LIBRARY
Shurden Lectures
The annual Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State 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 Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures are held at Mercer University in Georgia every three years and at another seminary, college or university in the intermediate years.
The 20th annual Shurden Lectures took place Nov. 13-14 on the campuses of Mercer University. Videos and a recap of the event will be available on this page in the future.
20th annual event
Dr. John Compton to deliver 20th annual Shurden Lectures in November 2024
The Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures returned to Mercer University on November 13-14, 2024, featuring Dr. John Compton.
A professor of political science and chair of the political science department at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., Dr. Compton’s lectures focused on how politics and civic life are impacted by the process of secularization and diminished religious authority. He gave two presentations on the campus of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and one presentation on the campus of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta. Click here to read a Q&A with Dr. Compton previewing his lectures.
Videos of each lecture will be available in the coming days.
Schedule:
Wednesday, November 13
Macon campus
Lecture 1: Democratic Values in a Secular Age
3:30 p.m. at Mercer Law School’s Griffin B. Bell and Frank C. Jones Courtroom
Lecture 2: Secularization and the Rise of Political Extremism
5:30 p.m. at the Science and Engineering Building’s Peyton Anderson Auditorium
Thursday, November 14
Atlanta Campus
Lecture 3: Secularization and the Fracturing of the American Left
12:15 p.m. in the Trustees Dining Room
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.
2024, April 2
Symposium Panelists: Rev. Dr. Joseph Evans, J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Endowed Professor and Chair of Theology in the Public Square and Director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Restorative Justice Center at the Berkeley School of Theology; and Rev. Dr. Christopher The, director of student research and initiative management for the Association of Theological Schools
Moderator: Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard, assistant director of community and public engagement with the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture
Location: University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif.
Recap from Baptist News Global: MAGA equals authoritarianism, professor says in Shurden Lectures
Podcast: Race, religion and citizenship
2023, May 31
Lecturer: Dr. Catherine Brekus, the Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at Harvard Divinity School
Location: Old North Church in Boston
The myth of American ‘chosenness’ (Article in BJC magazine)
Watch the presentation on YouTube
Listen to the lecture as a podcast
Listen to the panel discussion as a podcast
2022, March 19-20
Lecturer: Rev. Dr. Jonathan C. “Jay” Augustine, a multidisciplinary professional who serves in both ordained ministry and academia. In addition to serving as the senior pastor of St. Joseph AME Church in Durham, North Carolina, and as a missional strategist with the Duke Center for Reconciliation, he is also a law professor at North Carolina Central University.
Location: Mercer University in Atlanta and Macon, Georgia
Recap in our summer 2022 magazine: Breaking down the boundaries created by Christian nationalism
Videos:
And Who Is My Neighbor? (March 29, 2022)
Religious Liberty and Christian Nationalism: A Political History and Problematic Present (March 30, 2022)
Making America Great Again?: Christian Nationalism and Recent Attempts to Undermine Democracy (March 30, 2022)
2021, April 14
Title: Religious Liberty Has Been White Too Long: Voices of Black Scholars
Lecturers: Dr. Nicole Myers Turner, Yale University; Dr. Teresa L. Smallwood, Vanderbilt Divinity School; Dr. Anthony Pinn, Rice University; Dr. David Goatley, Duke Divinity School
Location: Online
Watch the full presentation here.
Two discussion guides are available:
- Full five-session discussion guide
- Abridged single-session discussion guide
Article in BJC magazine: Black scholars share ways religious liberty has been white too long
