Ouachita Stories

Three professors in Ouachita Baptist University’s Chesley and Elizabeth Pruet School of Christian Studies (PSCS) will be published for their academic research and specialties.

Dr. Joey Dodson’s dissertation for the University of Aberdeen, “The ‘Powers’ of Personification: Rhetorical Purpose in the Book of Wisdom and the Letter to the Romans,” has been accepted for publication by Walter de Gruyter publishers (Berlin) in the BZNW (“Periodical for New Testament Science”). This publication will be released in December of this year. Dodson, assistant professor of Biblical studies, said, “I was honored since this is one of those series that Biblical studies nerds like me fantasize about.”

Dodson also presented two of his papers in Durham, England, at the British New Testament Society (BNTS) earlier this month.

“After my Ph.D. oral examination, one of my examiners asked that I present at the BNTS conference,” Dodson explained.

He was invited to present his paper “Cosmology and the Personification of Creation in Wisdom and Romans,” which discusses his research on cosmology in Second Temple Judaism comparing Paul’s view of creation with works from the “Old Testament Prophets, Philo, Plato, and the Roman Imperial Cult.” BNTS officials also scheduled Dodson to present an additional paper of his titled “Personification Citations.” This paper was an offshoot of his dissertation and “discussed the reasons why Paul uses personifications such as Righteousness by faith and the Law, to quote the Old Testament.”

“All in all, the time was both challenging and encouraging,” Dodson said. “But most of all, it was just exhausting.”

Dr. William Viser, associate professor of Christian ministries, wrote “Preaching on Sexual Ethics: a Five-Sermon Series” to be published in “The Minister’s Manual 2009.” Viser was invited to write five sermons on sexual ethics by Dr. Lee McGlone, pastor of First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia, and an OBU adjunct professor.

Viser said he chose five subjects from which he has counseling experience and which he feels aren’t “addressed in the pulpit, though many church members deal with them.” He noted that he is “excited about the series, as I feel it will meet needs that are in the congregation.”

Dr. Terry Carter, associate dean of the PSCS and W.O. Vaught Professor of Christian Ministries, has contributed an article titled “Baptists and Racism and the Turn Toward Segregation: 1845” to “Turning Points in Baptist History.” This book will honor the Baptist historian Harry Leon McBeth, under whom Carter previously studied.

by Dillon McClain