Beeson Divinity School

The Beeson Divinity School of Samford University is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school located in Alabama, United States. The current dean is Douglas A. Sweeney.

Beeson Divinity School
The Andrew Gerrow Hodges Chapel of the Beeson Divinity School

Though located on the campus of a historically Baptist university, Beeson is interdenominational.[1] The school offers the Master of Divinity degree, the Master of Arts in Theological Studies degree, and the Doctor of Ministry degree.[2]

Founding

Beeson Divinity was established on February 9, 1988. It is named for Ralph Waldo Beeson (1900-1990), who gave one of the largest donations (70 Million) in Samford history to create the first divinity school at a Baptist college in the USA, and for his father, John Wesley Beeson.[3] Ralph Beeson wanted the donation to remain anonymous, but relented to the naming of the school after his father as well at the suggestion of Samford's board of trustees.

Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel

The focal point of the divinity school is the Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel, dedicated in 1995 and named in honor of Andrew Gerow Hodges in 2002. Though an original design by Neil Davis of Davis Architects, it was inspired by a chapel in Venice designed by Andrea Palladio. The interior of the dome contains paintings of prominent figures from Christian history and was inspired by a passage in chapter 12 of Hebrews. It was painted by a modern Romanian fresco master named Petru Botezatu. The chapel also commemorates one 20th-century Christian martyr from each of the six inhabited continents, and the sculptures portraying each of them are also the work of Botezatu.[4]

Notable faculty
  • Gerald Bray, historical theology
  • Timothy George, historical theology, founding dean
  • Paul R. House, Old Testament, Hebrew
  • Frank Thielman, New Testament, Greek
  • Allen P. Ross, Old Testament, Hebrew

Conferences

Beeson has hosted a number of theology conferences, including "The Will to Believe and the Need for Creed" (2009), "J.I. Packer and the Evangelical Future" (2006), and "God The Holy Trinity" (2004). Lectures from these conferences have been published by Baker Academic Publishing as the Beeson Divinity Studies series.

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References
  1. Interdenominational Spirit
  2. Degree Programs
  3. Jonathan Aitken, "Welcome to Beeson," The American Spectator (May 2009)
  4. Guidebook for Hodges Chapel

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