Inaugural Lecture at Baylor Focuses on Religious Freedom in Russia
Lawrence A. Uzzell, Moscow representative of Keston Institute and editor of Keston News Service, will deliver the inaugural W.C. Dobbs Lecture in Applied Christianity -- "A Swing of the Pendulum and Religious Freedom in Russia" -- at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15, in the fellowship hall of First Baptist Church Waco. The Dobbs Lecture is hosted by George W. Truett Theological Seminary.
A graduate of Yale University, Uzzell worked as a journalist during the 1980s for the Scripps Howard newspapers in Washington, D.C., writing about U.S. education reform before pursuing a second career as a specialist in Russian studies. From 1989-90, he researched religious freedom in the Soviet Union as a Visiting Media Fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University. Currently a resident of Moscow, Uzzell serves as editor of Keston News Service, a position he has held since 1995. A year ago, he was unanimously appointed as director of Keston Institute, an organization that monitors religious life in the former Soviet Union. He has been widely published and quoted in both the British and American news media, including the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. In 1997, Uzzell was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the enactment and implementation of Russia's 1997 law restoring state control over religious life.
The W.C. Dobbs Endowed Lectureship in Applied Christianity was established in 1995 by Dr. W.C. Dobbs, a retired professor of Christian ethics at Mobile College in Mobile, Ala.
"We are grateful to Dr. Dobbs for enriching Truett Seminary with these lectures he has provided," said Dr. J. Bradley Creed, dean of the seminary. "And we are delighted to host Larry Uzzell for the inaugural Dobbs Lecture. He is a responsible and reliable voice concerning issues of religious freedom in the former Soviet Union."
For more information, call Truett Seminary at (254) 710-3755.