Mission Statement

The mission of the TBMaston Foundation is to promote the legacy of Dr. T. B. Maston, a lifelong advocate for the deeper understanding and wider application of the life and ethical teaching of Jesus Christ.

Subscribe to Christian Ethics Today, edited by Patrick Anderson and published by the Christian Ethics Today Foundation; Foy Valentine, Founding Editor

About the Foundation

Biography of Dr. T. B. Maston
- Written by Dr. A. Jase Jones, his student and friend

History of the Foundation's beginnings and early years
- Also written by Dr. Jones, the first chair of the Foundation
(click here to view a video of Dr. Jones presenting this history at the Foundation's 1993 Award Banquet, upon accepting the T. B. Maston Christian Ethics Award)

How to Apply for a T. B. Maston Foundation Scholarship in Christian Ethics

List of honorees presented with the biennial T. B. Maston Christian Ethics Award

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Voices for Living Christian Ethics

TBMaston Foundation e-Newsletter No. 2, July 2011

God's Oikonomia (Economy) and Ours

by Jeph Holloway
Professor of Christian Ethics,
East Texas Baptist University;
and member, TBMaston Foundation Board of Trustees

I Never Met the Man: The Relevance of T. B. Maston for Today

by Van Christian
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Comanche, Texas;
and member, TBMaston Foundation Board of Trustees

Does the Christian faith provide any wisdom concerning work? Scripture offers significant reminders that must be part of any reflection on work within God’s oikonomia (God’s “plan” in Ephesians 1:9-10).

We must remember, first, that God works. That might seem a trivial point, but the Bible actually presents a picture of God at odds with the broader environment in which the Scriptures were produced. From God the gardener (Genesis 2:8), to God the architect and builder of a lasting city (Hebrews 11:10; 13:14), the Bible links God with work. Above all, Paul uses the vocabulary of work when speaking of Christ’s resurrection—the measure of God’s power, work, strength, and might (Ephesians 1:19-20). If the Good Creator of the good creation works, there must be something good about work.

God works. This affirmation leads to a second consideration: God wills work. This might also seem obvious, but it was up to Martin Luther and John Calvin to broaden the medieval sense of “vocation” from the “religious” realm of priests and nuns to include the world of the craftsman and milkmaid and thus establish the foundations for what we call the “Protestant work ethic.”

The Reformers would be the first, though, to insist that this broader view of “vocation” is a biblical emphasis. In Ephesians 2:10, for example, Paul describes believers as those “created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works . . . that we should walk in them.” With the phrase “good works,” Paul anticipates his discussion of the “walk worthy of the calling” (4:1). Nestled within Ephesians 4-6 is Paul’s admonition that each should “work with his hands what is good” (4:28). Paul presents godly work as a response to God’s calling in the arena of everyday life!

God works. God wills work. Such affirmations must be appreciated. Recall, though, that rebellion against God introduces a dynamic such that work can now be an arena of frustration and futility. Can God’s work of redemption make any difference for our work? Because of God’s redemptive work in Christ, we affirm that God wills work in keeping with God’s will.

Here we go from preachin’ to meddlin’. Some assume that market mechanisms alone are sufficient to regulate work-related issues. Even some Christians accept this understanding and distinguish “spiritual matters” from work-related concerns.

Paul’s account of life in Christ, however, refuses such a mindset. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul links participation in the new creation (“created in Christ Jesus”) to the way of life God intended from the beginning (“good works which God prepared beforehand”). God created us to share in God’s purpose for creation; such included work (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15). God’s redemptive work in Christ makes possible fulfillment of that purpose, including work in keeping with God’s will.

Paul provides a glimpse into what that will include in . . . Read entire article

T. B. Maston retired as professor of Christian Ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1963 and died in 1988. His last book was published in 1985. The forty-nine men who earned their doctorates under Maston have all themselves died or reached the age of retirement. There is no longer even a doctoral degree in Christian Ethics at Southwestern. To say the least, the world has changed considerably in the past quarter of a century.

Maston’s favorite phrase for Christian ethics was that it was “abidingly relevant.” Is the man who, for many, embodied that Christian ethic also still relevant? What is the impact of T. B. Maston in 2011 and for the years to come?

His Name

One area in which Maston continues to impact society is the attachment of his name to prominent people, events, and positions in the world of Christian ethics. The TBMaston Foundation provides educational and financial resources in the ongoing pursuit of Christian ethics, including a T. B. Maston scholarship awarded to graduate students engaged in significant contributions to the field.

Carson-Newman College and Hardin-Simmons University each sponsors an annual lecture series named after Maston that attracts the most prominent speakers in the country to address current issues in Christian ethics. Logsdon Theological Seminary at Hardin-Simmons houses the T. B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics and also provides a program called The Young Maston Scholars, which recognizes the best and brightest students at Texas Baptist schools who embody the Christian ethic.

His Legacy

Dr. Maston’s first generation of students reads like a Who’s Who of Baptist life. Men such as Jimmy Allen, Foy Valentine, William M. Pinson, Jr., James Dunn, and Weston Ware earned their degrees under Maston. His graduates served as the pastors of prominent Baptist churches, professors and administrators of seminaries, presidents of state and national conventions, and the dynamic forces of agencies such as the SBC and BGCT Christian Life Commissions and the Baptist Joint Committee.

The second generation of Maston ethicists did not study directly under Maston but studied under his students. For those at Southwestern, however, Maston’s presence was a continuing influence on them as he interacted with them on a daily basis. While not technically their professor, he certainly continued as their mentor. One prominent example of this generation is William M. Tillman, Jr., who followed in Maston’s footsteps as Chairman of the Christian Ethics Department at Southwestern and now occupies the T. B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Logsdon Seminary.

The third generation of Maston ethicists at SWBTS knew Maston only as . . . Read entire article