NGU News


Dr. Thomas Kidd to Give Boggs Hickson Lecture

Posted on: February 4, 2021
By LaVerne Howell, laverne.howell@ngu.edu

thomas kiddTigerville, SC (October 2, 2019) Dr. Thomas Kidd, endowed professor of history and associate director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, will give the Boggs-Hickson Lecture address on Tues., Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in Hayes Ministry Center on North Greenville University’s (NGU) Tigerville Campus. Kidd’s topic will be “Who are Evangelicals: The History of a Movement in Crisis.”

“NGU’s history faculty are very excited about having Dr. Kidd give our annual Boggs-Hickson Lecture in History. He is arguably the most prolific evangelical historian writing today,” said Dr. Paul Thompson, Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, and chair of the History Department. “His lecture, and most recent book on the same topic, is an important contribution to a significant contemporary question.”

In addition to serving as the James Vardaman endowed professor of history at Baylor, Kidd serves as a distinguished visiting professor of church history at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City, MO. He serves the Midwestern Seminary community by commuting from Waco, TX, to Kansas City for doctoral seminars and to instruct graduate and doctoral students in the discipline of history both in the classroom and in conference settings.

He began his teaching career at Baylor in 2002 after completing a Ph.D. in history at the University of Notre Dame, where he worked with historian of religion George Marsden. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at Clemson University.

The focus of Kidd’s research is 18th century North America, particularly the history of evangelicalism, and he teaches courses on colonial America, the American Revolution, and American religious history.

Dr. Kidd’s books include “American History,” vols 1. and 2, “Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father,” “American Colonial History: Clashing Cultures and Faiths,” “Baptists in America: A History,” “George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father,” “Patrick Henry: First Among Patriots,” “God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution,” “American Christians and Islam” and “The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America.”

Kidd has written for media outlets including the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, and he also blogs at “Evangelical History” at The Gospel Coalition website.

He and his wife, Ruby, have two sons, Jonathan and Joshua. The Kidds attend Highland Baptist Church in Waco, TX, where Kidd teaches Sunday school.

The Boggs-Hickson Lecture is free and open to the public. For more information contact Dr. Paul Thompson, paul.thompson@ngu.edu, or (864)977-7768.

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