The T.B. Maston Foundation has awarded its annual scholarship to Samuel Still, a doctoral student at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

In a press release, Maston Foundation executive director David Morgan highlighted the significance of Still’s doctoral dissertation, “Narrative Theodicy with Karl Barth and Fyodor Dostoevsky,” as a primary reason for his selection. Morgan further emphasized that the work “has practical and everyday moral implications, making it a significant contribution to the field of Christian ethics.”

Kristofer Norris, vice president of the Alliance of Baptists and a Maston Foundation Board member, noted that Still’s work “calls Christians into practical action as a response to human suffering.”

In addition to his doctoral work at Exeter, Still is the assistant director of the Honors Program at Dallas Baptist University, where he also serves as a guest lecturer. He is a graduate of Baylor University and Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

Still serves as a student member of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. He is also a member of the Society for the Study of Theology, the Conference of Christianity and Literature and the Karl Barth Society of North America.

He is a member of Valley Ranch Baptist Church in Coppell, Texas. 

T.B. Maston was an acclaimed 20th-century Christian ethicist who received a PhD at Yale under Richard Niebuhr. Before Yale, he received degrees from Carson-Newman College, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Christian University.

Upon returning to teach at Southwestern, he helped expand the reach of Christian ethics to Baptist seminaries across the country. According to their website, the Maston Foundation was created by notable students of Dr. Maston, including Bill Pinson, Jimmy Allen, James Dunn and Jase Jones. The foundation’s scholarship fund provides awards to doctoral students of Christian ethics.

Earlier this year, the foundation announced that T.B. Maston’s final book will be released in 2024.

More information on the T.B. Maston Foundation can be found here.