In the tradition of Carolyn Blevins.

Hawkins, Merrill M.

Carolyn Blevins' scholarship came to my attention as an M.Div. student at Southwestern Seminary and as a Ph.D. student at Baylor University. Never did I imagine she would become a colleague and friend in those first exposures, but that is indeed what she has been.

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When Carolyn desired to spend the final phase of her teaching in women's studies, Carson-Newman College needed a second church historian on the faculty. I had the privilege of joining her in the Carson-Newman community in 1995, and we have been friends and colleagues at Carson-Newman and at First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Tennessee, as well as in wider circles--not the least of which is the Baptist History and Heritage Society.

The opportunity to edit this Festschrift, which will honor her wide contributions and serve as an important catalog of her contributions for posterity, adds another dimension to our connections.

Each author has a connection to Carolyn, and each article honors her work in a unique way.

Longtime personal friends and former Carson-Newman colleagues, Buddy and Kay Shurden, provide us with a biography of Carolyn's personal and professional life.

Eileen Campbell-Reed, a former student of Carolyn's, traces the history of women's ordination among Baptists in America.

Pam Robinson Durso has worked with Carolyn in many capacities in advocacy for women in ministry, as well as in scholarship. Her article explores women's ordination through a focused examination of the first Southern Baptist woman to be ordained.

Carol Crawford Holcomb, who has served with Carolyn in various capacities in the Baptist History and Heritage Society, explores the complex relationship of Woman's Missionary Union and gendered Victorian domestic identities.

Delane Tew, who served as a member of the religion faculty at Carson-Newman for several years and assumed many of Carolyn's former responsibilities, studies the social action of Tennessee Baptist women.

Elizabeth Flowers, long an admirer of Carolyn's influence, provides a historical study of the early women-in-ministry movement among Baptists in the South and the intellectual underpinnings of that movement.

Finally, this Festschrift reproduces what Carolyn considers to be her most important scholarly contribution to the discipline.

I hope this volume will honor Carolyn's service to the academy and the church through her vocation of research, teaching, and advocacy.

Merrill M. Hawkins

Festschrift Issue Editor

Merrill M. Hawkins Jr. is professor of religion at Carson-Newman University.