CFC Lecture

Nathan Finn: Against “Establishmentarian” Baptist Political Theology

Nathan Finn | April 25, 2023
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The L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture hosted Dr. Nathan Finn on March 20 for the annual Carver-Barnes Lecture. Dr. Finn delivered a lecture titled, “Against ‘Establishmentarian’ Baptist Political Theology.”

Every spring semester the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture hosts the Carver-Barnes Lectures. These lectures were established in 1961 to honor the late Baptist historians, W. O. Carver and W. W. Barnes. Dr. Carver was Professor of Missions at Southern Seminary and Dr. Barnes was Professor of Church History at Southwestern Seminary. The lectures are funded by income from gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Harold C. Fechner of Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Mrs. W. Lee Beaver of Chesterfield, Missouri. The purpose of these lectures is to assist the church in its mission.

You can believe in a state church and dunk people. But you can't believe in a state church and be a Baptist.

Highlights

  • “If Baptists forget who we are and where we’ve been, we’ll lose our way.”
  • “For the earliest Baptists, true worship wasn’t the concern of the state. It wasn’t the King’s business.”
  • “Establishmentarian Baptists mean well, but now is not the time to reject the best of Baptist tradition.”
  • “Baptist political theology must also equip Baptists to challenge secularism in the public square.”
  • “You can believe in a state church and dunk people. But you can’t believe in a state church and be a Baptist.”
  • “The earliest Baptists were more concerned with religious nominalism in the visible church than with piety or heresy in the public square.”
Disclaimer

All opinions and views expressed by guest speakers are solely their own. They do not speak for nor represent SEBTS. Read our expressed views and confessions.

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Nathan Finn

Nathan Finn is the Provost and Dean of the University Faculty at North Greenville University, where he has served since 2018. Previously, he served as Dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University and as associate professor of historical theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is co-author of The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement (B&H Academic, 2015) and author of History: A Student's Guide (Crossway, 2016).

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