CROSSROADS OF RELIGION AND REVOLUTION

Iran, Islam, and Southern Baptists have provided me landscapes and experiences to ponder the lives of Christians and Muslims and other religious and secular persons of particular faith communities. Especially I have lived up close to ayatollahs in Shiah Islam, visited multiple Muslim preachers in their mosques and hosted them and their followers in our home. My Ph.D. dissertation was “Religion and Politics in Iranian Shiah Islam”. Also I have been immersed in Baptist and Christian life since a young man and have been a minister, missionary, professor and anthropologist involved in the lives of diverse peoples.


This writing is filled with journeys associated with tradition and change colored by two major revolutions. The first is Iran with the downfall of the Shah and the rise of the rule of Shiah Islam under the brand of the ayatollahs. The second is the ‘take over’ by ‘ultra conservatives’ from the ‘moderates’ of the Southern Baptist Convention. I taught Muslim preachers and Baptist preachers during these times. I also was associated with the administrators and faculties of the Islamic and Baptist institutions. This is my story of experiences and observations behind the scenes and upon the public stage.