The Baptist House of Studies provides preparation for Baptist ministry through theological education and participation in a supportive community. Baptist faculty and administrative staff serve as advisers and mentors for the more than 100 students with Baptist affinities and connections. Baptist House assists students with needs from financial aid to placement, and the Baptist Alumni Network provides opportunities for a continuing relationship with the Divinity School.
Duke's Baptist House Celebrates 15 Years
Come and See
The Baptist battles of the past have left an enduring legacy of polarizing divisions between north and south, black and white, liberal and conservative, right and left, red and blue. Is there a dynamic center that offers alternatives to the polarization that exists in our culture and our churches?
The greatest challenge we face may be trying to imagine a way beyond the default either/or engagement to a standpoint that is both/and. Can we proclaim a gospel that is both evangelical and ecumenical? Is it possible to teach a doctrine that is both orthodox and radical? What might it look like for the church to be both catholic and baptist? How could our worship of the Triune God be both liturgical and spiritual and our confession of faith be both communal and personal or our education be about both heart and head?
For such alternatives yet to be to become realities will depend on locations with the resources to foster serious intellectual and theological reflection about what it means to be Baptist and Christian today. Duke Divinity School is just such a place.
Our vision for the Baptist House of Studies is to be an epicenter for Baptist intellectual life in the 21st century as well as a crucial location for the education and equipping of church leaders for the next generation. Can this vision become a reality? We believe, with God’s help, that it can. We invite you to come and see.
Curtis W. Freeman
*Quotes on the Baptist House pages are from The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, and the illustrations are by William Blake.
