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Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement Will Continue to Emphasize Impact of Disintegration of the Family on Society
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Dedicates Mathena Hall, Home of Center Named for Southern Evangelical Seminary President
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has officially dedicated the new Mathena Hall, which houses the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement, named for the Evangelical leader, former president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and current president of Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES, www.ses.edu).
The Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement was established at Southwestern Seminary to open doors for the study and research of ethics, public policy and other cultural and philosophical issues. Land is also a visiting professor at Southwestern and is the author of numerous books, including “The Divided States of America: What Liberals and Conservatives Get Wrong about Faith and Politics.”
“The dedication of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement was a very humbling moment and one for which I am extremely grateful,” Land said. “Serving God’s people called Southern Baptists for 25 years as head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission was the honor and privilege of a lifetime. The Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement located on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where thousands of seminary students will have the opportunity to strategize and discuss ways to engage the culture, is also extremely gratifying.”
Land added that a significant portion of his approximately 12,000- to 14,000-volume library was donated to Southwestern to be housed in the Land Center, along with numerous archives, records and memorabilia from his 25 years of service with the ERLC as well as his 55 years of ministry.
“Hopefully, research students will find the information contained there helpful as they seek to learn lessons from the past that can be applied to the future,” Land continued. “I am grateful beyond words to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission for providing a seed gift that helped make the Richard Land Center possible. I am also extremely grateful to Southwestern for its commitment of resources to the Center. It was very encouraging to see that the first event after the dedication of the Land Center focused on the family and how the increasing disintegration of the nuclear family is having enormous negative impact on our culture. That was a theme that I focused on during my 25 years at the ERLC, and I’m delighted that the Richard Land Center is continuing that emphasis.”
After the dedication last Wednesday afternoon, Land and his wife, Dr. Rebekah Land, conducted tours of the Center. The Center will host regular events on the Southwestern campus, as well as a lecture series. Dr. Evan Lenow, associate professor of ethics at Southwestern, is the Center’s director. For more information on the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement, click here or here.
Much of Land’s experience in ministry has centered in the areas of law, politics and faith, which is also a focus of Southern Evangelical Seminary’s new Philosophy, Politics and Economics concentration.
The PPE concentration introduces students to the Christian worldview of how philosophy, politics and economics converge. The concentration will also train pastors, undergraduate and graduate students, along with lay people interested in the Judeo-Christian perspective, of the vital interconnectedness of philosophy, politics, economics and the eternal truths of Scripture. For more information on the SES PPE concentration, click here.
For 25 years, SES has been educating Christians about how to best defend their beliefs and recently hosted the 24th annual National Conference on Christian Apologetics at Calvary Church in Charlotte, N.C. One of the largest events of its kind, the event focused on the timely theme of “Pursuing a Faith That Thinks” and welcomed the nation’s top apologists, who gave just over 2,000 attendees new presentations on studies, research, history and insight into apologetics and other intellectual, scientific and religious fields.
Read more about Southern Evangelical Seminary and SES President Dr. Richard Land, as well as his radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” which airs on nearly 800 stations nationwide, here.
For more information on SES, visit its web site at www.ses.edu or its Facebook page, follow the SES Twitter feed, @sesapologetics, or call (800) 77-TRUTH.
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