Eccher to Deliver Annual Hobbs Lecture at OBU Oct. 9

October 8, 2019

Dr. Stephen Eccher, assistant professor of church history and Reformation studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, will deliver the annual Hobbs Lecture during OBU’s chapel service Wednesday, Oct. 9. The event will take place in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium at 10 a.m.

The Herschel H. and Frances J. Hobbs Lectureship in Baptist Faith and Heritage was OBU's first endowed lectureship beginning in fall 1980. It is one of four OBU lectureships designed to help students grow in their knowledge of Baptist theology, Baptist history and studies of the Bible.

Friends of the late Dr. Hobbs, who was pastor of First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and of the late Mrs. Hobbs, created the endowed fund in honor of the couple’s years of outstanding Christian service. The Hobbs Lectureship program annually sponsors a lecture at OBU and highlights speakers that share phases of Baptist faith and heritage with the OBU community. OBU's Herschel H. Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry also bears his name.

Eccher has been teaching at Southeastern since 2013 and was elected to the faculty in 2015. He is a world specialist in the history of the Reformation in Europe and has done extensive work on the Swiss Reformation. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and both a Ph.D. and Master of Letters (M.Litt.) from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) where he was supervised by Dr. Prof. F. Bruce Gordon, who is now the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School of Yale University.

Eccher has published articles and essays on the Reformation, the theology of the Reformers, and Anabaptists. His dissertation at St. Andrews explored the Bernese Disputations of 1532 and 1538 historically and theologically. He is a scholar, but those who know him understand that he is, at heart, a churchman. He leads teams regularly on mission trips around the globe and since 2013 has served as care group leader at Open Door Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.