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Harry Vaughan Smith
Distinguished Visiting Professors of Christianity

Dr. and Mrs. Harry Vaughan Smith made a liberal gift to Mercer University in 1990 to establish a distinguished visiting professorship and lecture series in the Christianity department. The gift bears witness to the life-long commitment the late Harry Vaughan Smith had to Mercer University that began when he enrolled as a freshman in 1920.

A 1924 graduate of Mercer, Harry Vaughan Smith served as pastor of several prominent churches in Georgia before becoming Alumni Secretary and Assistant to the President at Mercer in 1946, a post he held until 1955. From 1955 until 1970 he distinguished himself as the Executive-Director of the Georgia Baptist Foundation. In all of his years of service Dr. Smith was a faithful worker on behalf of all Georgia Baptist causes, but always he maintained a special interest in Mercer University and the cause of Christian higher education.

	2012: Diana Butler Bass February
	2011: Walter B. Shurden February 8-9
	2010: Pui Lan Kwok February 23-24 CHRISTIANITY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Postcolonialism and World Christianity The Bible and Sexuality: Does the Church Have Anything Good to Say About Sex? Obama, American Empire, and Prophetic Christianity
	2009: Marcus Borg February 17-18 RETHINKING THE BIG QUESTIONS: GOD, JESUS, AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE Thinking about God Again Thinking about Jesus Again Thinking about the Christian Life Again
	2008: Tony Campolo February 26-27 A SOCIOLOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY Durkheim and Marx Considered and Critiqued Being Christian in a Post-Modern Society Becoming Red Letter Christians
	2007: Renita J. Weems February 20-21 PROPHETS, PREACHERS, AND FINDING YOUR PURPOSE: LESSONS FROM THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH Jeremiah 1:1-10: Your Purpose in Life Is to Figure Out Your Purpose in Life Jeremiah 7: Politics, Prayer, and Prophets in Times of National Crises Jeremiah 9:17-21: Weeping, Wailing, and Recovering Women's Voices in the Book of Jeremiah
	2006: Bill J. Leonard SIGNS OF THE TIMES: CONTEMPORARY RELIGION IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Spirituality in America: Catholics, Evangelicals, Buddhists and Serpent Handlers The Church: Joel Osteen, Mega-Churches, and the Non-Denominationalizing of America Drinking the Golden Calf and Other Strange Bible Stories: Revisiting the Ancient Text
	2005: William E. Hull BEST-SELLING CHRISTIANITY: JESUS CHRIST AS SUPERSTAR The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown on Women in the Life of Jesus Beyond Belief: Dan Brown on Jesus Outside the New Testament The Passion of the Christ: Mel Gibson on the Death of Jesus
	2004: Katie Geneva Cannon TRAVERSALS AND REVERSALS IN CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN ETHICS Untying Ethical Tongues: Social Teachings in Black Sacred Rhetoric Unshackling Ethical Truths: A Womanist Critique of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Unearthing Ethical Treasurers: The Intrusive Markers of Social Class
	2003: Walter Wink JESUS AND THE SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE The Myth of Redemptive Violence Jesus' Answer to Violence Nonviolence for the Violent
	2002: James Forbes THE SPIRITUAL RENEWAL OF THE NATION The Case for Prophetic Patriotism The Recruitment of Human Race Activists Spiritual Courage for Justice, Peace, and Compassion
	2001: Luke Timothy Johnson LESSONS FROM THE PAST: PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Listening to Voices Strange Yet Familiar: The Interpretation of the Bible Before the Reformation Scripture and the Freedom of the Mind: Origen of Alexandria Scripture and the Constraints of Charity: Augustine of Hippo
	2000: Martin Marty AMERICAN RELIGION AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY The American Past as a Foreign Country Religiously The Familiar Country That Is the American Present: Today's Faiths The Nation on the Horizon of the Future: Religion Tomorrow
	1999: Barbara Brown Taylor THE LUMINOUS WEB: ADDRESSING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION Origins: The Evolution of Praise Community: The Myth of Sovereignty Awe: The Limits of Knowledge
	1998: Paul Duke THE POETIC AND THE WORSHIP OF GOD The Poetry of Awe The Poetry of Lament The Poetry of Vocation
	1997: James Dunn A FACULTY FOR FREEDOM Freedom's Roots: Presuppositions Freedom's Tracks: Reports Freedom's Future: Challenge
	1996: Fred Craddock JESUS AND THE LIFE OF PRAYER Jesus as a Person of Prayer Jesus as a Teacher of Prayer Jesus as Leader of a Community of Prayer
	1995: Ralph Wood FLANNERY O'CONNOR AND THE SOUTHERN RACE QUESTION The Place of Blackness in "The Artificial Nigger" The Racial Legacy of Her Letters Black and White Reconciliation in "Judgement Day"
	1994: Elizabeth Achtemeier MAKING SENSE OF THE SCRIPTURES The Basic Theme The Theme Worked Out Fulfillment and Future
	1993: Walter Brueggemann A COUNTER-LIFE IN A COUNTER-WORLD Remembering Against Amnesia Hoping Against Despair Covenanting Against Commodity
	1992: Walter Harrelson THE OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE The Literature of the Old Testament The Old Testament – as Literature How the Christian Claims the Old Testament as Scripture