Welcome Alden Bass, Terry Koonce Distinguished Chair of Bible & Ministry
August 16, 2024
Alden and Candace Bass with their children: Desiree (21), Destiny (20), Dylan (17), Beatrix (6), Alice (1)
“I’m excited to train people doing ministry in the field. I love theology, especially lived theology – theology on the ground,” said Alden Bass, the inaugural Terry Koonce Distinguished Chair of Bible and Ministry.
Bass’ love of theology led him to study religion at Yale, Vanderbilt and Saint Louis University, where he earned a Ph.D. focused on early Christianity in northern Africa. For the last seven years, he has taught Bible courses at Oklahoma Christian University.
“Lipscomb is a place where things are happening. There’s research being done on campus across disciplines. Being in a place that is not only focused on teaching students but also advancing knowledge – to be a part of that bigger conversation is exciting,” he said.
Yet studying theology is not the same as living it, and Bass’s theology is not contained in a classroom. He and his wife, Candace, shape their lives around their understanding of who God is and who God wants them to be. They have been a part of Jovenes en Camino in Honduras, the new monastic community Lotus House, an inner-city ministry with North City Church of Christ and the Nurturing Communities Network, an association of Christian communities across the nation.
“The vision of Lotus House and all new monastic communities is that church is an everyday commitment. Church is living out our beliefs with other Christians in a way that touches on all parts of life,” he said. “We worshiped, prayed, ate, cleaned up, and shared space and property to some extent. There was a lot of koinonia, togetherness.”
“Residential college campuses [like Lipscomb] are a great place to live into that vision,” he continued. “You already have students who are doing ‘togetherness.’ There’s a kind of path set out – the American path. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is just one path. The Christian life opens many paths that are exciting and adventurous. My wife and I took one of those side roads to intentional community, but there are many alternatives.”
Even Bass’ study of early Christianity in northern Africa is not separated from his lived experience. “I was drawn to it because the first major schism in church history took place there,” he said. “A church split! And it wasn’t over doctrine; they just couldn’t get along and formed two fellowships. That was a familiar story to me, a connecting point. I understood what they were dealing with because I had been through a church split before, too, and I began to see a lot of similarities between my church experience and these fourth-century Christians’ experience. I fell in love with it from there.”
“The story of Augustine [in his autobiography, Confessions] is particularly relevant for students today. Here’s a guy who had trouble with his parents. His mom wanted him to do one thing and he wanted to do another. He left for school, got made fun of for his accent, fell in love with the wrong girl, and experienced loneliness. From a worldly perspective he’s very successful. But as he’s telling his story he is remembering how God kept tugging at him, pulling him back from falling off a cliff that would have been a disaster if he kept going down those worldly roads. I love to put his story in front of students. It’s a memory of grace from across the world a long time ago, but there’s still something fresh and relevant about that voice,” said Bass. “It brings it alive.”
“We are excited that Alden is joining the College of Bible,” said Leonard Allen, dean of the College of Bible. “He brings an impressive record of teaching and of scholarship. His specialty is patristics, the study of early Christianity, and this fills an important role in our faculty. His years of experience living in an intentional Christian community also adds a strong welcome dimension to our growing group of undergraduate Bible majors. I am confident that you will be hearing good things about Alden Bass at Lipscomb.”
The new endowed professorship–whose first occupant is Dr. Bass–was made possible through the generosity of Lipscomb Board of Trustee member, Terry Koonce. “I have long had a strong interest in promoting high quality theological research and training,” said Koonce. “My hope is that funding this professorship will enhance the preparation of students with an interest in ministering to the needs of all kinds of people.”
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