July 2015 Issue Containing the August Bible Study Lessons
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>> This is the July 2015 issue containing the August Bible Study Lessons 4 GLENN HINSON REMEMBERS THOMAS MERTON baptiststoday.org Lessons from ‘The Field’ BY J.V. MCKINNEY 14 A conversation with Bill Leonard about BIBLE STUDIES Protestant privilege, permanent transitions 36 17 FA TH™ PERSPECTIVES The continuing self-definition of John D. Pierce American evangelical Christianity 7 Executive Editor By John Pierce [email protected] Does your church know its ‘place’? Julie Steele 30 Chief Operations Officer By Stan Wilson [email protected] Jackie B. Riley Managing Editor IN THE NEWS [email protected] New Pew study reveals significant Tony W. Cartledge religious trends in U.S. 8 Contributing Editor 31 [email protected] Missions professor: Don’t equate Christianity Bruce T. Gourley with U.S. statistics 9 Online Editor/Contributing Writer Representing hope [email protected] Mercer dedicates Interfaith Prayer Garden David Cassady on Atlanta campus 10 Church Resources Editor - [email protected] Israeli soldier’s ham sandwich nearly lands him in military prison 10 Vickie Frayne Art Director John M. Templeton Jr. advanced Jannie Lister faith/science reconciliation 11 Customer Service Manager [email protected] Mormon-dominated Utah buys more candy Gifts to Baptists Today Kimberly L. Hovis than any other state 11 Marketing Associate Baptist baptism of a baby sets off debate 12 [email protected] IN HONOR OF India’s Christians concerned about Lex Horton BOB CATES Nurturing Faith Resources Manager growing attacks on religious minorities 13 [email protected] From Ernest and Mary Smith Congregation recognized by news journal Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus for faithful support 35 JAMES AND MARILYN DUNN Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus Nonreligious voters set sights on 2016 campaign 42 From Chip and Peggy Mims DIRECTORS EMERITI Vatican looks to reform its media operations 42 Thomas E. Boland JESSICA GRANT R. Kirby Godsey ‘Pro-choice’ label preferred by half of Americans 43 Mary Etta Sanders From J. Ray and Leigh Grant Mel Williams Winnie V. Williams DRAYTON AND MARY ETTA FEATURE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SANDERS Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. (chairman) Media: At 90, Jimmy Carter reflects on ‘a full life’ Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. (vice chair) By John Pierce 15 From Sarah Ann Masters Edwin Boland, Johns Creek, Ga. Ronnie Brewer, Bristol, Va. Religion and the American Presidents: Janie Brown, Elon, N.C. John Adams (1797-1801) IN MEMORY OF Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. Bob Cates, Rome, Ga. By Bruce Gourley 32 Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. HORACE A. HAMM Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. From Eugenia S. Hamm Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. Doug Dortch, Birmingham, Ala. NURTURING FAITH James M. Dunn, Winston-Salem, N.C. BILL O’LEARY Jack Glasgow, Zebulon, N.C. EXPERIENCES: Frank Granger, Athens, Ga. From Ruth S. O’Leary Cynthia Holmes, St. Louis, Mo. ADVENTURE AND David Hull, Watkinsville, Ga. Becky Matheny, Athens, Ga. INSPIRATION Tommy McDearis, Blacksburg, Va. Andrew McGill, Chattanooga, Tenn. Cynthia Wise Mitchell, Birmingham, Ala. William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas 34 Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. COVER PHOTO by John Pierce. David Turner, Richmond, Va. Clem White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Vickie Willis, Murfreesboro, TN Page 14. Donna Wood, Macon, Ga. Top right cover: Trappist monk Thomas Merton. Photo CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS courtesy RNS and used with permission of the Merton Drayton and Mary Etta Sanders Legacy Trust and the Merton Center at Bellarmine University. READERS SERVICES Mission Statement or Baptists Today serves churches by providing a reliable TEACH source of unrestricted news coverage, thoughtful analysis, helpful resources and inspiring features FACILITATE? focusing on issues of importance to Baptist Christians. Advertising GREAT BIBLE STUDY in combination is in YOUR HANDS right now! Individual and Gift Subscriptions Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318 Group or Bulk Subscriptions Nurturing Faith Bible Studies by Tony Cartledge pd. by single check or credit card are conveniently placed in the center of this news journal for each class participant — with free and Bulk sent to single address abundant teaching resources (including videos) Single Issues online at BaptistsToday.org Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA TONY’S VIDEO OVERVIEWS 31208-6318 for each lesson provide EITHER: Tax-deductible Gifts for TEACHERS Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA or 31208-6318 C FACILITATORS to show ALL [email protected] in class and then lead TODAY! well-informed discussions. organization. Letters to the Editor Writing Submissions Contact