This event will be held at Bridwell Library on October 3, with sessions outlined in the conference program. If attending, please submit your RSVP for the conference.
Welcoming scholars and thinkers from coast to coast
This fall, Bridwell Library will host a conference welcoming scholars and religious leaders from coast to coast. Liberating Theology and Ethics for the Common Good will honor the legacies of Schubert M. Ogden, a longtime SMU University Professor who co-founded its graduate program in religious studies, and Franklin I. Gamwell, former professor of religious ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School, considered two of the most important Christian theological and moral thinkers of the last half-century. The conference aims to show how their shared view of theology and moral theory offers a unique and meaningful contribution to a fuller understanding of the common good, ethics, and public policy. Sessions will feature speakers from SMU and other institutions across the nation, as well as the presentation of a digital humanities project focused upon Ogden’s unpublished writings from the archivist emeritus of the Society of Biblical Literature.
This conference will be a collaborative effort co-sponsored by several key SMU entities – Bridwell Library and Bridwell Press, the Perkins School of Theology, the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, and the Graduate Program in Religious Studies (GPRS) – highlighting the strong interdisciplinary partnership across the university. The event follows an important milestone for SMU and Perkins, as the day before will see the formal installation of Rev. Dr. Bryan Stone – SMU GPRS PhD ’92 and a conference speaker – as Leighton K. Farrell Endowed Dean of the Perkins School of Theology. Incidentally, Dean Stone was among Ogden’s last doctoral students at SMU.
Finding a conference home at Bridwell Library
Alex Vishio, doctoral candidate in Systematic Theology at SMU, will co-chair the event alongside Perkins professor Dr. Theodore Walker, Jr.
“As the two co-chairs of the conference, Dr. Walker and I hope fervently that a successful conference and book publication will enhance the reputation of both Bridwell Library and Bridwell Press as institutions supportive and generative of the highest quality research and scholarship aimed ultimately at serving the public welfare and the common good,” says Alex.
Recipient of a 2025 Maguire Public Fellowship, Alex has used Bridwell’s collections to conduct research that will help him plan the conference. Bridwell’s team has similarly proved instrumental during the planning stages, as Anthony Elia, director of Bridwell, has served as part of the planning committee with Rev. Dr. Philip Devenish (SMU GPRS PhD ’77), Dr. Walker and Alex.
Liberating Theology and Ethics for the Common Good will be held October 3 at Bridwell, with sessions taking place throughout the day.
Further reading
Suggested reading, including from Bridwell Press, includes:
- Gamwell, Franklin I. (1990). The Divine Good: Modern Moral Theory and the Necessity of God. San Francisco: Harper. Reprinted, Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1996.
- Ogden, Schubert M. (1986). On Theology. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986. Reprinted, Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1992.
- Ogden, Schubert M. (2018). Notebooks of Schubert M. Ogden. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, edited by Philip E. Devenish, Franklin I. Gamwell, George L. Goodwin, Andrew D. Scrimgeour, and Alexander F. Vishio.
- Stone, Bryan P., and Thomas Jay Oord, editors. (2001). Thy Nature and Thy Name Is Love: Wesleyan and Process Theologies in Dialogue. Nashville: Abingdon Press.