Seminary Founder to Give OBU Hobbs Address

The founding dean of a growing school of divinity will deliver the 45th Hobbs Lecture at Oklahoma Baptist University Wednesday, Oct. 2, during the university's 10 a.m. chapel service.

Dr. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, will give the university's biannual address. George also serves as the senior editor of Christianity Today.

George chairs the Commission on Theological Education of the Baptist World Alliance and serves on the board of advisors for the Center for Baptist History and Heritage and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

He was chair of the drafting committee for Amsterdam 2000, sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and he also is on the boards of Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Center for Catholics and Evangelical Theology, and Books and Culture: a Christian Review.

He has written and edited many books and articles including works on the lives of John Robinson, William Carey, and John Calvin. He also is the author of the volume on Galatians in Broadman and Holman's New American Commentary. His most recent books include Amazing Grace: God's Initiative, Our Response and A Mighty Long Journey: Reflections of Racial Reconciliation, published in 2000.

Before taking the helm at the Samford seminary, George served a decade as professor of church history and historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., George earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a master of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctor of theology degree from Harvard University.

He and his wife, Denise, have two children.

The Herschel H. and Frances J. Hobbs Lectureship in Baptist Faith and Heritage is OBU's first endowed lectureship, established in 1980 by friends of noted Oklahoma Baptists Dr. and Mrs. Hobbs, in honor of the couple's outstanding Christian service.

Dr. Hobbs was pastor of Oklahoma City's First Baptist Church from 1949-72. He also served as preacher for the Baptist Hour from 1958-79, a ministry which was heard over 400 radio stations across the world.

Among the many offices he held was the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963. He is the author of 162 books and countless articles. He received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from OBU in 1986.

Mrs. Hobbs, who died in 1984, served as secretary of the Southern Baptist Minister's Wives Conference and was a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Woman's Missionary Union.

Dr. Hobbs died in 1995 at the age of 89.