NABPR Announces Festschrift in Honor of Daniel S. Mynatt

The National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion is pleased to announce the publication of a special Festschrift issue of Perspectives in Religious Studies honoring Daniel S. Mynatt: scholar, teacher, administrator, accreditor, colleague, and longtime leader in NABPR.

This special issue, Essays in Honor of Daniel S. Mynatt, gathers articles from scholars who admire Danny, have worked with him, and have been shaped by his wide-ranging contributions to Baptist higher education, biblical studies, and the life of NABPR. Danny has served across an extraordinary range of roles: faculty member, academic administrator, accreditation leader, and association officer. Pfeiffer University named him Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2021, noting his extensive experience in academic administration, church-related higher education, faculty development, accreditation, and institutional leadership.  

Within NABPR, Danny’s service has been especially significant. He served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Southeast Region from 1994 to 2001 and then as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the national organization from 2002 until Adam English assumed the role in 2023. His leadership helped guide the organization through major transitions in membership services, annual meeting structures, financial systems, graduate student support, and NABPR’s continuing relationship to the wider landscape of AAR and SBL meetings.  

The Festschrift’s introduction, written by Timothy G. Crawford, presents Danny’s career as one marked by scholarship, institutional wisdom, collegial generosity, and practical service. His scholarly work in Hebrew Bible and Masoretic studies began with his dissertation on the sub loco notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and continued through his collaboration with Page H. Kelley and Timothy G. Crawford on The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated Glossary, a work that has remained in print and has been translated into multiple languages. Danny’s ongoing leadership in the Society of Biblical Literature’s Masoretic Studies Section further reflects the depth of his contribution to the field.  

The volume also reflects the breadth of Danny’s friendships and relationships. Its essays move across preaching, Baptist organizational identity, Masoretic studies, Hebrew Bible, New Testament interpretation, Holocaust education, and the history of NABPR itself. Together, these contributions honor a scholar whose career has strengthened classrooms, institutions, professional associations, and scholarly conversations.

Table of Contents

Daniel S. Mynatt: Honoring a Scholar, Leader, and Colleague Timothy G. Crawford, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

“As One Unknown”: Preaching and the Elusive Jesus Bill J. Leonard, Wake Forest University School of Divinity

The NABPR: Rethinking the Organization’s Identity and Story Helen Lee Turner, Furman University

How the Masorah Supports Literary Connections between the Stories of Abraham and Ruth David Marcus, Jewish Theological Seminary

Beyond the Margins: Masoretic Material in the So-Called Appendices Elvira Martin-Contreras, ILC-CCHS, Madrid

Parents Naming Children and the Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Mark McEntire, Belmont University

Philo’s Heavenly Adam and the Logos: An Interpretive Key for Philippians 2:6–11? Adam D. Winn, Samford University

Antisemitism, Christianity, and the Holocaust: Learning and Teaching about the Holocaust Timothy G. Crawford, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

NABPR gives thanks for Danny Mynatt’s decades of faithful service, steady leadership, and scholarly friendship. This Festschrift is both a tribute to his past contributions and a witness to the many communities that continue to benefit from his work.