendous number of evacuees who had fled there. Our initial efforts focused
on supporting the many local churches which were housing evacuees in their
fellowship halls, gyms and private homes. The work soon expanded to include
reunification of separated families, job search assistance, housing
renovation, and help with accessing emergency funding through FEMA. In its
final stage it has grown to include a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to
build 14 houses in Baton Rouge by the summer of 2007.
None of us by
ourselves had what it would take to make the impact we have made together.
Each of us had particular expertise, resources, staff, and networks of
volunteers to contribute that enabled us to multiply our effectiveness.
In a similar
fashion the North American Baptist Fellowship (a regional group of the BWA) is
showing great promise as a platform to learn about each other, network our
resources, and address common challenges and goals. How refreshing it is to
be in an atmosphere where Baptists of different stripes are genuinely seeking
greater relationship, not less.
The North American
Baptist Covenant is now a third opportunity for collaboration. It commits us
to a sharper focus as Baptists on matters which call for a voice rooted in our
rich heritage. In this covenant the leaders of 14 different Baptist
organizations pledged ourselves to “promote peace with justice, to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the
marginalized, welcome the strangers among us, and promote religious liberty
and respect for religious diversity.” The first are gospel imperatives and
the latter two are of the essence of Baptist theology regarding the nature of
humanity as created by God and respect for conscience in matters of faith.
Recent visits to
Lebanon and the Republic of Georgia have only reinforced in my mind the
critical contribution Baptists can make to world peace if we will be bold
enough to be in the forefront of promoting religious liberty and respect for
religious diversity.
We can never
relinquish our joy and our responsibility to share the gospel of Christ. At
the same time we must never relinquish our commitment to respect the rights of
those of other faiths and our responsibility with them to create societies
where all can live in peace and security. In a world that is ever shrinking
and where no effective wall can be erected against the diversity such greater
interrelationships create, chances for world peace can be enhanced as Baptists
regain their prophetic voice and their teaching role for religious liberty and
mutual respect.
I welcome this
opportunity for greater collaboration and public presence.
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Creation
Care |
Baptists and Creation
Care:
This series focuses on Baptist responses to
environmental issues. Robert U. Ferguson is pastor of Emerywood Baptist
Church in High Point, North Carolina. The following article is an
extract of a sermon.
"Has Anyone
Seen Noah?"
By Robert U. Ferguson
The images permeate
the news channels over and over again: polar icecaps falling off into the
ocean; floods ravaging coastal areas as oceanic levels increase; mega-storms
such as Hurricane Katrina lashing our coastal cities with rain and
unbelievable damage. This sounds like a remake of an old and familiar
story, Noah II. If you have been anywhere but lost on a deserted island
then you have heard the reports of global warming and its potential effect
upon this planet we so delicately share. These studies portend a
catastrophic future that reverberates fear throughout our human psyche,
portending all manner of natural evil from the flood account in Genesis to
the end of all time as foreshadowed in the book of Revelation.
If these
predictions are accurate – and they are compiled from research by persons
dedicated to accuracy – we are in for rollercoaster climate shifts. Due to
global warming – a direct result of the dramatic increase in manmade
greenhouse gases – our planet is in for some drastic change. From the data
I have seen forecasters are predicting:
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Fewer cold days;
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Hotter nights;
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Killer heat waves;
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Floods and heavy rains;
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Devastating droughts;
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A dramatic increase in hurricane and tropical storm strength;
By the year 2100 the median temperature is expected to rise anywhere from 2
to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the sea levels anywhere from 7 to 23 inches, and
an additional 3.9 to 7.8 inches is possible if the surprising melting of the
polar ice sheets continues.
The real life
scenarios are much scarier than the numbers. Low lying islands and coastal
plains will be flooded by rising sea levels, particularly if the rise is
toward the larger end of the projected spectrum. Hurricanes such as Katrina
of 2005 will be much more normative – and the economic and human life costs
will skyrocket. Those in poorer countries such as Bangladesh and living in
coastal areas will be particularly vulnerable to catastrophic disaster. To
top it all off, then we hear the verdict that no matter what we do, we
cannot change what will happen in this, the 21st century. All we
can do is adapt to a “warmer and more volatile climate” and make
changes so that the 22nd century will not be that much worse. [1]
As a resident of
this planet I stop and ask, “Is this for real?” Have we really
caused this much damage to the planet or is this fear-mongering by those who
wish to change the very nature of our lifestyle? Regularly we hear voices
proclaiming that we really do not know what is causing this, that we need
more data than we have, and that this is overreaction of the worst sort.
