First Baccalaureate Address a Big Moment for Retiring Dr. Redditt
What a multi milestone school-year for Dr. Paul Redditt of the Religion Department!
In September, he attended an emotional 50th anniversary of the historic desegregation of Little Rock Central High in Arkansas; in April, the former Religion Department chair and wife Bonnie, the College’s Director of Grant Support, were honored with a retirement dinner; and May 9, he will deliver Georgetown College’s Baccalaureate address – his first.
His recollections from those early days of the civil rights movement are a Must Read for those alumni interested in helping Georgetown become a more welcoming, diverse community. And, for the latest significant moment in Dr. Redditt’s life, we invite everyone to witness “There Is a Season” (with text from Ecclesiastes 3:1-15) at 7:30 p.m., Friday in John L. Hill Chapel
“I am honored to be invited to speak to the grads and their parents, and to do so in the context of worship,” said Dr. Redditt, who taught Religion at Georgetown for 22 years – 19 as Chair of the department, until heart surgery in fall 2005. “These students for the most part have been here for four or five years, more than a few having taken a class with me and/or having had contact of some sort outside of class.”
“They have been fellow learners, and some have been friends,” he continued. “We are going out together.”
But, retirement doesn’t mean the end of teaching – or learning. He has recently been named Senior Lecturer of Old Testament at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky in Lexington.
Also, he and Bonnie are going to continue to live in Georgetown.
“Georgetown is home,” he said. “We have lived in our house here in Georgetown longer than either of us had lived in any one place before.”
Below is part of the text from his retirement dinner program:
For 22 years Dr. Paul L. Redditt has served as Professor of Religion at
Georgetown College; for two decades he has been chair of the department. He came
to Georgetown in 1986, following 14 years on the faculty of Otterbein College in
Ohio.
Redditt is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees were conferred by Vanderbilt University. He has been a visiting instructor at Makerere University in Uganda, East Africa Theological Seminary in Kenya, and Lexington Theological Seminary in Lexington.
Renowned as a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, Redditt is widely recognized as an expert in that part of the Hebrew Bible known as the Book of the Twelve (or what is more commonly known as the Minor Prophets). A partial catalogue of Dr. Redditt’s extensive publications includes more than 31 major articles, 154 encyclopedia and dictionary articles, and 122 book reviews. He is the author of two books and editor of two others; two more books are due from their publishers this year, and three others are under contract with publishers. He also serves on the editorial board of the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Among the many professional associations of which he is, or has been, a member are the Society of Biblical Literature and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion.
During his tenure at Georgetown, Dr. Redditt has been a popular and influential member of the faculty. In 2001, he received the Cawthorne Excellence in Teaching Award; in 2003, he was honored with the George Walker Redding Faculty Award for Christian Service.
Dr. Redditt has been an active member of Faith Baptist Church, where he has served as Sunday School Teacher, Deacon, and Committee Chair. Over the years, he has served as guest preacher, Bible teacher, and interim pastor at many churches in Ohio, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. He is the husband of Bonnie Redditt, also retiring after a long career at the college (Institutional Advancement), the father of Pamela Duenas and Alan Redditt, and most importantly, the grandfather of Ysa and Lucas Duenas.