Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures Archives - ��Ƶ

��Ƶ School of Divinity Hosts Church Historian Dr. João B. Chaves for Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures

Office of University Communications — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:31:57 +0000

Baylor Associate Professor Presents ‘Re-Inventing Church History in The Américas’

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Brazilian native Dr. João B. Chaves has built an academic career studying the intersections of religion, culture and public life across the Américas. An associate professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, he will bring his expertise to ��Ƶ on Oct. 27 as the featured speaker for the 2026 Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures.

“The School of Divinity is looking forward to hosting Dr. João Chaves,” said Dr. James R. McConnell Jr., interim dean of the School of Divinity. “Dr. Chaves is a church historian who focuses on religious history in Central and South America. Dr. Chaves will bring two lectures that will explore the influx and influence on Latin America of Christian missionary movements from the United States.”

Presented under the theme “Re-Inventing Church History in The Américas,” the annual lectureship includes these presentations by Chaves:

10 a.m. – Missionaries of Domination: Genealogies of Power and the Anti-Democratic Architecture of Christian Supremacy.
1 p.m. – Evangelists of Dissent: Jesus, Nietzsche, Xangô, and the Futures of Rights-Based Societies.

Chaves joined Baylor University’s Department of Religion in 2023 after serving at both Princeton Theological Seminary and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

He is an award-winning author and has published extensively on Baptist missions, Pentecostal and charismatic movements, and the role of faith in public life. His book, “Migrational Religion,” received the 2022 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize. His research has been supported by major organizations and institutions, including the Lilly Endowment and Princeton Theological Seminary.

In 2023, Chaves and co-author Mikeal C. Parsons received national recognition when their book, “Remembering Antônia Teixeira: A Story of Missions, Violence, and Institutional Hypocrisy,” was named a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in Biography.

Beyond academia, Chaves has contributed opinion articles to publications including The Washington Post and The Christian Century. He has served in leadership roles with organizations such as the Baptist World Alliance and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion.

Registration Information

Date: Oct. 27.
Location: Dover Memorial Chapel, ��Ƶ.
Cost: Free; registration required and includes lunch.
Registration deadline: Oct. 20; register .
For additional information, contact Lisa Hollifield at lhollifield@gardner-webb.edu.

Auxiliary aids will be made available to persons with disabilities upon request 10 working days prior to the event. Please call 704-406-4270 or email disabilityservices@gardner-webb.edu with your request.

About the Mary Washburn Wilson Lectureship

The Mary Washburn Wilson Lectureship is supported by the Mary Washburn Wilson Visiting Scholar Endowment, established in honor of Mary Leigh Washburn Wilson (1922-2003) through a generous gift from her daughter, the Rev. Tillie Duncan, a member of the ��Ƶ Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, and her husband, Shannon Duncan. The lectureship is designed to expose students to new ideas and encourage thoughtful engagement with perspectives and concepts they may not have previously considered.

About ��Ƶ

��Ƶ is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., ��Ƶ prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Become More at .

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Theologian Peter Enns to Speak at ��Ƶ on Oct. 28 for Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series

Office of University Communications — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:23:32 +0000

Open to the Public, Free Sessions Examine the Topic: ‘Reading the Bible Prayerfully with Eyes Open’

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—The School of Divinity at ��Ƶ presents theologian and author, Peter Enns, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Faith Hall, Tucker Student Center. The program, “Reading the Bible Prayerfully and with Eyes Open,” is part of the Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series. There is no cost to attend, and lunch is included.

“We look forward to hosting Dr. Peter Enns for the Mary Washburn Wilson lectures,” asserted Interim School of Divinity Dean Dr. Jim McConnell. “Dr. Enns is a biblical scholar known for his insightful reading of scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. Dr. Enns will encourage us to read the Bible with our eyes open to the challenges that these texts present, but also open to the promises of hope found within them.”

Enns earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University and is Abram S. Clemens professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. He has written several books including “The Bible Tells Me So,” “The Sin of Certainty,” “How the Bible Actually Works,” and his latest “Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming.”

He is also cohost of the popular podcast “The Bible for Normal People.” The focus of his work centers on understanding the Bible as an ancient text and thinking through what it means to read that ancient text well today.

The Mary Washburn Wilson lectures are supported by the Mary Washburn Wilson Visiting Scholar Endowment, which was established in honor of Mary Leigh Washburn Wilson (1922-2003) through a generous gift by her daughter, the Rev. Tillie Duncan, a member of the GWU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, along with her husband, Shannon Duncan. The lectureship is designed to expose students to new ideas and to make them aware of ideas not previously thought about in an intentional way.

The schedule follows:

Session One: 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., The Challenge of Reading The Bible In The Modern World
Lunch: 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Session Two: 1 to 2 p.m., Reading The Bible With Open Eyes And Humble Hearts.

