Diversity and justice.
Gourley, Bruce T.
The Baptist History and Heritage Society, and by extension this
Journal, is committed to a historical exploration of Baptists across the
broad spectrum of the Baptist family.
As I speak of Baptist heritage and identity in venues throughout
the United States, and as many of our society's members travel and
speak in the states as well as in Europe, South America, Africa, Asia
and beyond, diversity is a common theme in dialogues about the Baptist
family. Many times have I voiced the observation that Baptists are the
most diverse religious group in the world, a heritage traced to the
earliest Baptists who established the Baptist faith on freedom of
conscience, voluntary faith, and religious liberty for all.
Baptists of the past were at their best when, in addition to
welcoming diversity within their own faith family, they looked beyond
themselves and championed equality for all persons. Such convictions,
however, often garnered intense persecution at the hands of other
Christians committed to authoritarian faith as mandated by dogma,
ecclesiastical structures, and governmental laws.
Today the North American post-denominational, post-Christian age of
our twenty-first-century world reflects, ironically, traditional Baptist
principles of diversity and equality. Religious critics of these
Christ-centric values decry the proliferation of freedom of thought,
advances of human rights and equality, and growing expressions of
pluralism--as did the religious critics of yesteryear by disparaging and
even condemning as heretics seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
Baptists.
The Journal this year has explored the stories of Baptist
individuals and groups who do not typically occupy the Baptist
spotlight. These stories have included themes of otherness, alternative
theologies, ethnicity, anthropology, ethnography, and nationality, along
with the complexities of individuality as expressed within these broader
frameworks. Embedded within the narratives thus explored are threads of
justice issues, both explicitly and implicitly.
In 2015 the Society and the Journal will focus more directly on
justice issues. The theme of our April 20-22, 2015 annual conference in
Nashville is "Seeking Justice: Baptists, Nashville, and Civil
Rights." In partnership with National Baptists, our hosts are
American Baptist College and First Baptist Church Capitol Hill. Program
personalities include Dr. Forrest E. Harris, president of American
Baptist College, Nashville; Rev. Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, pastor of First
Baptist Church Capitol Hill, Nashville; Dr. Pamela Smoot, professor of
African-American history, Southern Illinois University, and vice
president of the Baptist History and Heritage Society; and Rev. Bonnie
Oliver Brandon, ordained minister and National Baptist curriculum writer
based in Memphis, Tennessee. Rev. Brandon is also secretary of the
Baptist History and Heritage Society and conference coordinator of our
2015 Nashville conference.
While Nashville and civil rights collectively represent the
immediate context of our upcoming conference, we will also explore
Baptists and justice issues on a much broader scale: Papers on economic,
gender, environmental, and other justice issues are anticipated. Paper
proposals will be accepted through January 15, 2015. Society members may
also propose a panel of paper presentations, consisting of two to three
presentations grouped under a distinct theme.
For more information about the conference, visit the Society's
website at baptisthistory.org. To submit an individual paper proposal,
or to submit a proposal for a themed panel, email
brucegourley@baptisthistory.org.
Finally, the Society is pleased to note that student memberships
now include conference and registration fees. The participation of
university and seminary students is important to the life and work of
the BH&HS, so please encourage your students to submit paper
proposals.
I hope to see you in Nashville, April 20-22, 2015.
Bruce T. Gourley
Executive-Director
