Issue: Spring 2017 | Posted: June 1, 2017
1050 U.U. Drive
Patterson gives inaugural Dockery Lectures on Baptist Thought and Heritage
Jim Patterson, university professor of Christian thought and tradition and associate dean for the School of Theology and Missions, delivered the inaugural Dockery Lectures on Baptist Thought and Heritage March 14.
The lecture series, named for former Union President David S. Dockery and First Lady Lanese Dockery, will be an annual event designed to examine the importance of the Baptist heritage, the distinctives of Baptist thought and the influence of the Christian intellectual tradition.
Patterson gave two lectures for the inaugural event, the first entitled 鈥淭he Baptist Ecclesiological Legacy: Some Problematic Traditions.鈥 In his address, Patterson cited individualism and pragmatism as two problem-causing issues for Baptists.
鈥淏aptists need ecclesiological consistency that is rooted in Scripture, doctrine and the best traditions from our past,鈥 Patterson said. 鈥淲eak or compromised ecclesiology is one of the most notable failures of contemporary Baptist thought.鈥
Patterson said individualism, which is more of a problem among left-leaning Baptists, and pragmatism, which is more frequent on the right, 鈥渓ure us into thinking that either the time-tested distinctives do not really matter or that we are simply being relevant to the times.
鈥淚n the final analysis, however, because our churches play such a vital role in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, a flawed or tainted ecclesiology will obstruct the effective proclamation of the gospel.鈥