by Marv Knox
Samuel Still, a Doctor of Philosophy student at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and a staff member at Dallas Baptist University, has received the T.B. Maston Foundation’s annual scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Maston Foundation, chartered in 1986, perpetuates the teaching and legacy of its namesake, a renowned professor of Christian ethics and Baptist champion of racial justice in the 20th century. The foundation awards scholarships to graduate students majoring in Christian ethics. It also conducts retreats, including one annually for undergraduate students, called Young Maston Scholars.
By awarding scholarships to doctoral-level students, the Maston Foundation seeks to encourage ongoing leadership and scholarship in the field of Christian ethics. It also attempts to challenge other Baptists to live out an authentic Christlike ethic.
Still anticipates receiving a Ph.D. degree in the summer of 2026. The working title of his doctoral dissertation is “Narrative Theodicy with Karl Barth and Fyodor Dostoevsky.” Theodicy is a philosophical argument that seeks to resolve belief in a good and all-powerful God with the existence of evil. Barth was a 20th century Swiss theologian, and Dostoevsky was a 19th century Russian novelist.
Still’s attempt “to relate Barth and Dostoevsky on theodicy was one primary reason” for his selection, David Morgan, executive director of the Maston Foundation, noted, his work “certainly has practical and everyday moral implications.”
Still’s work “calls Christians into practical action as a response to human suffering,” added Kristopher Norris, formerly a professor of Christian ethics and public theology at Wesley Theological Seminary, and currently vice president of the Alliance of Baptists and a Maston Foundation board member.
Still has been the assistant director of Dallas Baptist University’s Honors Program since 2022. He is an adjunct professor at DBU, where he has been a guest lecturer. He also has taught history and literature at Great Hearts Academy in Irving, Texas, since 2021 and previously was a teacher assistant at Live Oak Classical School in Waco, Texas.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University in 2018 and a Master of Divinity degree from Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary in 2021.
He has published articles and book reviews in academic journals, periodicals and online.
Still is a student member of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, 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.
Maston’s former students, colleagues and friends have presented scholarships in his name since 1982, four years before the Maston Foundation’s official founding. Still is the 31st Maston Scholarship recipient.
Applications for the 2025-26 scholarship open this fall. To access the application, click here.