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…
Hanch to lead Perkins’ Baptist House of Studies
Kate Hanch has been named director of the Baptist House of Studies at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology. She comes to the post from First St. Charles United Methodist Church in St. Charles, Mo., where she has served as associate…
Population of Texas looks different than politicians in Texas, Jones says
Although state-level data appears not to exist, it is a safe bet the composite religious backgrounds of those serving in Texas Legislature does not match the composite picture of the state’s citizens, Robert P. Jones told a group of Texas…
Not all conservatives are Christian nationalists, Tyler explains
Simply holding conservative religious or political views does not make a person a Christian nationalist, Amanda Tyler told a group of Texas religion journalists April 7. Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, was a panelist at…
Professor outlines three common rebuttals to church-state separation
The principle of church-state separation is not a myth even though those exact words don’t appear in the U.S. Constitution, according to scholar David R. Brockman. Brockman, nonresident scholar in religion and public policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute and…
Robert Jones: We need a vital, independent free press
Robert P. Jones was the keynote speaker at an April 8 conference sponsored by the Texas Tribune and Religion News Service on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The theme of the day was how journalists tell stories…
New Perkins Theology dean comes from Boston University
Southern Methodist University has named Bryan P. Stone dean of its Perkins School of Theology, a flagship seminary for The United Methodist Church that also has a Baptist House of Studies. Stone succeeds Craig Hill, who retired as dean two…
Dispute between SMU and UMC body headed to Texas Supreme Court
A five-year-old dispute between Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a multi-state United Methodist Church body over the university’s ownership and governance will come before the Texas Supreme Court for oral arguments Jan. 15. According to a summary on the…
Understanding Christmas traditions is a matter of time
Christmas and New Year’s are fascinating seasons for scholars into temporal studies, the emerging academic field concerned with the ways humans understand time, author and cultural historian Alexis McCrossen said. “Holidays are special moments in time and special moments on…
Lawsuit between SMU and UMC is headed to court again
Southern Methodist University in Dallas is headed back to court seeking to free itself from the authority of The United Methodist Church. Most sources trace this conflict back to actions taken by the UMC in 2019, but a tug-of-war between…
He turned 65 in a dorm and was inspired to write a book about the Holy Spirit
The end of COVID prompted Jack Levison to think more deeply about the Spirit-filled life. The result is his latest book, a small volume accessible to laity and clergy alike: Seven Secrets of the Spirit-filled Life. As the pandemic slowed,…
Baugh Foundation grants $2.7 million to Perkins Baptist House of Studies
Amid the continually shifting sands of American theological education, a Baptist House of Studies at a Methodist seminary has received a $2.7 million grant from a Baptist-oriented foundation. The John and Eula Mae Baugh Foundation awarded the three-year grant to…