Who are the Bapto-Catholics?

In thinking about Bapto-Catholic understandings of Baptism, I decided it might be pertinent to give some examples of other thinkers who are (or at least appear to be) actually doing the work of charting the course for the retrieval of a more fully catholic (ecumenical, universally Christian) understanding of church in Baptist communities.  

The thinkers listed below are those who - in my estimation - are actively working in this direction.  They may or may not think of themselves as moving in this direction but that, I suppose, is the beauty of interpretation.  

Note: * denotes original signatory of a document entitled "Re-Envisioning Baptist Identity: A Manifesto for Baptist Communities in North America" it has become somewhat widely known by both proponents and detractors as the "Baptist Manifesto."  This document represents for many a paradigmatic step towards a Bapto-Catholic vision of the church.

• Paul S. Fiddes is one of the more well-known folks who, by his ecclesiastical and theological work, is doing the work of concrete engagement with the breadth of the Christian tradition.  He is a professor of systematic theology at Oxford University and the Director of Research at Regent's Park College (Oxon).  He chairs the Commission on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation of the Baptist World Alliance and has done much in the way of ecumenical dialogue between Baptists, Catholics, Orthodox as well as other protestant bodies.  His most well-known publication is probably The Creative Suffering of God which was published in 1988.  The book that most clearly showcases his involvement in this conversation is Tracks and Traces: Baptist Identity in Church and Theology.


• Steve Harmon is a professor @ Beeson Divinity School at Samford University.  He was my theology professor during my first year at Campbell University and is a patristics scholar.  In addition to his work in the academy, he has served the church in pastoral ministry and he currently serves as the vice-chair of the Commission on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation of the Baptist World Alliance.  Relevant publications include: Towards Baptist Catholicity: Essays on Tradition and the Baptist Vision and Every Knee Should Bow: Biblical Rationales for Universal Salvation in Early Christian Thought.


• Barry Harvey* is professor of theology in the Honors College at Baylor University.  He also teaches and supervises graduate work in the graduate program in Religious Studies.  His relevant publications include Can These Bones Live: A Catholic Baptist Engagement with Ecclesiology, Hermeneutics, and Social Theory and Another City: An Ecclesiological Primer for a Post-Christian World.


• James Wm. McClendon, Jr.* was, at the time of his death, professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.  He's one of the more "famous" theologians associated with the Bapto-Catholic "movement."  He is credited by some to be one of the catalysts for both the narrative and non-foundationalist theological movements.  His most important publications include his three-volume Systematic Theology - Ethics, Doctrine and Witness and Biography as Theology.


• Michael Broadway* is professor of theology at Shaw University Divinity School.  He blogs here, here, here and here.


• Curtis Freeman* is research professor of theology and the director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School.  An article about Dr. Freeman's journey as an 'other' Baptist can be found here.  Along with James Wm. McClendon and C. Rossalee Velloso Da Silva he is the editor of Baptist Roots: A Reader in the Theology of a Christian People.


• Elizabeth Newman* is professor of theology and Ethics at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.  She writes for the Associated Baptist Press and is on the board of directors for the Ekklesia Project.  She is the author of Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers.  


• Philip Thompson* is professor of Theology and Christian Heritage at Sioux Falls Seminary.  He is co-editor of Recycling the Past or Researching History: Studies in Baptist Historiography and Myths and Baptist Sacramentalism in the Studies in Baptist History and Thought series published by Paternoster Press. 


• Mark Medley is associate professor of Christian Theology at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky.  He is the author of Imago Trinitatis: Toward a Relational Understanding of Human Becoming.


• Cameron Jorgenson is associate professor of Theology and Ethics at Campbell University Divinity School.  His research focuses on finding ways that Baptists can engage theologically with other Christian traditions - especially Catholicism and Orthodoxy.


• Adam C. English is assistant professor of Theology at Campbell University.  He is the author of A Pocket History of Theology and The Possibility of Christian Philosophy: Maurice Blondel at the Intersection of Theology and Philosophy (part of the Routledge Press "Radical Orthodoxy" series).

Please note: not everyone on this list would identify themselves as Bapto-Catholic, Catholic Baptist, etc.  Nevertheless, each person listed above is someone I have encountered either through personal conversation or through gracious reading who I believe to be an important voice in the Baptist retrieval of the wider Christian tradition for theology and church life.  If you know of other theologians or pastors currently involved in this work that I've missed, please let me know and I'll be glad to add to this list (which, I hope will grow over time).

In the next post, I'll be discussing Baptism and Bapto-Catholicism.