For more information, please contact Lisa Hollifield at lhollifield@gardner-webb.edu.

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��Ƶ Hosts National Advocate for Faith Freedom on Oct. 22

Office of University Communications — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 13:06:25 +0000

Executive Director for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty Amanda Tyler Featured Speaker for Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Amanda Tyler, the executive director for the Baptist Joint Committee (BJC) for Religious Liberty will be the featured speaker for the ��Ƶ School of Divinity’s Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series. The free event will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. in Dover Chapel. Tyler’s topic will be “How to End Christian Nationalism.”

Dean of the School of Divinity Dr. Robert Canoy praised the work of Tyler and her predecessors. “The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) has been blessed with great leadership for many decades,” Canoy noted. “James M. Dunn and J. Brent Walker, leaders since 1981 and 1999 respectively, have been joined by current Executive Director Amanda Tyler since 2017. As an alumna of the University of Texas School of Law, Tyler’s leadership of the BJC continues its founding focus on religious liberty for all people without which Baptists could easily be silenced in America.”

Tyler is also lead organizer of the campaign and co-host of the podcast. As executive director of BJC, Tyler upholds the historic Baptist principle of faith freedom for all. Her constitutional law analysis and advocacy for religious freedom have been featured by major news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC.

In these roles, Canoy further recognized Tyler’s “exceptional capacities for looking past short-sighted rhetoric that seems to favor Baptists, but that unfortunately could lead to a loss of Baptist freedoms should others from other backgrounds and beliefs become the majority or more powerful religious voices in America.”

He continued, “Amanda Tyler understands that religious freedom for one means religious freedom for everyone. She promotes that message and principle wherever she goes and in everything that she writes.”

Religion News Service named Tyler one of “2022’s rising stars in religion,” and she regularly preaches in Baptist churches, speaks at denominational gatherings, and leads sessions on college campuses and with community groups of all sizes. She testified before Congress in 2022 about the ways in which Christian nationalism proves cover for white supremacy, and in 2018 she spoke about threats to religious liberty around the world.

A member of the Texas and U.S. Supreme Court Bar, she has experience working in Congress, in a private legal practice and serving as a law clerk for a federal judge. Tyler is a graduate of Georgetown University and The University of Texas School of Law.

Follow Tyler on Twitter: @AmandaTylerBJC

About the Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series

The lectures are supported by the Mary Washburn Wilson Visiting Scholar Endowment, which was established in honor of Mary Leigh Washburn Wilson (1922-2003) through a generous gift by her daughter, Rev. Tillie Duncan, a member of the GWU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, along with Rev. Duncan’s husband Shannon Duncan. The lectureship is designed to expose students to new ideas and to make them aware of ideas not previously thought about in an intentional way.

About ��Ƶ

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��Ƶ School of Divinity Hosts Leader of Rural Development Coalition on Oct. 2-3

Office of University Communications — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 18:28:35 +0000

Free Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures Features Rev. Dr. K. Jason Coker Speaking on Poverty Relief

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—The Rev. Dr. K. Jason Coker, a leader in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, will be the featured speaker for the Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures on Oct 2 and 3. The School of Divinity is hosting the event each day at 1 p.m. in Dover Chapel. Both programs are free and open to the public.

Coker is the national director of “Together for Hope,” the rural development coalition of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Launched over 20 years ago, the organization focuses on four priorities of hope—education, health and nutrition, housing and environment, and social enterprise.

Coker’s themes for his lectures are “Reframing Hope,” where he will discuss helping a community see its assets and potential, and “Redefining Hope,” which is the heart of what his organization does: inspiring residents to capitalize on the gifts and talents they have. Coker will incorporate data specific to North Carolina as well as the nation.

In an interview with Drew Theological School, where he received his PhD, Coker stated, “My entire job at ‘Together for Hope’ is to reimagine a future of rural America that is thriving. How do we move from persistent rural poverty to a thriving society? This is literally a challenge of the imagination. How can we create social imagination, political imagination, economic imagination, and even religious imagination? So much of our challenge in the rural U.S. is an eroded social fabric, or a social fabric that has been knitted together with inequality and inequity.”

Coker also serves as the field coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi. After nearly two decades of life and ministry in Connecticut, he returned to his home state of Mississippi to work for peace and justice in areas of persistent rural poverty. The lessons of human compassion and equality he learned as a minister guide his work in poverty relief.

He is the author of “James in Postcolonial Perspective: The Letter as Nativist Discourse” (Fortress Press, 2015) and “Faded Flowers: Preaching in the Aftermath of Suicide” (Smyth & Helwys, 2020) and “The Corporation of God: A Biblical Critique of Global Capitalism” (Cascade Press, 2021). He is also the co-editor of “Bible and Theory: Essays in Biblical Interpretation in Honor of Stephen D. Moore” (Fortress Academic, 2020).

