Cameron Jorgenson, left, and Barry A. Jones.
BUIES CREEK – Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the publication of “Resident Aliens,” a book about the identity of the church in an American culture that is no longer Christian by default. It has become a standard text in seminaries and divinity schools across the country. Time magazine named its co-author Stanley Hauerwas, professor emeritus of divinity and law at Duke University, “America’s Best Theologian” in 2001. His ideas and works have influenced nearly every person who has come through a seminary or divinity school in the past 25 years.
So when Cameron Jorgenson, associate professor of Christian theology and ethics at Campbell Divinity, was asked to serve as co-editor of the February 2015 issue of Review & Expositor, a Baptist theological academic journal, he thought of Hauerwas. Then, through a conversation with Adam English, associate professor of religion and theology at Campbell, it became clear he should bring together Baptist thinkers to engage ideas related to Hauerwas’ work, Jorgenson said. “Stanley Hauerwas has formed a generation of Baptist scholars around the country. What better opportunity to explore that influence?”
Jorgenson co-edited the issue, now available online and in print, with Scott Bullard, the vice president and dean of the faculty at Judson College and a 1999 graduate of Campbell University.
The 12 contributors to the issue include Baptist preachers and religious scholars at about a half-dozen universities and seminaries around the country, including Baylor University, Stillman College, and Duke University. Their topics range from “Ransomed from every language: The church as a community of word-care” to “The Fellowship of Suffering: Reading Philippians with Stanley Hauerwas.”
Among the contributors is Barry A. Jones, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Campbell Divinity. In his article “The Book of Haggai: A Resource for ‘Resident Aliens,’” Jones looks at how the prophet Haggai worked in a similar cultural moment to the one Hauerwas named in “Resident Aliens” — post-Christian reality — and what it means for the church in the midst of all this. ““Dr. Jones offers a brilliant insight into Hauerwas’s classic text,” Jorgenson said. “Readers will see Resident Aliens and the prophet Haggai in a whole new light.”
Another contributor to the issue is Hauerwas himself. His article — “Chastened by Baptists” — starts out as an autobiographical piece that sheds light on his relationship with Baptists. Hauerwas grew up as a Methodist in a small Texas town surrounded by Baptists and went on to become an ethicist and theologian who joined the Duke faculty in 1984. In addition to “Resident Aliens,” Hauerwas has written numerous books, including “A Community of Character: Toward a Construction Christian Social Ethic,” which Christianity Century magazine named one of the most important religious books of the 20th century.
Of Jones’ article, Hauerwas wrote for the Review & Expositor: “Leave it to a Baptist to see a connection to the biblical material that I haven’t in my own work.”
Positive reactions from Hauerwas and other scholars have led Jorgenson and Bullard to explore the possibility of an expansion of this collection into a book on Hauerwas’ relationship with Baptists.
“Working on this issue helped us begin a conversation about the influence that Stanley Hauerwas has had on Baptist scholars,” Jorgenson said. “Hauerwas is important not merely because he is a famous theologian, but because he has challenged Baptists to think about their identity and what the future holds for Baptist life.”