Information For more information or to place a group order, Baptists Today, P.O. Box 6318, Macon, GA 31208-6318 visit BaptistsToday.org or call 1-877-752-5658. Baptists Today (ISSN 1072-7787) is published monthly by: Baptists Today Periodical postage paid at Macon, Ga. 31208 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: Baptists TodayAll rights reserved. !" #$%& '()*+) Glenn! Hinsonoma recalls friendship" withMerto the influential contemplative# TLANTA — “A precocious monk, with Protestant-fueled busyness. Catholic monastery ceased after that, he said. poet, prophet and thinker who etched “All the way back to the seminary that day Hinson’s friendship with “Tom” grew as A himself ineradicably on my life and his statement kept echoing down the corridors he took groups to the monastery each semes- thought” is how longtime Baptist professor of my mind alongside the Protestant rubric, ter — and Hinson was invited several times to Glenn Hinson described Thomas Merton to a ‘God has no hands but our hands, no feet but take part in seminars in Merton’s hermitage. May gathering at Emory University’s Candler our feet, no voice but our voice,’” said Hinson. School of Theology. “And I kept thinking, ‘If our axiom is right INFLUENCE Hinson said he is “among an increas- — that everything depends on us — then our Merton’s writings — for Hinson and others ingly small number of people still living, apart world is in a desperate condition.’” — were not well known until after his tragic from the monks at Gethesmani, who knew Hinson pondered and prayed over death at age 53 in December 1968. On a trip to [Merton] personally and attended klatches in Merton’s assumption “that the God of this vast Bangkok, Merton was accidentally electrocuted. his hermitage.” universe is doing something we can’t control “I must confess that I didn’t really get to That friendship, he said, was “one of my and thus need to pay attention to.” know his writing and thinking until after his happiest accidents.” A couple of weeks later Hinson received a death,” said Hinson. “… What prompted me note from Merton that he would be coming to to read Merton’s writings, all then in print, ‘OUR BONUS’ Louisville and would like to pay a visit. Hinson were invitations just after his death to speak asked Merton to speak to his class. about him.” In November 1960, Hinson took a group “I can’t speak to groups,” the monk wrote Best known is Merton’s 1948 auto- of church history students from Southern in response, “but if some of my friends happen biographical The Seven Storey Mountain. Baptist Theological Seminary to the Abbey to be around I can talk to them.” As Hinson read and spoke on Merton, of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Ky., for the So Hinson assembled the seminary faculty such as lectures at a Baptist college in Wales first time. Sometimes that story has been for a two-hour conversation among “friends” in 1970, he began to incorporate some of misrepresented. with Thomas Merton. Criticism from some Merton’s thinking into his own. He was “No, I didn’t take them to meet Thomas colleagues about taking students to the attracted to Merton’s “progression from radical Merton, about whom I knew virtually nothing,” said Hinson. “I wanted to expose them to the Middle Ages; and they were, for Gethsemani was a very austere place in those days.” Encountering Merton, said Hinson, “was our bonus.” Merton shared insightfully with the students about life in the monastery. “His insight, humor and engaging manner disarmed us,” said Hinson. Hinson recalled an embarrassing ques- tion from one Baptist student, basically asking Merton why a bright person like him would throw his life away in such a place. Hinson expected the student to be devoured by the sharp-minded monk. Instead, Hinson recalled, Merton grinned and said, “I am here because I believe in prayer; that is my vocation.” BEYOND BUSYNESS “I had never met anyone who believed in Baptist Spirituality: A Call for Renewed Attentiveness to God prayer enough to think of it as a vocation,” said Hinson. Merton’s response caused Hinson to wrestle with that idea and how it contrasted 4 world denial to critical world affirmation.” defects of my own that I had projected upon it.” And Hinson began to plug into the Merton’s new thinking, however sudden or contemplative tradition as being vital for all protracted, said Hinson, is why his influence has followers of Jesus. continued to expand since his death. While Merton’s writings have gained great “Were it not for this ‘second conversion,’” notoriety, Hinson warns that Merton “would said Hinson, “we would not have gathered never have thought he had spoken a final and here to commemorate Merton’s 100th birthday definitive word on any subject.” — thinking about how we might extend his Merton, he added, “continually fed earlier message to a wider circle of humankind.” thoughts through his fertile mind in an effort to come up with more mature perspectives.” GREAT GIFT Merton’s great gift to broader communities of PROGRESSION faith is obvious, said Hinson.