Baylor Symposium on Faith & Culture Explores Renewing and Reimagining Institutions for the Common Good

Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-709-5959
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Institutions – educational, ecclesial, and political – perform vital roles in a well-functioning society, creating and preserving spaces for individuals to gather, support one another and act as a corporate whole. However, tumultuous times have led to eroding public trust in institutions, deepening once small divides into chasms of skepticism and strife, so how do institutions restore public trust and be better equipped to serve their purposes?

On Oct. 17-19, Baylor University’s Institute for Faith and Learning will host the 2024 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, which focuses on the theme Renewing and Reimagining Institutions for the Common Good. The symposium features more than 240 leading national and international scholars and practitioners, including a wide range of participants from varied denominations, universities and civic institutions. 

During featured sessions, special plenary addresses, panel discussions and more, presenters at the Baylor Symposium will explore a wide range of academic and social topics while considering the challenges and opportunities ahead for varied institutions to restore trust and be better equipped to serve their purposes. The symposium also ties into Baylor’s year-long focus on civil discourse, an important topic as Baylor strives to be a marketplace of ideas and extend the love of Christ toward others.

Advancing the common good

This year’s Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture – the largest annual recurring conference at Baylor – will be the first for Elisabeth Rain Kincaid, Ph.D., who joined Baylor in August as IFL director, succeeding Darin Davis, Ph.D., who led IFL from 2007-2023.

“In line with Baylor’s commitment to be pro ecclesia, pro Texana, and pro mundo [For Church, For Texas, For the World], this symposium will explore the important role of institutions in advancing the common good across all areas of society.  We are very excited about the potential for truly innovative understandings of the potential positive role of institutions generated by bringing together so many significant scholarly and public voices from across the country on the Baylor campus,” said Kincaid, who also holds appointments as associate professor of ethics, faith and culture at Truett Seminary and affiliate professor of management at the Hankamer School of Business.

Panel presentations and colloquium sessions will be held in the Bill Daniel Student Center, located at 1311 S. Fifth St. on the Baylor campus. Some featured events will be held on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Center.

Wide-ranging speakers

Invited speakers at the 2024 Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture include the following: 

• Jonathan Collins, cofounder, writer and creative director for The Bible Project and cohost of The Bible Project podcast, plenary address Thursday on “The Bible as Ancient Media for Our Modern Institutions.”
• Curtis Chang, founding Executive Director of Redeeming Babel, a nonprofit that produces content to promote a reformation in how Christians engage the wider world, consulting professor in innovation and organization at Duke Divinity School and host of the Good Faith podcast, plenary address Thursday on “Theology of Institutions.”
• Tim Clydesdale, Ph.D., vice provost and professor of sociology at The College of New Jersey and expert on young adulthood, higher education and American religion, featured session Friday on “Sweet Spots, Wicked Problems, and Vocational Pathways: Designing Campuses that Nurture Purpose.”
• Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame President Emeritus John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and Council for Christian Colleges & Universities President David Hoag, Ph.D., in a Presidential Panel Friday on “Challenges and Opportunities in Christian Higher Education,” moderated by Kincaid.
• Erin VanLaningham, Ph.D., director of the Scholarly Resources Project for NetVUE (Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education), and Deanna A. Thompson, Ph.D., director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values and Community and Martin E. Marty Regents Chair in Religion and the Academy at St. Olaf College, lunch presentation, “Called to Serve the Common Good: Individual and Institutional Vocation.”
• Jemar Tisby, Ph.D., professor, historian, author (latest The Spirit of Justice) and co-host of the Pass the Mic podcast, and Christina H. Edmondson, Ph.D., former Dean for Intercultural Student Development at Calvin University, author, speaker and co-host of the Truth's Table podcast, plenary panel Friday on “Renewing and Reimaging Institutions for Justice and Belonging.”
• Tish Harrison Warren, priest in the Anglican Church in North America, author, founding member of The Pelican Project and a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum, closing plenary address on “Rebuilding Institutions after Disillusionment.”

Since 2007, the Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture has addressed significant issues from the vantage point of Christian intellectual traditions, constructively appropriating the Christian faith and intellect in relation to the selected topic. Previous Baylor Symposia have addressed such topics as the Called Together in an Age of Discord, Art Seeking Understanding, the Character of the University, Stewardship of Creation, the Bible and the Reformation, Technology and Human Flourishing, the Spirit of Sports and Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care.

A full conference schedule is available on the Baylor IFL website.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.