Ted A. Smith, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Divinity, has co-edited a new scholarly volume examining the present and future of theological education. At This Time: Dialogues in Theological Education (Eerdmans, 2026), edited by Smith and Corwin Malcolm Davis, brings together a range of voices to reflect on how theological learning communities are navigating a period of significant transition.
Published as part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, the volume centers dialogue as both its method and its subject. Rather than advancing a single vision of theological education, the book gathers essays and conversations that explore differing perspectives on its meanings, purposes, and practices in today’s social and ecclesial contexts.
Contributors represent a wide array of educational settings, including accredited seminaries and innovative theological initiatives that operate beyond traditional institutional models. Across these contexts, contributors engage shared questions shaped by broader changes in church life and society, drawing on years of leadership and teaching experience within theological education.
In emphasizing communal theological reflection, At This Time serves as a capstone to the TEBT series, which has long focused on conversation as a formative practice. The volume presents essays and dialogues that speak directly to one another, reflecting the lived relationships and ongoing debates that shape theological education today.
Other contributors to the volume include Corwin Malcolm Davis, Grace Y. Kao, John Kartje, Ann E. Killian, Caleb Maskell, Juan J. Molina Flores, David Nacho, Janette H. Ok, Julian Davis Reid 19T, Angela D. Sims, Joanne Solis-Walker and Matthew Wesley Williams.