The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has endorsed the decision of the Baptist Union of the Netherlands (BUN) to create the McClendon Chair at the Free University in Amsterdam. The BWA Executive Committee meeting in early March also agreed to co-sponsor the establishment of the chair.
The BUN received clearance for a chair on Baptist History, Identity and Theology at the university in April 2009.
The chair is being established in collaboration with Free University and the International Baptist Theological Study Centre (IBTSC), both located in Amsterdam.
The invested chair will be known as the McClendon Chair for Baptistic and Evangelical Theologies. “This chair, being rooted in the Free Church tradition, can stimulate and supervise research on historical, ecclesiological and missional questions,” BUN explained.
It is named after James McClendon, Jr., an outstanding Baptist theologian and ethicist from the United States who taught at several theological institutions. He helped found what became known as the narrative theology movement in the late 1960s.
“His three volumes on systematic theology exhibit profound knowledge of European and American theology, as it specifically revolves around the retrieval of the baptistic tradition,” BUN said.
“McClendon’s theology proves even more beneficial and relevant than decades before, because in the present demise of grand narrative of the church, Christian life should be spoken of in terms of diaspora ecclesiology.”
Contributions to the McClendon Chair may be made online at www.bwanet.org/give. Online donors may write “McClendon Chair” in the comment section inside the donation system.
For check donations, persons should write “McClendon Chair” on the memo line. Checks may be sent to:|
Baptist World Alliance
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©March 24, 2016