The Mary Washburn Wilson Lectureship is funded primarily by Wilson’s daughter, Tillie Duncan, a ��Ƶ graduate with a long-standing connection to the University. “It was named for my mother—and by extension, her family (Washburn),” Duncan explained. “She grew up in an atmosphere in which education was important and in which new ideas were at least examined. The family I grew up in had little money, but Mama was committed to making sure that her children had an opportunity for higher education. In order to provide that, she denied herself much of what she might have wanted, materially speaking, and some of what she needed.

Because of her mother’s efforts, two of her three children have post-graduate degrees. Duncan noted, “As to what my dream is for the lectures. I am passionate about racial and gender equality. I am eager for people to be exposed to new ideas; my hope being that exposure will create a kind of willingness and openness to ideas not previously thought about in an intentional way. Or a willingness to consider ideas that one may have previously rejected outright because of insular cultural customs. I want to motivate folks to dig out of the safe, self-protection of their cocoons and fly free—to reach the highest self they can be.”

About the Mary Washburn Wilson Lectureship

The lectureship is supported by the Mary Washburn Wilson Visiting Scholar Endowment, which was established in honor of Mary Leigh Washburn Wilson (1922-2003) through a generous gift by her daughter, the Reverend Tillie Duncan, a member of the ��Ƶ Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, along with her husband, Shannon Duncan. The lectureship is designed to expose students to new ideas and to make them aware of concepts not previously considered in an intentional way.

About ��Ƶ

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Best-Selling Author and Professor Beth Allison Barr Speaker for GWU Lecture Series

Office of University Communications — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:19:59 +0000

Historian, Pastor’s Wife and Mom of Two Will Discuss Biblical Womanhood

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Best-selling author and history professor is the guest speaker for the Mary Washburn Wilson Lecture Series at 1 p.m. on Nov. 14 and 15 at ��Ƶ. Barr is the author of “,” which is a USA Today Bestseller and Christianity Today 2022 Book Award Finalist in history and biography.

The lecture series, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Dover Chapel. Barr will speak on “The Cost of Complementarianism for Evangelical Women” and “The Cost of Complementarianism Beyond the Evangelical World.” A time of Q&A will be held after each presentation.

“Dr. Barr is not only a gifted, first-rate, and highly sought after historian and researcher, she blends her expertise as a scholar with a unique capacity of communication to broader groups than just the academy,” observed Dean of the School of Divinity Dr. Robert Canoy. “As a Baptist pastor’s wife and mother, she is very much at home in the local church and knows how to relate exceptionally well to persons of all ages and backgrounds.”

Barr is currently the James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University (Waco, Texas), where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. She has been a guest on NPR and featured in “The New Yorker,” and her bylines include “Religion News Service,” “The Washington Post,” “Christianity Today,” “The Dallas Morning News,” “Sojourners,” and “Baptist News Global.” She also continues to write regularly on “The Anxious Bench,” a popular religious history blog on “Patheos.”

“History forgets much more than it remembers, and what it remembers is often what people have chosen to preserve,” Barr offered. “As a medieval historian and a modern Christian, I argue that historical ignorance has paved the way for evangelical support of women’s oppression. I also contend that a lack of understanding about the broader cultural impact of these evangelical beliefs contributes to the continuation of oppressive structures outside of the church. Historical amnesia among evangelicals thus comes at great cost for not only women in the church but also for human dignity.”

Barr’s work is described as “smart,” “powerful,” and “a game changer” for women in modern evangelicalism. “The Making of Biblical Womanhood” was also named one of the best books about women in the Middle Ages by Sara M. Butler, the King George III Professor in British History at the Ohio State University in Columbus.

With her ability to connect to both academic and lay audiences, Barr speaks at international and national venues—such as the University of Notre Dame, Duke Divinity, Sarum College in Salisbury, England, the University of Calgary, Parks Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, the Evangelical Free Society of Canada, Newbigin House in San Francisco, California, and Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas.

Barr received her Bachelor of Arts in History (with a minor in Classics) from Baylor University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has served as the president of the Conference on Faith and History and president of the Texas Medieval Association, as well as remaining an active member of the International Medieval Sermon Studies Society, American Society of Church History, Sixteenth Century Society, and American Historical Association.

Barr is also the author of “The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England” and co-editor of “The Acts of the Apostles: Four Centuries of Baptist Interpretation and Faith and History: A Devotional.” Since receiving tenure in the Baylor history department in 2014, Barr has served as Graduate Program Director in History (2016-2019), received a Centennial Professor Award (2018), and served as an Associate Dean in the Baylor Graduate School (2019-2022).

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Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures Archives - ������Ƶ

������Ƶ School of Divinity Hosts Church Historian Dr. João B. Chaves for Mary Washburn Wilson Lectures