The first “Austin Graduate School of Theology – First Things Lecture” is in the books. By all accounts, the event was a great success.
On Monday evening, September 14, Robert Louis Wilken spoke to a crowd of 228 in downtown Austin. The lecture topic was “Christianity and Religious Freedom.” The notion of religious freedom, according to Wilken, is not a result of Enlightenment rationalism or secular principles, but is a product of Christian thought. In fact, the early church father, Tertullian, was the first one to use the phrase, “religious freedom.” The early church was attempting to carve out a place for itself in the midst of an Empire that pressed for conformity to its rituals and gods. One’s faith and the exercise of religious conscience should not be coerced. Unfortunately, Christendom, especially after Emperor Theodosius, often obscured the idea of religious freedom. It was championed once again by various Protestant groups during the Reformation.
The English colonies that became the United States of America were by and large populated by religious non-conformists who sought religious freedom. This principle was enshrined in the so-called Establishment Clause, the opening words of the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” As it turns out, Protestant reformers and America’s founding fathers were aware of the Christian case for religious freedom as articulated first by Tertullian.
On Tuesday, Wilken then spoke to a small group of Austin Grad faculty, local alumni, and friends. The topic on this day was “Global Christianity: Then and Now.” Wilken noted that church history courses tend to be courses in western church history, and that there is a rich history of the spread of Christianity beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. After each lecture there was a Question and Answer period. Watch Tuesday's speech here.
We at Austin Grad are grateful to Robert Wilken for sharing his insights with our community, and we are grateful to First Things magazine for co-sponsoring the event. Before these lectures, many friends of Austin Grad were perhaps unfamiliar with First Things, and many readers of First Things may not have heard of Austin Grad. These lectures were a first step in remedying that. We look forward to future collaboration with First Things.
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Austin Graduate School of Theology is an Austin seminary offering B.A. and M.A. ministry degrees, and Austin Grad is accredited by the same agency that accredits Abilene Christian University, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, The University of Texas, and others. Austin Grad -- one of the top Christian colleges in Texas and among the top seminaries in Texas -- is affiliated with the Church of Christ and is in conversation with all who confess Jesus as Lord. Austin Grad promotes faith seeking understanding and is committed to providing a high quality education for those who desire to be equipped to expand the Kingdom of God.
