Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 21:2 (Fall 2024)
Article: Reflections From The Director
Author: Robert B. Stewart

Reflections From The Director

Robert B. Stewart

Bob Stewart recently retired and now serves as professor emeritus of philosophy and theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Greer-Heard Forum began with a conversation I had with Charlie Harvey, who was at that time teaching for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). Charlie and I met in the fall of 1998, when I was a first-semester faculty member, teaching full-time and finishing my dissertation. I casually mentioned that I thought it would be interesting to get two world-class scholars of different persuasions to come together to dialogue on an important topic in theology, apologetics, or culture. He enthusiastically agreed. I said that if I could do that, I would have John Dominic Crossan, the co-chair of the Jesus Seminar, and N. T. Wright, the evangelical Anglican Bishop of Durham, to dialogue on the historical Jesus. I knew both of them because I’d written my dissertation (at that time I was still writing the dissertation) on how their hermeneutical presuppositions influenced their historical Jesus research. Because both Crossan and Wright were actively writing, both had the opportunity to read what I wrote about them. I found them both to be gracious, and fortunately for me both said that I represented them accurately, and they even offered helpful suggestions. That was it; a one-off conversation about a far-fetched idea that I quickly forgot about. Little did I know how that conversation would impact my life and academic career. As a first-semester, tenure-track instructor I had no leverage or influence to make the idea a reality. Neither did Charlie at that point. At the time Charlie was a professor of Collegiate Ministry and was also responsible for all “events” on campus. (Given that the forum was a series of “events” one might think that Charlie was in position to make it happen, but that would be to misunderstand his role at that time. He was in charge of managing events; neither of us had the authority to initiate or approve events.) Providentially, soon after that conversation, Charlie became the Vice President for Institutional Advancement, a position in which he was tasked with coordinating with the seminary president in raising money!

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Enter Bill Heard, a long-time seminary donor who was looking into new ways to make his charitable donations. Understandably Charlie wanted to keep Bill as an NOBTS donor. So he proposed a number of ideas to Bill, most of which were met with a lukewarm response. Eventually Charlie remembered our conversation and asked Bill what he thought about the idea of John Dominic Crossan debating N. T. Wright. That lit a fire in Bill, as he was an admirer of Crossan—although Bill didn’t necessarily agree with him. Bill loved seminary students but feared th...