George Rawlyk Memorial Lectures in Baptist Studies
The Rawlyk Lectures were established in 2009 in memory of Dr. George Rawlyk. Rawlyk was born into a Ukrainian immigrant community in Ontario in 1935 (Laurie McBurney, “George Rawlyk”). He became a Baptist as a teenager, thanks to the influence of a Baptist mission in his community. He earned a degree in history at McMaster University, where he also played football. Rather than pursuing a football career, Rawlyk accepted a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. He also earned degrees from the University of Rochester.
Rawlyk began his teaching career at Mount Allison University in 1959 and soon moved to Dalhousie University. In 1966 he began teaching history at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he remained until his death. He also lectured or taught at a variety of other universities. Over the course of his career Rawlyk wrote or edited more than thirty books, focusing especially on Canadian Baptist history. He also mentored many emerging scholars. Sadly, he passed away in 1995 as the result of injuries sustained from a car accident.
The Rawlyk lectures are held every two years in memory of George Rawlyk. Featured speakers bring expertise in various areas of Baptist studies.
UPCOMING: Dr. Adam Jortner
“Cross Border: Henry Alline and Christian Nationalisms”
30 March 2026
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Dr. Cindy Aalders
“Becoming A Baptist Woman: The Social, Intellectual, and Religious Worlds of Mary Steele Tomkins (1793-1861)”
16 September 2024
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Dr. Gordon L. Heath
“Canadian Baptists and the Fall(ing) of the British Empire, 1945-1956”
20 September 2022
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Dr. Hannah M. Lane
“Church Conflict and Social Ethics in a Maine-New Brunswick Borderlands Community”
30 September 2020
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Andrea Strübind
“Baptists and National Socialism”
2 November 2015
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“A Rocky and Winding Road: Women and Ministry in the German Baptist Context”
3 November 2015
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Nick Bunker
“An English Baptist in the Age of Shakespeare”
23 September 2013
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“The Politics of Dissent”
24 September 2013
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Larry Kreitzer
“William Kiffin and His Circle”
21 November 2011
“The Prodigal Henry Hills: Printer of the King James Version”
22 November 2011
Jarold K. Zeman Memorial Lectures in Anabaptist Studies
The Zeman Lectures were established in 2009 in memory of Dr. Jarold K. Zeman. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1926, Zeman came to Canada as a student in 1948 (Taylor Murray, “Preacher, Professor, Prophet: The Life, Ministry, and Thought of Jarold K. Zeman”). He earned degrees from Charles University, Knox College, and University of Zurich. During his years of study in Toronto, he became a Baptist and an ordained minister. Zeman served as a pastor to Czech immigrants and worked with the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec.
Zeman served as the first professor of church history at Acadia Divinity College from 1968 until 1991. In this position, he was influential in publishing and promoting the study of Baptist and Anabaptist history in Canada. Scholar Martin Marty once called him “the best church historian in North America.” Zeman received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from McMaster University and Acadia University and the Comenius Medal from the University of Prague. He also served as the president of the Baptist Federation of Canada. Zeman helped found the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies in 1991. He retired the same year and passed away in 2000.
The Zeman lectures are held every two years in memory of Jarold K. Zeman. Featured speakers bring expertise in various areas of Anabaptist studies.
2025 – Michael Driedger – “The Year 1525 and the Invention of Anabaptism: Cultural Narratives about Mennonites & Reformations.” – Watch Video
2023 – Nina Schroeder-Van ‘t Schip –“Mennonites and the Dutch Art World: Faith and Visual Culture in the Dutch Republic. – Watch Video
2021 – Gary Waite “The Use and Misuse of Dutch Anabaptism by Opponents of English Baptists, Independents, and Quakers, c. 1560-1660.” – Watch Video
2016 – Martin Rothkegel – “Hoc enim est novam ecclesiam construere: The Making of Churches in Western Christianity, 1400-1600,”
2014 – James Stayer – “Jarold K. Zeman and the Trajectory of Moravian Anabaptist History,”- Watch Video Pt 1 – Watch Video Pt 2
2012 – John Roth – “Dying to Live: the Martyrs Mirror and its Complicated Legacy in the Free Church Tradition,”, and “Bearing Witness: A New Martyrs Mirror for the 21st Century?”
