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Currently available: (use browser back button to return here)
Noah Moses Israel, John Rangiah and a Century of Indian Baptist Work in Africa (1903-2003).
Dr David Parker: Striving for the Mastery: The emergence of a Post-Modern Church in Queensland, Australia (short version)
Dr Richard V. Pierard: Baptist Historiography in the New Century
Dr Geoff Pound: F.W. Boreham - the Public Theologian
Dr Luai Chin Thang: Being a Baptist in India: a brief sketch of the Evangelical Baptist Convention - Manipur
Greetings!
The Heritage & Identity Commission meetings in Korea were,
as always, a part of the annual get-together of the BWA. If you
have not caught up on the news and resolutions you may click on
the BWA web site and the Ethics Daily web site addresses.
BWA Site is http://www.bwanet.org/
Ethics Daily Site is< <http://www.ethicsdaily.com/>
EthicsDaily.com carried daily news stories about the meeting beginning on Monday (July 26) and running through Tuesday (August 3). See below for list of links to stories.
Apologies
Apologies were received from Eljee Bentley (USA)
and Faith Bowers (UK). The following
people also wrote letters of apology and disappointment at not
being able to attend the Commission meetings:
John Briggs from England who has not been well writes, "I thought the commission might be interested to learn of the exhibition that the British Baptist historians are hoping to mount for the 2005 Congress in the Central Library which is immediately nexct door to the conference centre. The notion is to illustrate each theme by a poster and associated artefacts either from Baptist of Library/Museum sources. All seems in order except the finance but we are working on that." [Best wishes and prayers for John's speedy recovery]
Bent Hylleberg in Denmark: "I look forward to seeing you in Birmingham 2005 and for this meeting I wish you all His blessings, and I am looking forward to receiving the papers."
Don Dickson from New Zealand: "I cannot make it to Korea this year but plan to be in Birmingham for the centennial next year. Any help you may need for that occasion I will be pleased to give… In regard to Seoul I would appreciate transcripts of the addresses if they are available."
Dan Gibson from Ontario: "I regret that I will be unable, due to distance, to attend the summer meetings of our commission. I am firmly committed to attending the centennial celebrations in Birmingham in 2005."
Commission Meetings
This is a record of activities and people of the BWA Baptist Heritage & Identity Commission, written in August 2004.
Session 1 Tuesday 27
July 6.00-7.00pm
This was a short session that preceded the welcome dinner from
the people of Seoul. It was attended by Ken Manley (Australia),
Dick Pierard (USA), Veronica Rae (South Africa), Bill Slack (Scotland),
Grigoriy Komendant (Ukraine), Noel Vose (Australia), Saw Law (Myanmar),
K D Tu Lum (Myanmar), Terry Hamrick (USA), Keith Jobberns (Australia),
Zelhou Keyho (India), Stephen Stookey (USA), David Parker (Australia),
Zelijko Mraz (Croatia), Noah Moses Israel (South Africa), Chuck
Weber (USA) and Geoff Pound (Australia)
Our chairperson of the Commission welcomed members and friends to Seoul. After an opening devotions Noah Moses Israel, President of the Baptist Association of South Africa gave a fascinating paper entitled, John Rangiah and a Century of Indian Baptist Work in Africa (1903-2003). (To read this paper, click here)
Session 2 Wednesday 28 July 7.00-9.00pm
Those attending this session included Zelijko Mraz (Croatia), K D Tu Lum (Myanmar), Russell Dilday (USA), Ken Manley (Australia), Grigoriy Komendant (Ukraine), Noel Vose (Australia), Bill Slack (Scotland), Dick Pierard (USA), Bill Slack (Scotland), Grigoriy Komendant (Ukraine), Noel Vose (Australia), Saw Law (Myanmar), K D Tu Lum (Myanmar), Zelhou Keyho (India), Stephen Stookey (USA), David Parker (Australia), Noah Moses Israel (South Africa), Thomas Corts (USA), Bernard Spooner (USA), Jere Allen (USA), Luai Chinthang, M C Ko (South Korea), John Walling, James A Scott (USA), Craig Sherouse (USA), Fausto Vasconcelos (Brazil), Chuck Weber (USA) and Geoff Pound (Australia).
Chuck Weber chaired this session in which
David Parker,
our web master, introduced us to the innovations on the BWA Heritage
& Identity web site. David gave us a visual and hands on tour
of our site, explaining that it was intended to be basic rather
than furnished with all the bells and whistles. It is a site developed
for the Melbourne Congress in 2005 but deemed to have a continuing
role in informing members and interested Baptists around the world.
Study & Research Director of BWA, Tony Cupit, introduced his new book Stars Lighting Up The Sky. He summarised several of the stories of these unsung heroes and told how in sharing a story or two in a sermon, was encouraged to collect up a number of others and publish these in a book. This book is available from the BWA with details and order form at < http://www.bwanet.org/Resources/PublishedMaterials.htm>. You may wish to purchase your copies at the Congress and get Tony and as many of the people who 'star' in the book that are present in Birmingham, to sign your book/s. The Christian Education Workshop has purchased 500 copies of the book to share with others.
