Tony Cartledge, editor of the Biblical Recorder, the state Baptist paper of North Carolina, has announced that he will leave his post to assume a teaching position with Campbell University Divinity School.
Teaching has always been a source of great personal satisfaction, according to Cartledge who has served as an adjunct professor at Appalachian State University and at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“When I completed a Ph.D. in Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern studies at Duke back in 1989, I did so hoping I would one day have an opportunity to use it for more than background material in other writing projects.”
Still, his decision to leave the Biblical Recorder was not based purely on his love of teaching. “When I was first contacted about the position at Campbell, I already had a strong sense that my days at the Recorder were numbered—not for lack of support from our directors or from our faithful readers, but from a personal awareness that the BSC [Baptist State Convention of North Carolina] has changed to the point that I'm no longer as good a match for the position as in years past.”
Cartledge is careful to point out, however, that his decision to leave the Biblical Recorder should not be taken as a sign of pessimism. “I want to make it clear that my departure—probably July 31—from the Biblical Recorder does not mean that I have given up on the Recorder, or on the BSC, or on Baptist life in general. I … believe, to the extent that we are willing to be authentic and follow the teachings of Christ, that there is a bright future ahead for Baptists in North Carolina. If I didn't believe that, I'd be trying to write the great American novel instead of helping to train future leaders of our churches.”
He plans to continue his journalistic interests as opportunities arise.