Yet, those protest voices are engulfed by a resounding litany of doom:
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Who knows what will
happen as a result of these climate changes? I trust the scientists in
measuring what they measure, but predicting the meteorological future is an
iffy proposition at best. The hypotheses appear to be as factual as
possible – what is the unknown is due to the paucity of evidence. We need
hundreds of thousands of years of data to make accurate decisions and
projections.
What I do know is that as
a Christian, as one who has proclaimed faith in and allegiance to Jesus
Christ, I am charged with stewardship of the earth’s resources. Genesis 1:
26-28 puts it like this:
“Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our
likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God
created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living
thing that moves upon the earth.”
As a Christian I believe that this passage puts the responsibility of
stewardship of the earth and its resources upon human beings. We are
empowered to use, but not abuse, to develop but not destroy this earth. We
see the earth as sacred, not as “Mother Earth” but as being created
by Holy God who imparts holiness to all of creation. Seeing her as holy
does not mean that we worship creation – we worship the Creator, not the
creature. However, it does mean that we revere, value, and use creation
wisely as those who have been empowered for and entrusted with her
safekeeping. Creation is not disposable for it bears the imprimatur of
Yahweh, and that which comes from his hand is holy indeed.
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More About Creation Care: David Gushee
discusses "Why
Some Evangelicals Decide to Forgo Creation Care" |
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Baptists and Public Policy |
Baptists and Public Policy:
Some Baptist groups, including the Alliance of
Baptists, Baptist Center for Ethics, Baptist Joint Committee on Religious
Liberty (BJCRL), and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, have long
been engaged in policy work. This series is designed to spark conversations
among a wider circle of Baptists who are now considering engaging in this kind
of activity. Melissa Rogers is visiting professor of religion and public
policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School, previously serving as
executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and as general
counsel to the BJCRL.
"Policy Engagement That
Respects Democracy, Religious Liberty and Religion"
By Melissa
Rogers
In this series, I
have argued that more Baptists should be vocal on public policy issues.
Here are a few suggestions for ensuring that our policy engagement respects
democracy, religious liberty, and the integrity of our faith.
When religious groups and
individuals speak out on policy issues, we must remember that we speak as
citizens who have equal, not better, rights than others. We have the right to
participate in the policy process, but we have no right to dominate it.
Further, to protect religious
liberty, we should oppose governmental promotion or endorsement of religious
symbols and scriptures as well as state subsidies for religious activities.
As Professor Jim Spivey
has said, Jesus “thoroughly opposed the use of magisterial power to build
his kingdom.” So should we.
Do we violate constitutional
principles if we become involved in policy debate at least partially because
we are inspired by our faith?
No. Remember that the focus here is on whether the government has a
predominantly secular purpose for its action, not on the various
motivations of individual legislators and certainly not on the motivations
of non-governmental groups and private individuals.
Let me use a hypothetical
example to explain. A religious group may
advocate policies to combat global climate change because it believes it is
our mandate to care for God’s creation and to do everything possible to spare
humanity, especially the least of these, from the catastrophes that would
result if climate change continues unaddressed.
Some legislators may share these motivations. When laws are passed in this
area, however, it is clear that the predominant purposes are broadly
humanitarian, averting natural disasters as well as guarding against the civil
strife, and even national-security oriented―preventing
terrorism that could result if critical natural resources become scarce. This
kind of legislation would thus have a permissible purpose, and the religious
motivations that were part of the mix would not make it otherwise.
Having said that, my view is
that religious activists should only back policies that benefit the common
good―the interests of people of all faiths
and none. When we advocate for particular policies, I believe we should make
that case.
How do we protect the integrity
of our faith in this process? By practicing humility and respecting the right
of fellow Christians to differ from us, among other things. As Barbara Jordan
said, we must always remember that we are “God’s servants,” not His
“spokespeople.”
We also should ally ourselves
with the truth as we understand it, rather than with any partisan political
machine. And we should deal honestly with arguments on the other side,
including scientific and other data that challenges our point of view.
Finally, we must remember that
policy has its limits. I
have argued that the biblical cause of
justice beckons us to confront and challenge certain oppressive structural
elements of our system. Sometimes we have the opportunity to right
significant wrongs through policy solutions. But it is also true that policy
cannot change people’s hearts and that an over-attachment to the policy realm
can distract us from our spiritual calling. Policy activism should never
detract from worship, discipleship, and direct ministry.
