Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University will host New Testament scholar Daniel Wallace as part of the university’s endowed Birkett Williams Lecture Series on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will be held in Mabee Fine Art Center’s McBeth Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture series, which is held each semester, rotates among Ouachita’s seven academic schools. OBU’s Chesley and Elizabeth Pruet School of Christian Studies will host this semester’s lecture.

Dr. Wallace will address the topic, “How Much Did the Scribes Corrupt the New Testament?” A professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Wallace also is executive director of the Center for the Study of the New Testament Manuscripts. He is a noted scholar, author of numerous books and articles, a consultant for four Bible translations and a frequent speaker at universities, seminaries and conferences.

“Dan Wallace is one of the country’s top experts on New Testament manuscripts,” said Dr. Danny Hays, dean of the Pruet School. Noting that “there have been challenges in some circles to the reliability of the gospels,” he said Dr. Wallace “has been one of the strong voices for historical Christianity, establishing that the gospels are reliable.”

Describing the Birkett Williams Lecture Series as “a huge asset to Ouachita,” Dr. Hays said the lecture series is a significant benefit “especially for our students and their educational opportunities” as the university “brings in top scholars in their disciplines.”

The Birkett Williams Lecture Series was established in 1977 through a gift from the late Birkett L. Williams, a 1910 Ouachita graduate. His generous endowment established the lectures as an opportunity to extend the concepts of a liberal arts education beyond the classroom by bringing leading scholars and public figures to Ouachita’s campus.

For more information, contact the Pruet School of Christian Studies at 870-245-5599.

By Trennis Henderson, OBU Vice President for Communications