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…
Crossing that Good Ol’ Baylor Line
Monday, I shared the news with my classmates at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, where I am pursuing a master of divinity degree, that Baylor University had received a grant from the Baugh Foundation to “foster LGBTQ inclusion in churches,”…
Baylor rejects grant to study LGBTQ exclusion in the church
The president of Baylor University appears to have burned a final bridge with a Texas-based foundation that once was a critical funder of its Baptist identity. President Linda Livingstone has rescinded a $643,000 grant awarded to the Diana Garland School…
UMC can sue SMU over governance, Texas high court says
The Texas Supreme Court says the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church has legal standing to sue Southern Methodist University over changed bylaws that deprived the regional body of its right to govern the church-owned university located in…
In conversation with Katie Gaitan
This spring, graduating Baylor University English/political science major Katie Gaitan sat with me in back-to-back classes. She was smart and compassionate, always prepared and an incredible resource for me as a professor. As the semester moved toward a close, she…