2010 – Martin Rothkegel – “Moravia: Promised Land or Dead End of Early Anabaptism?”, and “A Beehive or a Clockwork: Hutterites in the 16th and 17th Centuries,”
Bell, David, “Allowed Irregularities: Women Preachers in the Early 19th Century Maritimes” [19 March 1996]; published in Acadiensis XXX, 2 (Spring 2001), 3-39.
Brackney, William H., “The Planter Motif Among Baptists from New England to Nova Scotia, 1760-1850” [29 September 1994]; published in Pilgrim Pathways: Essays in Baptist History in Honour of B. R. White. Eds. William H. Brackney, Paul S. Fiddes, John H. Y. Briggs. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1999), 283-302.
Coops, Lorraine, “Looking In/Gazing Out: A Window on the Acadia Ladies’ Seminary” [19 March 2002].
Fath, Sébastien, “The Other American Dream: The Canadian Influence on French Baptists since the XIXth Century” [9 March 2004].
Goodwin, Daniel, “The ‘Liquid Sepulchre’: Baptism and Maritime Baptists in the 19th Century” [27 March 2001]; published in “You Will Be My Witnesses”: A Festschrift in Honor of the Reverend Dr Allison A. Trites on the Occasion of His Retirement. Eds R. Glenn Wooden, Timothy R. Ashley, Robert S. Wilson. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2003), 230–60.
Grant, Gordon, “From Slavery to Freedom: The Life of David George, Pioneer Black Baptist Minister” [23 October 1991]; published by Baptist Heritage in Atlantic Canada: Documents and Studies, #14, 1992.
Grenz, Stanley, “Isaac Backus and the Struggle of Disestablishment in New England” [30 September 1993]; published in Intimate Relations: Family and Community in Planter Nova Scotia 1750-1880. Ed. Margaret Conrad (Fredericton, NB: Acadiensis, 1995), 213-231.
Haykin, Michael, “Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795), His Life and His Hymns” [18 February 1998].
Leask, Margaret, “’Redeeming Love Shall Be Our Song’: A Nova Scotian Hymn Tradition” [23 October 2008].
Packull, Werner O., “The Anabaptist Reformed Dialogue in the Sixteenth Century” [18 March 1999].
Pierard, Richard, “100 Years of Baptist Leadership: The Baptist World Alliance and Its Century” [17 March 2005].
Pipkin, H. Wayne, “The Baptismal Theology of Balthasar Hubmaier and Its Implications for the Church Today” [20 October 1992].
Priestley, David, “A Raw and Hopeful Field: Nineteenth-Century Baptist Evangelism and Church Planting Among Ontario’s Germans” [8 February 1996]; published in American Baptist Quarterly 16 (1997), 251-276.
Rogaczewski, Jerzy, “Baptists in Poland” [7 April 2005].
Ross, H. Miriam, “Did the ‘Egg and Butter Money’ Restrict Maritime Baptists’ Vision for Mission? An Examination of the Legacy of Hannah Maria Norris” [13 February 1993].
Smith, Karen, “The Baptist College at Montreal, 1836-1849: The British Baptist Connexion and Contribution of the Baptist Missionary Society and Dr. Benjamin Davies” [7 March 2000].
Snyder, Arnold, “Was the Bread Only Bread, and the Wine Only Wine?” [7 April 2003].
Visser, Pieter, “Testing Tolerance: Hunted and Honoured – Anabaptists and Mennonites in the Netherlands 1530-1800” [6 February 1997].
Waite, Gary, “Anabaptism Rejection of Infant Baptism and the Exorcism Controversy in the 16th Century” [9 February 1995]; published in Between the Devil and the Inquisitor: Anabaptists, Diabolical Conspiracies and Magical Beliefs in the Sixteenth Century Netherlands. Radical Reformation Studies; Essays Presented to James M. Stayer. Eds. Werner O. Packull and Jeffrey L. Dipple. (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1999), 120- 140.