Kruschwitz Is Coming By Foy Valentine 

Dr. Robert Kruschwitz will be the first director of the Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University.

Kruschwitz, 46, has served since 1979 on the faculty of Georgetown College, where he is professor and chair of the philosophy department, and was elected five terms as faculty chair. He had been chosen to lead in establishing Georgetown'' overseas program at Oxford. A native of Kentucky, this is not Kruschwitz's first residence in Texas. After studying at Samford University and Georgetown College, he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and then taught for one semester at Baylor.

The Center for Christian Ethics, chartered in 1990 and related to Baylor University since 1997, publishes Christian Ethics Today, edited by Foy Valentine. The future course for this journal is now under review by Kruschwitz and the Center's Board of Directors. With the hiring of Kruschmitz, the Center is establishing new offices on the campus of Baylor University.

"The goal is to bring together Christian lay people, ministers, and scholars, to engage the moral dimensions of today's culture," said Kruschwitz. "Our headquarters at Baylor--with its George W. Truett Theological Seminary. J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, Center for Christian Education, and Institute for Faith and Learning--and other excellent programs, offers a wonderful opportunity to network with Baptists and other Christians around the globe."

Kruschwitz is planning a new quarterly magazine of Christian ethics for a wide Christian audience, complementing its articles with book reviews, interviews and resources for witness in the public arena-including sermons, lessons, and art. "Each thematic issue--whether it address the death penalty, abortion, forgiveness, or the ethical resources for Christians in the Bible--will be a resource for individuals, srnall groups, and church classes," according to Kruschmitz, "helping Christians grow as disciples with 'salty' influence in their communities and its society.

"In everything our objective is to work from a rich Baptist perspective that is deeply rooted in the Bible, exploring the abundant models of witness throughout Christian history, and committed to a free church in a free society."

The Center will host a range of conferences for laity and ministers, for students and professional people; and will move into electronic as well as print publishing of resources related to Christian ethics. Kruschwitz is eager for the Center to sponsor grants both for research and for developing innovative ethics programs in churches and ethics initiatives around the world.

He will assume his new duties on June 1.

Knischwitz is a founding member of the Society of Christian Philosophers (1982) and the Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers (1988), which he serves as Secretary-Treasurer. For his leadership in integrating Christian faith with teaching and research, Georgetown College presented to him the inaugural George Walker Redding Faculty Award for Outstanding Christian Service in 1997. His publications in the journals Faith and Philosophy, Perspectives in Religious Studies, Faculty Dialogue, and The Thomist have addressed issues in Christian ethics. He is co-editor of The Virtues, a pioneering anthology of recent essays in character ethics.

Faith Baptist Church in Georgetown has been the church home for 21 years for Kruschwitz and his wife, Vicki. He is church moderator, Sunday School teacher, choir member, and chair of the administrative committee; he was on two pastor search committees and has chaired the deacons. He chaired the Resolutions Committee of the Kentucky Baptist Convention this year. Vicki is a choir member and has led the nominating committee and the missions committee. Her business career has been in procurement and global transportation at IBM and Lexmark International, Inc.

"I am looking forward to connecting most of my passions and interests in this new role," Kruschwitz noted. He paints watercolors, hikes in the Rocky Mountains, studies historical architecture, sings in several choral music groups, and enjoys landscape photography. "I am still searching for a way to connect the mountain hiking part!"

Updated Tuesday, December 26, 2000