George Knight Lectures to Feature Dr. R. Alan Culpepper

The annual George Knight Lectures will return to Logsdon Oct. 16-17. This year’s topic is “Themes from the Gospel of John” by Dr. R. Alan Culpepper.

The first lecture, titled “Creation Ethics in the Gospel of John,” will be Monday at 7 p.m. in Logsdon Chapel followed by a reception. On Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., Dr. Culpepper will be holding a dialogue in the Logsdon Reception room. Lunch will be served at noon in the Johnson Building Multipurpose room followed by the second lecture: “The Knowledge of God: Prophetic Vision and Johannine Theme” at 12:45 p.m.

Dr. R. Alan Culpepper
Dr. Culpepper served as the Dean of the McAfee School of Theology from its founding until 2015. He received a B.A. (1967) from Baylor University, his Master of Divinity (1970) from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. (1974) from Duke University. Before coming to McAfee, Dean Culpepper taught in the Religion Department at Baylor University. In addition to administrative work, he teaches one course each semester at McAfee, a New Testament elective in the fall and the Capstone course in the spring.

Outside of life at McAfee, Dean Culpepper is the New Testament editor for the Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary and for the Biblical Interpretation Series published by E.J. Brill, and is on the editorial board from the Library of New Testament Studies. He has published nine books and several articles, curriculums, and book reviews, including “Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel,” “John the Son of Zebedee,” The Gospel of Luke in “The New Interpreters’ Bible,” and Mark in the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. His next commentary project will be Matthew for the New Testament Library published by Westminster John Knox.

In addition, Dr. Culpepper is a member of the Society for New Testament Studies, is a member of Smoke Rise Baptist Church, and enjoys sailing the 19-foot sailboat he built.

About the Knight Lectures

The George Knight Lectures are held annually in the fall and bring to campus noted biblical scholars to address themes promoting biblical scholarship in the church.

Dr. George W. Knight came to Hardin-Simmons University in 1976 from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he had served as instructor of New Testament and Greek. He was subsequently appointed as the first Cook-Derrick Chair of Bible and Greek at HSU. He established HSU’s archaeology program and led more than 20 archaeological expeditions to Israel and Greece, eventually becoming a field supervisor. He holds degrees from Louisiana College, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his Ph.D. in 1973.

Dr. Knight has distinguished himself in his commitment to teaching and scholarship and his contribution to the larger life of the University and of the community in which he lives. Dr. Knight retired from the HSU faculty in 2002.