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Dick Pierard spoke about the forthcoming BWA centennial book saying it is coming up well. It is chronological in sequence, a multi-scholared work and one with a rich international flavour (of the 11 writers, six are from different countries). Dick spoke of the editing work in which a team of three are reading every chapter and suggesting changes to get a sense of integration and coherence. Dick was thanked for the valuable work he is coordinating.
The main address for this session was given by Rev Dr Luai Chin Thang and was entitled, Being Baptist in India: A Perspective from the Evangelical Baptists of Manipur. (To read this paper, click here)
Session 3 Thursday 29 July 7.00-9.00pm
This Thursday session was attended by the following people: Zelijko Mraz (Croatia), K D Tu Lum (Myanmar), Russell Dilday (USA), Bill Slack (Scotland), Dick Pierard (USA), Bill Slack (Scotland), K D Tu Lum (Myanmar), Apo Rageci (Fiji), David Parker (Australia), Noah Moses Israel (South Africa), Thomas Corts (USA), Bernard Spooner (USA), Jere Allen (USA), Luai Chinthang, M C Ko (South Korea), James A Scott (USA), Craig Sherouse (USA), Linda Petrie (USA), Lou Petrie (USA), Ken Manley (Australia), Chuck Weber (USA) and Geoff Pound (Australia).
Vice-chair, Zelijko Mraz, welcomed people and led in prayer. The session has a distinctly Aussie flavour.
Geoff Pound,
secretary of the BWA Heritage & Identity Commission and Principal
of Whitley College in Melbourne gave the first paper, The
Life & Ministry of Australian Baptist, F W Boreham. (to read this paper, click here)
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David Parker,
member of the commission, web master and consultant theologian
gave the second paper, Striving for the Mastery-The Evolution
of a Post-Modern Baptist Church in Queensland, Australia. (to read this paper, click here)
Session 4 Friday 30 July 2.00-4.00pm
The final session took a different format
and was an open forum on the theme, Baptist Identity in Light
of Recent Events. Approximately twenty-five people attended
(we did not take an attendance record) and enjoyed a conversation
on issues to do with Baptist life and identity in the light of
the withdrawal of the Southern Baptist Convention from the BWA.
Dick Pierard concluded this session with informal reflections based on a paper entitled, Baptist Historiography in the New Century: What themes should we be addressing? (This paper was presented at the Fellowship of Baptist Historians in Vancouver, Washington, 27 May 2004, and will appear in Baptist History and Heritage, the journal of the Baptist History and Heritage Society. [To read the paper, click here - use browser 'back' button to return.]
The session concluded with thanks to those who gathered at this session and the other sessions in Seoul. Thanks was expressed by Tony Cupit to Chuck Weber for his fine leadership of the commission during this quinquennium.
Resources
During the week, various resources of interest to Baptist historians and others were mentioned.
A festschrift for Erich Geldbach, a longtime supporter
of the BWA, was published in February 2004 on the occasion of
his retirement from the chair of Ecumenics and Confessional Studies
at the University of Bochum in Germany. Edited by Lena Lybaek,
Konrad Raiser, and Stefanie Schardien, it is entitled Gemeinschaft
der Kirchen und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung: Die Wuerde des
Anderen und das Recht anders zu denken, it was a release of
the distinguished academic publisher Lit Verlag in Muenster. Among
the 50 contributors to the work are several people involved in
BWA life, including Paul S. Fiddes, William H. Brackney, Ken Manley,
Richard Pierard, James Leo Garrett, Jr., Keith Clements, Thorwald
Lorenzen, Glenn Hinson, and Denton Lotz.
The controversy surrounding Dr Geldbach's appointment as a Baptist
to the theological faculty at Bochum is examined in Charles McDaniel
and Richard V. Pierard, "The Politics of Appointments to
Protestant Theological Faculties in Germany: The Case of Professor
Erich Geldbach," Journal of Church and State 46 (Winter
2004), 55-82.
Copies of Dr Richard V. Pierard's paper to the Third International Congress on Baptist Studies, Prague, czech Republic, 19 July, 2003, Missions and Baptist Identity were also available. Contact: CharRichP@aol.com
Next year, God willing, in Birmingham.
Geoff Pound
Secretary, BWA Baptist
Heritage & Identity Commission
Rev Dr Geoff Pound
Principal, Whitley College Director of Leadership Training, Baptist
Union of Victoria Whitley College, 271 Royal Pde. PARKVILLE 3052
Phone: (61)+ 03+ 93423 567 Mobile: 0417
326 112 Fax: (03) 9347 8052
Email: gpound@whitley.unimelb.edu.au
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© Copyright BWA Heritage and Identity Commission Aug 2004