JACKSON, Tenn. — Feb. 18, 2025 — Eric Smith, associate professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and senior pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Savannah, Tenn., will give the ninth annual David and Lanese Dockery Lectures on Baptist Thought and Heritage at Union University March 20.
The lecture series, named for former Union President David S. Dockery and First Lady Lanese Dockery, is an annual event designed to examine the importance of the Baptist heritage, the distinctives of Baptist thought and the influence of the Christian intellectual tradition.
Smith, a 2008 Union graduate, is the author of four books related to Baptist history, including the forthcoming “Between Worlds: John A. Broadus and the Prospects of the New South” and “John Leland: A Jeffersonian Baptist in Early America.”
He and his wife Candace, also a 2008 Union graduate, have three children.
The title for his lectures is “A Southern Baptist Centennial: The Birth of the Baptist Faith and Message and the Cooperative Program at the 1925 Southern Baptist Convention.” He will speak at 3:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. in the Carl Grant Events Center.
The lectures are free and open to the public.