On Tuesday March 16, Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, gave the fifth annual David and Lanese Dockery lectureship on Baptist thought and heritage in the Carl Grants Events Center at Union University.
Mohler is also the president of the Evangelical Theological Society and hosts two podcasts, “The Briefing” and “Thinking in Public.” He serves as editor-in-chief of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. His past works include the authorship of books on current issues and Baptist thought.
The David and Lanese Dockery lectureship in Baptist thought and heritage began in 2017. It is named in honor of Union University’s 15th president, Dr. David Dockery, and first lady, Lanese Dockery who served Union from 1996 to 2014.
This year, the two consecutive lectures focused on the themes of religious liberty and contemporary Baptist thought.
The first lecture was titled “Religious Liberty and the Imago Dei: Why Recognize any Liberty?” In this lecture, Mohler set up the context by talking about the pre-political nature of rights which comes as a result of the Imago Dei, which is Latin for “image of God.”
He continued by explaining that politics has shifted in America.
“We are living in an age in which, increasingly, our government doesn’t believe that anything is pre-political at all,” Mohler said. “But if everything is what politics determines what it is, then everything is political.”
The second lecture was titled “Religious Liberty and the Looming Crisis: So, Which Liberty Shall Prevail?” In this lecture, Mohler traced the history of the shift in American politics that led to the introduction of the Equality Act, a bill that Mohler argues was the end of religious liberty.
To answer a question at the end of his final lecture, Mohler went back to a point he made in his first talk, reminding his audience that the government can take everything but one’s soul, so Christians have nothing to lose.
“It was encouraging for me because I know it’s going to get worse,” said Nick Palmer, a freshman Christian studies major. “But I know that the hope that I have is far greater than whatever this world can throw at me.”