Baptist World Alliance

In a recent Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) talk, Alexander Betts, British social scientist and director of the Refugee Centre at the University of Oxford, commented on “Why Brexit happened – and what to do next.” In his speech, Betts identified the urgent need to rescue globalization from the neoliberal agenda that is elitist and unmindful of the welfare of the entire populace. He renewed the call for “inclusive globalization,” which was... Continue reading

How does the church respond to the growing trend of popular protest against certain effects of globalization? What is the proper role of theologians? These questions reflect why it can be said that Steve Harmon's recently published book, Baptist Identity and the Ecumenical Future: Story, Tradition, and the Recovery of Community (Baylor, 2016) has appeared at a most opportune time. The book becomes available when many people are crumbling under the weight... Continue reading

Recently, I was at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky to deliver the E. Glenn Hinson Lectures for 2016. Introduced in 2009 with celebrated church historian Hinson as the presenter, this series of lectures has attracted such scholars as Loyd Allen, McAfee School of Theology, 2010; Stephanie Paulsell, Harvard Divinity School, 2011; Don Saliers, Emory University, 2012; Robin Jensen, Vanderbilt University, 2013; Willie Jennings, Duke University Divinity School, 2014; and Molly Marshall, Central... Continue reading

Australian church historian, Kerri Handasyde, had an illuminating essay on “Harvest Thanksgiving and the Photography of Grace” in a recent issue of the Australian Journal of Liturgy. Arguing that harvest thanksgiving “rests at the junction of liturgy, nature and memory,” Handasyde presents an artful analysis of the harvest thanksgiving tradition in Nonconformist churches in Australia in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She offers reflections on the traditions of the Salvation Army,... Continue reading

Easter is the crowning celebration of the Christian year and Easter Day is a time of great rejoicing. How tragic is it that on such a day children playing in a park in Lahore, Pakistan became the target of an act of terrorism.The attack in Lahore, the terrorist attacks in Beirut, Lebanon; Paris, France; Maiduguri, Nigeria; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Brussels, Belgium and Baghdad, Iraq, are... Continue reading