missions
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on B&H Academic Blog and is part of a series of theological biographies by Jason Duesing: Seven Summits Worth Climbing in Church History.
“He is intellectually the most eminent of conservative theologians. I would say he’s been the professor and I’ve been the student.” So said Billy Graham reflecting upon the influence of Carl F. H. Henry (1913-2003). Like Philipp Melanchthon to Martin Luther, or Andrew Fuller to William Carey, with the passing of time the figures in history that built the theological infrastructure to support and defend an evangelical movement often fade from popular memory. Graham, Luther, Carey we know, but names like Carl F. H. Henry are not readily in view. Although unknown, Henry is not forgotten. Gregory Alan Thornbury’s latest work is quickly becoming one of the books to read this year. This is a welcomed and needed volume, for the perceptive Thornbury observes, “So it seems as though there may still be enough of us left who believe that Carl Henry, a key to evangelicalism’s past, may in fact be a cipher to its future.” What is it then that made Henry so effective in his day and thus worth reviewing now? Carl Trueman believes that one part of what made Henry remarkable was his “unerring ability to see the big picture, to focus on issues of real substance, and to communicate the significance of these issues to the theological public.” Henry saw this big picture first in his younger days as a journalist. Read More »
Editor’s note: This is a companion piece to the article “Seven Summits Worth Climbing in Church History: William Carey” by Jason G. Duesing, vice president for strategic initiatives at Southwestern Seminary.
In one of my favorite parts of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien provides a commentary on friendship: Read More »
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on B&H Academic Blog and is part of a series of theological biographies by Jason Duesing: Seven Summits Worth Climbing in Church History
“He keeps the grand end in view.” After arriving in India in September 1796, John Fountain used these words to describe his first impressions of William Carey (1761-1834). A missionary pioneer, organizer, catalyst, survivor, and inspiration, Carey lived 73 full years and changed the modern world. J. H. Kane argues that Carey’s missions tract, An Enquiry, was “a landmark in Christian history and deserves a place alongside Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.” Carey’s nephew attributed much of Carey’s fruitful longevity to “invincible patience in labour, and uninterrupted constancy.” Carey would not agree with these assessments. In his words, if one were to “give me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod.” Read More »
It had already been a long journey and I still had a long set of flights out of Nigeria routing back to the United States. During my visit to the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogobomso, I met many fine folk. They are indeed doing a tremendous job of engaging lost people with the good news in the midst of horrific conflict posed to the whole nation, and the world, from a violent stream of Islam known as Boko Haram. One of the institution’s administrators accompanied me back to Lagos, Nigeria to fly out. Read More »
At the end of a long, arduous overland journey below the Tropic of Capricorn on the island of Madagascar in January 2013; I along with a team of Southwestern Seminary students went out for one more stroll into the streets of Abovombe, in the southwest part of the island, to talk to willing listeners about the Good News of Jesus Christ. We were on our first team trip to find and share with the Antandroy people of Madagascar. The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention challenged the Convention to respond to the call to Embrace the remaining Unreached Unengaged People Groups (UUPG) of the world. Little did I realize how literal that term, Embrace, would become for me at the end of that long day. Read More »
Missions is evangelism and compassionate ministry in the name of Christ. Both here and there and to the uttermost parts of the earth. It flows from passion for Christ’s renown and an insatiable thirst to see the multiplication of worshippers before His throne for all of eternity. On earth the goal is not making converts but making disciples. Or better yet, making disciple makers. Read More »
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Baptist Press. For more on Adoniram Judson’s life, read “Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary,” edited by Jason G. Duesing, assistant professor of historical theology vice president for strategic initiatives at Southwestern Seminary.
Adoniram Judson underwent a series of conversions on his journey to the mission field. Read More »
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Baptist Press, and is adapted from Paige Patterson’s introduction to “Adoniram Judson: A Bicentennial Appreciation of the Pioneer American Missionary,” edited by Jason G. Duesing, assistant professor of historical theology vice president for strategic initiatives at Southwestern Seminary.
My appreciation for the life of Adoniram Judson began in 1957 when my dad, Thomas Armour Patterson, a missionary-hearted pastor, placed a book in my hands and urged that I read it carefully. Read More »
Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.
—African Proverb[1]
It is a safe assumption that no lions will ever have their own historians, but there are some historians today that are lionhearted about seeing the Christian world through the eyes of those embracing the faith in massive numbers throughout the non-Western world. The shifted perspective changes most conventional understandings of Christianity today, especially its missiological and historical developments. The term used to describe the academic discipline devoted to discernment and analysis of these happenings is World Christian Studies.[2] Read More »
Recently, Jeremy Webber at Christianity Today asked, "Was First U.S. Missionary Black Not White?" Referencing the little known George Liele (1750-1820), Webber rightly questions whether this freed slave should supplant Adoniram Judson as the first Protestant missionary from America. Read More »
