NABPR Newsletter – Summer, 2006

Baptist Doctoral Student Network

Once upon a time, when Baptists made plans for doctoral study in religion the range of schools they considered was fairly predictable, and most students went with one of the denominationally related graduate programs. Perhaps this description looks back on a time that never was, but there can be no doubt about the current reality. The default choice for Baptists interested in PhD studies is no longer a predictable career path through one of the denominational schools.Hopefully spreading the Baptist DNA far and wide will have positive effects that we may not even yet anticipate. But on the down side, this diversification has left many of these Baptist students with a sense of isolation and alienation from their denominational family of origin. They want to stay connected, but they don’t know how.NABPR can help by facilitating the networking of Baptists in PhD religion programs. You can help by sending us the names, contact information, and most importantly the email addresses of Baptists in PhD programs who want to be connected with others like themselves. We’ll compile the list, and contact them. Help us keep them connected as Baptists with other Baptists in the academy.

Curtis Freeman
Duke University
[email protected]

Chad Eggleston
Duke University
[email protected]

Coleman Fannin
University of Dayton
[email protected]

A Note from the Executive-Secretary

Danny Mynatt, Anderson College Dues and memberships are keeping pace with last year. If you have not paid your dues yet, please do that as soon as you can. If you have some question about your membership, please email Mary Ann at [email protected].

I am hopeful that CSSR is getting back on its feet. Mary Ann is very resourceful and should be able to answer any questions you might have. If you have other NABPR-related questions, please let me know.

In our Fall edition, we will print the Exec. Committee’s recommendation about what to do with the Annual Meeting beginning with 2008.

Have a great Summer!

Danny Mynatt

PRS News

For the past three years, Jason Whiltark has served as Assistant Editor for Perspectives in Religious Studies, as part of his Religion stipend while working on his Ph.D. at Baylor University. Jason was primarily responsible for copying editing journal in preparation for printing. Any of you who has had the privilege of working with Jason on a PRS article or issue knows how cheerful, prompt, and precise Jason has been in executing his duties for the journal. Jason successfully defended his dissertation (written under the supervision of Charles Talbert) in March and graduated with his Ph.D. degree in May, 2006; thus, he is relinquished his role with the journal effective May 31, 2006. The fall issue of PRS on the Trinity (guest editor, Fisher Humphreys) will be the last issue for which Jason was responsible. Beginning June 1, 2006, Mr. Jim McConnell, a Baylor University doctoral candidate in Religion, will assume duties as PRS Assistant Editor. Many thanks for an excellent job, Jason, and welcome aboard Jim!

In another personnel change, Drs. Richard Vinson and Beth Newman of BTSR announced at the November 2005 NABPR Publications Board meeting that they would not pursue another term as PRS Book Review Editors; their terms expire in February, 2007. The NABPR Publications Board has elected Dr. Steve Harmon, Campbell University Divinity School, as PRS Book Review Editor. The transition will take place over the summer and fall, 2006. Again, many thanks for the very fine work of Richard and Beth for the journal and our Association.

Becker and Angelov Awarded Dissertation Scholarships
**Curtis Freeman, President of the NABPR

G. Scott Becker and Kristian T. Angelov have been selected as recipients of the first NABPR dissertation scholarships. Each scholarship provides a one time award of $3,000 plus two $1,000 travel stipends to attend the NABPR national meeting for two years.

Becker is a PhD candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary and is writing a dissertation entitled “Resistance and Participation: the Way of Jesus and Public Discourse in the Work of Karl Barth, André Trochmé and Christopher Marshall.” His dissertation supervisor is Glen Stassen, who will also serve as Becker’s faculty mentor.

Commenting on Becker’s dissertation, Glen Stassen said: “He writes with excellent balance and fairness to different viewpoints, very clear organization and logic, and constructive insight, not only analyzing incisively but also proposing creatively and wisely. . . . I predict his dissertation will be an important argument and very well written, highly likely to deserve publication.”

Angleov is completing his PhD at Oxford Center for Mission Studies. He is writing a dissertation on “Divine Self-Limitation and Divine Self-Emptying” which draws on Orthodox and Protestant theologians. Loyd Allen, one of Angelov’s former professors at McAfee School of Theology, will be his faculty mentor.

Angelov, whose father and grandfather were Baptist pastors in Bulgaria during the era of communist domination, is currently serving as a pastor in Didcot, Oxfordshire while completing his dissertation. Loyd Allen declared his confidence in Angelov: “Kris has great potential as a professor, a minister and a Baptist influence internationally.”

The dissertation scholarships demonstrate the commitment of NABPR to supporting academically qualified scholars and teachers of religion for the Baptist academy who carry out their teaching and research with a sense of Baptist identity. The particular purpose of the NABPR dissertation scholarship is to foster conversations about what it means to be a Baptist teacher and scholar in relationship to church and academy, thus contributing to the formation of students in a Baptist tradition and the support of important research by Baptist doctoral students.

FYI

Dr. Mikeal Parsons, Baylor University, and Dr. Bill Leonard, Wake Forest Divinity School, received a grant from the Louisville Institute to work on the Baptists’ Bible project during 2006-07. This project will gather and catalogue four hundred years of Baptist interpretations of Luke and Acts in commentaries, sermons, hymns, devotional materials and other genres of literature. Sample pages from the Baptists’ Bible were distributed at the 2005 NABPR meeting as part of Mikeal Parsons’ presidential address and will be reprinted in the summer, 2006 issue of Perspectives in Religious Studies.