Judson College Academic Dean co-edits recent Review & Expositor journal

Dr. Scott W. Bullard, Vice President &Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Religious Studies of Judson College, serves as co-editor and contributor of the current issue of Review & Expositor, a quarterly Baptist academic journal of theology. The issue, published in February, is entitled “Hauerwas Among the Baptists.”

For the publication’s piece “Editorial Introduction: Hauerwas Among the Baptists,” Bullard collaborated with his colleague Dr. Cameron Jorgenson, associate professor of Christian theology and ethics at Campbell University. Bullard is a 1999 graduate of Campbell University and was a classmate and churchmate of Jorgenson’s from 2003 to 2008 while the two attended Baylor University and DaySpring Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.

In the journal’s introduction to Stanley Hauerwas, Bullard and Jorgenson reflect on their mentor’s important influence on academic and ecclesial theology: “When the story of theology in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is told, Stanley Hauerwas will be hailed as one of the era’s great lights.”

Additionally, Time magazine named Stanley Hauerwas, professor emeritus of divinity and law at Duke University, “America’s Best Theologian” in 2001. His ideas and works have influenced nearly every person who has come through a seminary or divinity school in the past 25 years.

The 12 contributors to this issue of R&E include Baptist religious scholars and preachers serving in about a half-dozen universities and seminaries around the country. One contributor to the issue is Hauerwas himself. His article — “Chastened by Baptists” — starts out as an autobiographical piece that sheds light on his relationship with Baptists. Hauerwas grew up as a Methodist in a small Texas town surrounded by Baptists and went on to become an ethicist and theologian who joined the Duke faculty in 1984.

In addition to Resident Aliens, Hauerwas has written numerous books, including A Community of Character: Toward a Construction Christian Social Ethic, which Christianity Century magazine named one of the most important religious books of the 20th century.

Positive reactions to the journal from Hauerwas and other scholars have led Bullard and Jorgenson to explore the possibility of an expansion of this collection into a book on Hauerwas’ relationship with Baptists.

“Working on this issue helped us begin a conversation about the influence that Stanley Hauerwas has had on Baptist scholars,” Jorgenson said. “Hauerwas is important not merely because he is a famous theologian, but because he has challenged Baptists to think about their identity and what the future holds for Baptist life.”

Bullard added: “God prepared me to serve at Judson in so many ways through the life of Stanley Hauerwas. In addition to learning theology from Hauerwas, I learned by watching the way in which he mentored students. The feedback he offered students on their work was astonishing in terms of quantity and quality.

“Moreover, even though he was by far the most famous and sought-after person on Duke’s faculty, his door was always open to students. If he didn’t have time to meet with you in his office, he’d invite you to eat with him, or even the opportunity to accompany him on his daily afternoon jog on the school’s cross-country course. Each day, I see Judson professors doing many of the same things.”

A video preview of the “Hauerwas Among the Baptists” issue may be found on YouTube here.

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