In the next (and final)
installment of this series, I will offer a few suggestions for moving this
conversation forward.
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Greatest
Baptist
Preachers
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The World's
Greatest Baptist Preachers:
This special biographical series reaches around
the globe in search of the greatest Baptist preachers. Here you will
meet preachers who have had a tremendous impact upon their respective
continents. This month's contributor is Rev. B. M. Sudheer, Indian
Baptist pastor.
"Purushottam
Chowdhari:
India's Greatest Baptist
Preacher"
By
B. M. Sudheer
On September 5, 1803 in a village called Madanpur in the
Ganjam District of West Bengal a child was born to Kurmanatha and Subhadhra
Chowdhari. They called their son Purushottam which means “good man.” Born into
this Hindu family Purushottam became a sincere devotee of the Hindu deity Lord
Vishnu. As a young man he joined a Hindu religious order.
His brother, Jagannadha
Chowdhari, sent him a religious tract in 1825 that had been written by William
Carey of Serampore. The message in this tract caused Purushottam to question
his Hindu beliefs and practices. He sought to know the Jesus Christ and became
a person of Christian faith. Three Christians led him deeper in the faith:
Helen Knott, General Adjutant Evalin and Major Brett. By 1833 he was ready to
declare his faith openly. On June 10 of that year he removed the “Jandam,” the
sacred thread worn by the three upper castes of Hinduism: Brahmins, Kshatriyas
and Vaishyas. The Rev. Charles Lacy baptized Purushottam on October 6, 1833.
For three months he
served as assistant missionary under Major Brett at Madras. He made numerous
trips to Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to preach the Word of God and to distribute
Christian literature. Much of this literature he wrote himself. He often
preached on the theme: “As a Blind Man Cannot Lead Another Blind Man, So Also
the Sinful Deities Cannot Save Sinners.”
Impressed by his sincere
work in ministry the Baptist missionaries ordained Purushottam on Sunday April
24, 1835 at the conclusion of the Baptist conference in Cuttack. He was then
sent to work with the Telugu people as an assistant to the Rev. Samuel Day, a
missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. He was first
appointed an evangelist and then later he became a pastor at the church in
Berhampur, Orissa which had been founded by the Rev. Isaac Stubbins in 1838.
In Orissa God blessed Purushottam and his wife with two sons and three
daughters.
Purushottam Chowdhari was
a preacher, evangelist and pastor. He also became an eminent poet and writer.
He composed one hundred and thirty hymns. He authored many books and pamphlets
in which he used creative images, analogies and illustrations to expound the
teachings of Jesus Christ his Lord. His writings sprang from his personal
experience and seemed always spontaneous and natural. Beginning in 1844
Purushottam went through a few dark years. He devoted himself to prayer and
penitence until he felt the forgiveness of God. His confessional hymns written
in this period are widely sung in churches, especially at the time of Holy
Communion.
From 1833 until his death
in 1890 at the age of 87, this servant of God served and evangelized places
spread through three states of India. He was buried in Cuttack in the presence
of two thousand people. The Rev. T. Baily, a missionary of Utkal Baptist
Mission, wrote, “His death was that of the righteous, and his memory is
fragrant and precious to all who knew him.”
One can find much more
about the life of Purushottam Chowdhari in writings of the Rev. Dr. Ravela
Joseph and Babu John Chowdhari. The more one reads the account of Purushottam
Chowdhari the more one understands why he can be called “India’s Greatest
Baptist Preacher.”
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Sex, Lies and Church-State
Separation
Or Why Your Church Can Discriminate
on the Basis of Gender in Hiring
September 6, 2007
8:45 AM to Noon
McAfee School of Theology
Atlanta, GA
This is a FREE
Conference! |
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In
Response To ...
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In Response to . . . :
The Associate Director of the Center for Baptist
Studies, Bruce previously served as a campus minister and professor of Church
History. In addition, he is an Internet entrepreneur and photographer,
and is ABD in his doctoral studies in American History at Auburn University.
"The Death of Jerry
Falwell"
By Bruce T. Gourley
Yesterday Jerry Falwell died. Few in the Western world do not know who
Falwell was. News of his death quickly appeared on the Internet and was
carried on radio and television news broadcasts yesterday. Newspapers
across the country and perhaps even the world have made his death front page
news.
