Christianity's View on Immigration Discussed at W.C. Dobbs Endowed Lecture

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Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas, distinguished professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary, Littleton, Co., will be featured at the W.C. Dobbs Endowed Lecture in Applied Christianity at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, 1300 S. University Parks Drive.

Carroll, author of Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible, will present "A Different Lens for the Immigration Debate: Can the Bible Help Us?" at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 23, in the Paul W. Powell Chapel at Truett Seminary. The lecture is free and open to the public.

"I am trying to encourage Christians to establish their positions on immigration on the full range of what the Bible has to offer on the subject," Carroll said. "Many Christians do not go beyond economic, educational or health care issues, resulting in a position that is in no way explicitly Christian. Others simply will cite Romans 13 and declare that many immigrants have broken the law and, thereby, end any discussion."

Carroll says that the Bible still has much to inform us today about this controversial topic and suggests that "Christians listen to the breadth of what (the Bible) has to say, which will inform how they deal with Romans 13 in relationship to immigration."

"God cares for the vulnerable among us and calls his people to be gracious and hospitable to them. Immigrants are one of the most vulnerable among us," he said.

Carroll is affiliated with the Evangelical Theological Society, Institute of Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Literature, Society for Old Testament Study and Evangelicals for Social Action. He served on the international editorial boards of Religion & Theology, South Africa, and DavarLogos, Argentina. He is a contributing editor to Prism and is an editorial consultant for Perspectivas and Ex Auditu.

Before his appointment at Denver Seminary, Carroll was a professor of Old Testament and ethics and director of graduate studies at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where he remains an adjunct professor.
He has authored Contexts for Amos: Prophetic Poetics in Latin American Perspective; and Amos the Prophet and His Oracles: Research on the Book of Amos.
The W.C. Dobbs Endowed Lectureship was established in 1995 by Dr. W.C. Dobbs, a retired professor of Christian ethics at Mobile College of Mobile, Ala.

by Colton Wright, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805