British theologian and author Paul Fiddes will present Samford University's 2009 Holley-Hull Lectures  September 16 and 17.

Dr. Fiddes, professor of systematic theology at the University of Oxford and author of The Creative Suffering of God, will speak at Birmingham's Brookwood Baptist Church at 6:15 p.m. on September 16 and twice at Samford on September 17.

His topic at Brookwood will be "Telling the Christian Story in Our World Today."

Fiddes' talks at Samford will be at 10 a.m. in Reid Chapel on "The Loss of Self and God in the Modern Novel"; and at 3 p.m. in Brooks Hall Auditorium on "Mystery and Metaphor: Insights for Today from Biblical Wisdom."

The public is invited free of charge to any of the lectures.

 The Creative Suffering of God is considered to be one of the major contributions to theology in the last decades of the 20th century. A leading scholar in the fields of theology and literature, Fiddes is also author of Past Event and Present Salvation: the Christian Idea of Atonement, and other works.

He is a member of the editorial board of Ecclesiology: The Journal for Ministry, Mission and Unity, and is a consultant editor for Studies in Baptist History and Thought. He has served in capacities with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance. Committed to interdenominational dialogue, Fiddes has been co-chair of the Anglican Communion-Baptist World Alliance International Conversations and is co-moderator of the second series of Roman Catholic-Baptist World Alliance International Conversations.

               

Fiddes' Birmingham presentations are part of the Samford department of religion's annual Howard L. and Martha H. Holley Lectures: New Testament Voices for a Contemporary World, in honor of Dr. William E. Hull. Dr. Hull is university professor and retired provost at Samford.