LIBRARY
Shurden Lectures
The annual Shurden Lectures travel to campuses across the country, bringing a speaker to engage with the community and inspire students to stand up for religious freedom for all people.
Designed to enhance the ministry and programs of BJC, the Shurden Lectures are held at Mercer University in Georgia every three years and at another seminary, college or university in the intermediate years.
2020
Eboo Patel delivered the 2020 Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State on Thursday, March 5, in Dallas, Texas. The event was hosted by the Baptist House of Studies at Perkins School of Theology at SMU.
Videos and photos are coming soon! You can read Twitter threads for quotes from his morning lecture, lunchtime discussion, and afternoon lecture.
“I thought about the meaning of pluralism in a world where the forces that seek to divide us are strong. I came to one conclusion: We have to save each other. It’s the only way to save ourselves.”
About Eboo Patel
Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a non-profit organization that is working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm in America. He is the author of four books and dozens of articles, has spoken on more than 150 campuses, and served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council.
A key figure on issues of religious diversity and democracy, Eboo was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report in 2009. He is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation;Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America;Interfaith Leadership: A Primer; and Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise. He also publishes a regular blog for Inside Higher Ed, called ‘Conversations on Diversity’.
Patel was a guest on the BJC Podcast series on Christian nationalism, discussing what it means to embrace a civic pluralism. Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts:
History
History of the Shurden Lectures
In 2004, Dr. Walter B. Shurden and Dr. Kay W. Shurden of Macon, Georgia, made a gift to BJC to establish an annual lectureship on the issues of religious liberty and the separation of church and state.
The lecturers may be academicians, politicians, ministers, church historians, ethicists or activists. Above all, the Shurden Lecturer is someone who can inspire and call others to an ardent commitment to religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
Who are Walter and Kay Shurden?
A nationally noted church historian, Dr. Walter B. Shurden is the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies and a minister at large for Mercer University. Shurden served at Mercer for almost 25 years as Callaway Professor of Christianity in the Roberts Department of Christianity in the College of Liberal Arts. During 18 of those years, he served as Chair of the Roberts Department of Christianity. Dr. Kay W. Shurden retired after serving for 17 years as a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Mercer University School of Medicine. An admired teacher, conference leader, mentor and church leader, she is an author and was a marriage and family therapist in Middle Georgia.
Lecture Archives
2019, March 26-27
Lecturer: Rev. Dr. Aidsand Wright-Riggins, mayor of Collegeville, Pennsylvania; prior to that he served as CEO of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies and Judson Press.
Locations: Tuesday, March 26, at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri; Wednesday, March 27, at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas. The lectures were hosted by Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas.
2018, March 20-21
Lecturer: Charles C. Haynes, founding director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute
Location: Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and Mercer’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta
Follow Your Conscience and Raise Your Voice (Report from the Capital, March/April 2018)
Liberty of Conscience and the Future of American Democracy (Video)
Standing up for Justice and Freedom in an Age of Conflict and Division (Video)
From Battleground to Common Ground: A First Amendment Vision for Religious Liberty in Public Life (Video)
Charles Haynes previews the 2018 Shurden Lectures (Podcast)
