Convocation celebrates Dunn Chair

Noted Harvard University theologian Harvey G. Cox Jr. spoke at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the School of Divinity’s Spring Convocation in Wait Chapel and joined in Wake Forest’s celebration of the establishment of the School of Divinity’s first endowed chair, the James and Marilyn Dunn Chair of Baptist Studies.

Cox, the Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, is the author of “The Future of Faith,” and several books on religion, culture and politics.  An American Baptist minister, he addressed the significance of the new chair for the education of the next generation of church leaders.

“The Dunn Chair will inspire variations and new harmonies of what it means to have religious freedom and bring continuity to the great traditions of Baptists,” Cox said.

Established in honor of James and Marilyn Dunn, influential Baptist leaders for more than half a century, the Dunn Chair positions the School of Divinity as a leader in the ongoing conversation about the future of Baptist life.

Bill J. Leonard, the founding dean of Wake Forest’s Divinity School, was named the first Dunn Chair in the fall and was installed during Convocation.

Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch, who also spoke at Convocation, emphasized the importance of the faculty position, “This occasion, being celebrated in Wait Chapel, named for the first president of Wake Forest University and his wife, Samuel and Sarah Wait, celebrates the heritage of embodying learning and excellence the Dunn Chair represents.”

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