Finn to Deliver Hobbs Lecture Oct. 19

Dr. Nathan Finn, dean of the School of Theology and Missions and professor of Christian thought and tradition at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, will deliver the annual Hobbs Lecture during OBU’s chapel service Wednesday, Oct. 19. The event will take place in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium at 10 a.m.

The Herschel H. and Frances J. Hobbs Lectureship in Baptist Faith and Heritage was OBU's first endowed lectureship beginning in the fall of 1980. It is one of four OBU lectureships designed to help students grow in their knowledge of Baptist theology, Baptist history and studies of the Bible.

Friends of the late Dr. Hobbs, who was pastor of First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and of the late Mrs. Hobbs, created the endowed fund in honor of the couple's years of outstanding Christian service. The Hobbs Lectureship program annually sponsors a lecture at OBU and highlights speakers that share phases of Baptist faith and heritage with the OBU community. OBU's Herschel H. Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry also bears his name.

Prior to his current position, Finn served for eight years as associate professor of historical theology and spiritual formation at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He also founded the seminary’s Center for Spiritual Formation and Evangelical Spirituality. Finn continues to teach in the Ph.D. program at Southeastern, where he supervises doctoral students in historical theology.

Finn has been blogging since 2003 and loves to write for online audiences. In 2008, he co-founded Southeastern’s faculty blog, “Between the Times,” which he contributed to for seven years. Finn has also written for several other websites, including “Historia Ecclesiastica” (The Andrew Fuller Center), “Facts and Trends” (LifeWay Christian Resources), “Canon and Culture” (The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), the “LifeWay Church Leaders” blog, the “Jonathan Edwards Center” at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, the “Desiring God” blog, “The Anxious Bench,” “The Gospel Project” blog, the “B&H Academic” blog, the “Crossway” blog, the “Credo Magazine” blog, and “SBC Voices.”

He is a member of several scholarly and professional organizations related to church history, theological studies, and Christian spirituality. He’s a member of the steering committee for the Baptist life and thought study group of the Evangelical Theological Society and a member of the continuation committee for the International Conference on Baptist Studies. Finn also serves as a fellow for the Research Institute at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, a fellow for the The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and an external fellow for the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Seminary.

Finn has been married to his wife Leah since 2001. She is a full-time homemaker and homeschool educator. They are the parents of four children: Georgia, Baxter, Eleanor, and Fuller.