Conversations with Friends about Church History Conversations with Friends about Church History

In this episode, I talk with my friend Ian Hugh Clary about our friendship, our work together editing 'The Pure Flame of Devotion' (a volume dedicated to our mentor Michael A.G. Haykin), and his soon-to-be published work on the historiography of Arnold Dallimore (biographer of George Whitefield and others). We talked about the important historiographical issues raised by an analysis of Dallimore's work and where his work fits within the two poles of the spectrum between a providentialist or objectivist approach to history. 

In this conversation, I talked with Dr. C. Jeffrey Robinson. We discussed our friendship, our mutual love of baseball, Jeff's dissertation on H.H. Tucker (longtime editor of The Christian Index), and the pastoral intent of Tucker's writings and Robinson's.

In this conversation, I talked with Dr. Thomas J. Nettles, senior professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. We discussed our friendship and the many works he has authored that have contributed to Baptists better understanding their past theological beliefs and their present identity.

In this conversation, I talked with Dr. Gregory A. Wills, research professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Tx. We discussed how we met and Dr. Wills' contribution to me as an historian and churchman. Some great insights into doing history and the practice and demise of church discipline. We also discussed his past, current, and future writing projects.

In this conversation, I talk with my long-time friend Dr. Curtis A. Woods, associate director of church relations for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, about his recent dissertation on the evangelical African-American poet Phillis Wheatley. This conversation raises important questions of how to read texts and write history. We also discuss revisionist history, American exceptionalism, and Juneteenth!

In this conversation, I talked with Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin, professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. We discussed our fourteen-year friendship, projects we've worked on together, and projects on which he is currently working. A fun conversation with a mentor who paved the way for me both to do a PhD and publish.