Justin Phillips to speak at Carson-Newman University

Dr. Justin Phillips will deliver Carson-Newman’s Carlyle Marney Lecture Thursday, October 2, at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary of Jefferson City First Baptist Church. The free event is open to the public.

Phillips’ lecture, titled “Lord, When did we see you?” will examine the ethics evangelical Christians employed in the American South during the 1950s and 60s.

“This year we as a nation are observing the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act,” said Dr. Andrew Smith, Carson-Newman assistant professor of religion. “We are pleased to welcome Dr. Phillips to our campus to help us understand a crucial part of our history from an evangelical perspective. We are really fortunate to host a speaker who is so well able to articulate the place we as evangelicals occupy within the history of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Phillips received his PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary in the field of Christian Ethics. He is a staff member of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Sponsored by Carson-Newman’s Center for Baptist Studies, the lecture series celebrates one of the University’s best-known graduates. Following ThM and ThD degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Marney, a 1938 alumnus, served as served as a minister and lecturer in several posts, He rose to national prominence via an article in Time magazine and a CBS-televised Christmas Eve service in 1965. After several years at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Myers Park Baptist Church, he established Interpreter’s House, a conference, training and rest center in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.