The 2022 Whitley at Whitley Lecture will be presented by Baptist Pastor and Oxford theologian, Rev Dr Andy Goodliff on the topic of:
‘The ruling Christ and the Witnessing Church: Towards a Baptist Political Theology’
The lecture will take place on Monday September 12th from 6:15pm – 8pm, at St Paschal Box Hill. You can attend in person of via Zoom.
Andy will outline a political theology that sees baptism as a political act and church membership as a commitment to an ongoing ‘political discipleship’ He challenges baptised members of the church to avoid uncritical acceptance of all political ideologies that challenge our primary loyalty to the rule of Christ.
Dr Anne Klose, Lecturer in Baptist Studies at Malyon College, Brisbane, will offer a formal response and vote of thanks after Andy’s lecture.
Following both presentations, guests and friends will have the chance to engage in an extended Q&A.
If you would like to join us from 5.00pm for conversation and light refreshments prior to the lecture, please register by 5pm on Wednesday 7th September.
The Lecture will be live-streamed via Zoom – all online attendees will be given Zoom details via email prior to the event.
Too compelling to miss. Register your attendance here: https://bit.ly/3PXCSiv
We hope to see you there!
Read more about this year’s ‘Whitley at Whitley’ Lecturer
Andy Goodliff has been the minister of Belle Vue Baptist Church, Southend-on-Sea since 2010.
He then spent several years as a church youth worker and RE teacher before training for ministry at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. His PhD (St. Andrew’s, 2018), now published as Renewing a Modern Denomination (Pickwick, 2020), focused on the renewal of the British Baptist Union during the 1990s and early 2000s. He has co-edited Gathering Disciples (2017), Rhythms of Faithfulness (2018), and Reconciling Rites (2020). He is a co-founder of Theology Live and an editor of the Journal of Baptist Theology in Context. He has recently been appointed as the part-time Lecturer in Baptist History at Regent’s Park College, alongside his continuing pastoral role.
An engaging pastor, presenter, scholar, and speaker, Andy’s expertise and insight will be of interest to our Baptist movement in Australia. His work on denominational renewal among Baptists explores the tensions between missional and theological renewal. His interests and research cover several wider themes, including contemporary Baptist ministry, Baptist identity, and the work of various Baptist scholars, including James McClendon and Ernest A. Payne.
Andy’s recent writing includes:
- Renewing a Modern Denomination (Monographs in Baptist History; Pickwick, 2020)
- with Paul Goodliff, ‘Theology, Ministry and the Christian Life’ in Myk Habets et al (eds.), The T & T Clark Handbook of Colin Gunton (T & T Clark, 2021)
- ‘Ernest A. Payne: Forerunner of Catholic Baptists’, Baptist Quarterly 52.2 (April 2021)
- ‘Baptists and Same-Sex Relationships: A Brief History’, Baptist Ministers’ Journal 353 (January 2022)
- ‘Ministry and Geography’ in Andy Goodliff and John Colwell (ed.), Ministry in Conversation (Wipf & Stock, 2022)
- ‘A Summons to be Heard: Towards a More Just Baptist Identity’, Journal of European Baptist Studies (forthcoming)
- ‘The Reception History of James McClendon, Jr. in the United Kingdom’, Journal for Baptist Theology in Context (forthcoming)