Finn to address ‘Perspectives on Southern Baptist Cultural Engagement’ in Land Center Lecture Series

Nathan Finn, Baptist historian and provost and dean of the university faculty at North Greenville University, will address the topic, “Perspectives on Southern Baptist Cultural Engagement” in three addresses during the free Land Center Lecture Series to be held Oct. 25-26 at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary campus in Fort Worth, Texas.

Finn was named the featured speaker after the original speaker, ethicist C. Ben Mitchell, had to withdraw from participation in the lectures due to a severe back injury.

During the two-day event of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement, Finn will provide hour-long lectures on three separate topics: “The Separation of Church and State: A Southern Baptist Perspective,” “Southern Baptists and Darwinism: The Evolution of a Perennial Controversy,” and “Evangelical by Conviction, Baptist by Tradition: David Dockery’s Vision for Higher Education.”

Finn, who serves as one of the senior fellows of the Land Center, was elected the Southern Baptist Convention’s recording secretary at the annual meeting in Anaheim in June. He began serving at NGU, located in Tigerville, South Carolina, in 2018, following three years as the dean of the School of Theology and Missions at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and eight years on the faculty of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

A prolific author and editor, Finn authored History: A Student’s Guide, for which David S. Dockery, interim president of Southwestern Seminary wrote the foreword, and The Sum and Substance of the Gospel: The Christ-Centered Piety of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and co-authored The Baptist Story: From English Sect to Global Movement with Anthony L. Chute and Michael A. G. Haykin, and Historical Theology for the Church with Jason G. Duesing, and co-edited A Handbook of Theology with Dockery and Daniel L. Akin. He has also contributed articles to the Southwestern Journal of Theology, The Gospel Coalition, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Finn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia, and both the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Southeastern Seminary. In 2018, he was named both the Young Alumni of the Year and the Ministerial Alumni of the Year at Brewton-Parker.

In addition to his administrative leadership role at NGU, Finn is a professor of Christian studies and history and teaches courses in the areas of leadership, theology, and church history.

For more information about the Land Center Lectures, including the schedule and registration information, please click here.