The numerous
commentaries about Falwell's death are telling. Most of the tributes to
his life highlight his influence on American politics on behalf of (variously)
"conservative," "evangelical" and/or "fundamentalist" Christians. Few
radio and television stories yesterday highlighted his role as pastor, and
fewer still his role as a "Baptist" pastor. Today's newspaper stories
mention the Baptist pastor, but also cast Falwell, founder of the Moral
Majority (launched in 1979 and the beginning of the Religious Right movement
in America) within the context of his role in leading conservative
(evangelical or fundamentalist) Christians into re-shaping the Republican
Party into a party of God that opposes abortion and homosexuality, two of the
primary causes to which Falwell devoted his own time and energies.
Yet the very fact that
Falwell's Baptist identity, in death, is publicly subsumed by his successes in
the political realm, reveals much about the kind of Baptist he was and his
influence among Baptists at large.
Prior to Falwell, virtually all
Baptists in America, even the most conservative (and perhaps especially
the most conservative, who were most suspicious of secular politics, as was
Falwell in his early days) were firm believers in religious liberty for all
and separation of church and state.
Prior to Falwell, Baptists
refrained from publicly and politically engaging in what we now know as the
"culture wars," that is, personal moral issues that revolve around human
sexuality (abortion, homosexuality, abstinence). By way of contrast,
perhaps the only modern public moral issue that united most Baptists prior to
the late 20th century was that of alcohol.
Prior to Falwell, most Baptists
had never heard of the concept of "inerrancy."
Prior to Falwell, attempts to
impose fundamentalism upon the nation's historical Baptist groups had been
firmly and publicly repelled, and fundamentalism in Baptist life was largely
confined to independent Baptist churches and organizations who wore with pride
their independence from denominational entities. Jerry Falwell began his
own ministry as an independent Baptist pastor, and only became a Southern
Baptist later in life when the new fundamentalist Southern Baptist Convention
leadership, looking to him for guidance and approval, had thoroughly
transformed the denomination into a fundamentalist organization.
Today, in the wake of Falwell's
death, the SBC leadership and many Baptists in America at large now reject the
separation of church and state, and instead insist that Christians (or at
least certain Christians) should receive favoritism from the government and
privileges in the public square over and above people of other faiths.
Today, Baptists are more
defined, both in the public eye and in many Baptist congregations, by
fundamentalist stances on abortion and homosexuality than they are by
historical Baptist doctrines and beliefs.
Today, probably the majority of
Baptists claim to believe in an "inerrant" Bible, although few can define what
the term means and the definitions that do exist are many and contradictory.
And today, the Southern Baptist
Convention is a fundamentalist denomination with close ties to the Republican
Party.
In short, Falwell played a
critical role in transforming Baptists in America into something they had
never before been. His life work is now lauded by many Baptists (among
others) who want fundamentalist Christian religious beliefs to define and
shape politics in America. Falwell's legacy as a Baptist lies in his
rejection of key historical Baptist beliefs and his success in convincing many
Baptists to forsake their faith roots in a quest for political power and
privilege. And although Falwell's soul may now rest in peace, he leaves
behind a Baptist soul tormented and conflicted.
Bruce's personal website is
www.brucegourley.com
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Recommended Online Reading
for Informed Baptists
Compiled by Bruce Gourley
News Stories about
Jerry Falwell's Death
Baptists Today
Read a compilation of news stories and commentary regarding the death of
Rev. Jerry Falwell, former Southern Baptist minister and leader of the
Religious Right movement in America.
"Three Layers
of Environmental Preaching"
Eco-Justice Ministries
A good resource for the preaching of creation care sermons. The site
includes sermon examples. |
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Dates to
Note
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Dates to Note
June 7-9, 2007, Baptist History and Heritage
Society (BHHS) Annual Meeting, Campbellsville, Kentucky. Theme:
"African
Americans in Baptist History." For more information,
visit the BHHS web
site.
June 27, 2007, Pre-CBF Annual Conference,
Christian Ethics Today (CET), Hyatt Grand Hotel in D.C. Theme: "The
Minister and Politics: Being Prophetic Without Being Partisan."
Speakers: Jim Wallis, Greg Boyd, Melissa Rogers and Tony Campolo. Go to
the CET site
for more information.
June 28-29, 2007, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
General Assembly, Washington D.C. Theme: "Free to Be the Presence of
Christ."
Click here for more information, including registration.
June 29-July 2, 2007, ABC-USA Biennial Meeting,
Washington, D.C.
Click here for more information, including registration.
September 23-25, 2007, Mercer Preaching
Consultation 07, St. Simons Island, Georgia. Featuring Barbara Brown
Taylor.
Click here for more information, including registration.
For a full calendar of Baptist events, visit the
Online Baptist Community Calendar.
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