For the 16th annual Scholar-in-Residence lecture series, Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School, joins Union this week with the theme “To the Winds Thy Fears: Christian Witness in Nazi Germany.”
The lectures are taking place now and run through Thursday in the Carl Grant Events Center. George is founding dean and professor of Divinity at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
“We chose the speaker we did because he is a scholar of national and international prominence who shares our same institutional values,” said Scott Huelin, director of the Honors Community and associate professor of English. “These are the two main criteria for selection each year.”
Over the course of eight days, George will have spoken four times.
On March 20, he spoke on “The Road to Barmen” and on March 22 on “Doing Theology As Though Nothing Has Happened: The Witness of Barth and Bonhoeffer.”
He will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday on “No One Left For Me: The Lonely Courage of Martin Niemoller” and at 7 p.m. Thursday on “Giving Thanks in Hitler’s Reich: Paul Schneider as Pastor and Martyr.”
The way Christians reacted in Germany to the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party has always been a topic of interest to him, George said.
“Most went along with the Nazification of the churches, some tried to lay low and get by under the radar and a few brave souls resisted strongly, and many of them paid the price for doing so,” said George. “I believe that biography can tell us a lot about history.”
During the lectures, he has been discussing “several important figures in this spiritual and public struggle, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Martin Niemoller and Paul Schnedier,” he said.
In addition to publishing books and journal articles, George has been a visiting professor at the International Baptist Theological Seminary and has served as professor of church history and historical theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
