Former Baylor University President Ken Starr’s role in the Jeffrey Epstein saga resurfaced Nov. 12 as the House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of documents about the disgraced financier and his connections to the nation’s political elite. That dump…
Three ways Baylor has failed its students and the gospel
Under pressure from conservatives, Baylor University recently returned a $643,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation for a project titled “Courage from the Margins,” designed to study how the church can be more welcoming to women and…
Truett launches Anglican Episcopal House of Studies
Truett Seminary at Baylor University has created another alliance with a conservative branch of Mainline Protestantism — an Anglican Episcopal House of Studies. The new house within the Baptist seminary was announced Oct. 13 and follows four years after opening…
Letter to the Editor: How Baylor taught me to love my (LGBTQ) neighbor
Dear Editor: Baylor University has had quite the summer! A steady cavalcade of news has emanated from Waco regarding the awarding of, then rescission of, and now damage control of, an academic grant from the Baugh Foundation to the Baylor…
In an ironic turn, Baylor University mirrors Southern Seminary
What went around for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary three decades ago has come back around for Baylor University this fall. Woe be unto Baylor. In 1995, Southern Seminary’s newish president, Al Mohler — who publicly questioned the role of social…
Amid LGBTQ controversy, social work dean ‘steps down’ at Baylor
Jon Singletary is out as dean of the Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. Provost Nancy Brickhouse informed faculty Sept. 25 Singletary will “step down” effective Oct. 15. The news came just hours before the Garland School’s Board…
Man-made catastrophes devour possibility of ending hunger
A perfect storm of war, pestilence and budget cuts has dashed any hope of ending national and global hunger by 2030, anti-poverty advocates say. The United Nations set a goal in 2015 of eradicating global food insecurity by the end…
The long struggle to balance faith and freedom at Baylor
The latest controversy between Baylor University and the Baptists — rejecting grant funding to study LGBTQ exclusion in the church — has roots that stretch back more than 100 years, far preceding late 20th-century and early 21st-century struggles for control…
A third letter accuses Baylor of threatening academic freedom
The kerfuffle over Baylor University’s rejection of a $634,000 grant for academic research now has produced a third public letter of concern, this time focused on a perceived threat to academic freedom. The two earlier letters, as reported by BNG,…
Might what’s happening at Belmont explain what’s happening at Baylor?
When I read about U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles attacking Belmont University, all I could think about was Baylor University. Both are historically Baptist schools, although Belmont in Nashville, Tenn., has more definitively broken with Baptist control than has Baylor in…
In conversation with Christopher B. Hays
Christopher B. Hays is the D. Wilson Moore Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Seminary, where his teaching focuses on biblical languages and the Hebrew Bible. In 1996, his father, Richard, a leading figure in…
Was Baylor’s decision ‘moral courage’ or ‘lack of courage’?
Sixty Texas Baptist pastors signed a “letter of support to Baylor University” saying President Linda Livingston demonstrated “moral courage” by rescinding acceptance of a $634,000 grant to study the exclusion of women and LGBTQ Christians in churches. “We commend Baylor’s…