Revd Dr Lina Toth

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Senior Research Fellow

Revd Dr Lina Toth

BA (English) (LCC International University), MTh (IBTS/University of Wales), PhD (IBTS/University of Wales)

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Dr Toth is the Director of Langham Scholars Programme at Langham Partnership. Previously she served as Assistant Principal & Lecturer at the Scottish Baptist College, and before then as a Course Leader, Lecturer and later as Pro-Rector and Academic Dean at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. A musician and artist as well as a theologian, she remains involved in the wider church life, and is particularly interested in exploring various aspects of ethics, spirituality, and theology of culture. Lithuanian by nationality, she lives in Scotland and is the Editor of Theology in Scotland.

Research Interests

"I work at the intersection of practical theology and history. Whilst I have explored various aspects of practical theology from homiletics and theology of worship to environmental theology and theology of humour, the most extensive area of my research has focused on theological, ethical, cultural and historical studies of singleness and marriage. I also have a keen interest in Baptist history, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe.
My doctoral supervision work ranges from research projects on theology and history of worship and homiletical pedagogy, to free church identity in relation to conversion, communal discernment, and the communal hermeneutics of Scripture."

Publications

Singleness and Marriage after Christendom: Being and Doing Family. After Christendom series, ed. Stuart Murray (Oregon: Cascade Books, 2021)

Transforming the Struggles of Tamars: Single Women and Baptistic Communities (Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2014). ISBN: 978-1-62564-108-3.

Edited, with Parush R Parushev and Rollin G Grams. Academic Reasoning, Research and Writing in Religious Studies: A Concise Handbook. Revised and Enlarged Edition. Prague: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014. ISBN: 978-80-87006-11-5.

Involuntarily Free or Voluntarily Bound: Singleness in the Baptistic Communities of Post-communist Europe. IBTS Occasional Publications Series, Vol. II (Prague: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 64 pp.

Articles

‘Editorial. When Theological Landscapes Shift: Reimagining Church and Society.’ Theology in Scotland 31.2 (2024), 1-3.

‘Editorial: Laity in Christian work and witness.’ Theology in Scotland 31.1 (2024), 1-3.

Editorial. Journal of European Baptist Studies 23.2 (2023), v-ix.

‘Editorial: Ecumenism in Scotland.’ Theology in Scotland 30.2 (2023), 1-4.

‘Editorial: Autism and faith.’ Theology in Scotland 30.1 (2023), 1-4.

‘Befriending Churches.’ In Seeds of the Church: Towards an Ecumenical Baptist Ecclesiology, ed. Teun van der Leer, Henk Bakker, Steven R. Harmon, and Elizabeth Newman (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2022), 67-77.

‘Editorial: Church, virtual and physical.’ Theology in Scotland 29.2 (2022): 1-3.

‘Editorial: Theology, imagination, and the arts.’ Theology in Scotland 29.1 (2022):1–3.

‘Editorial: Theology and the environment.’ Theology in Scotland 28.2 (2021):1–4, with Doug Gay.

‘Convictional Theology in East and West Twenty Years Ago and Now.’ An interview with Doc Dr Parush R. Parushev. Journal of European Baptist Studies Vol. 20, No. 2 (2020):12-21.

‘Challenges and Opportunities in the Healing of Church Memories: Reflections on Baptist-Catholic Relations in Lithuania.’ Journal of European Baptist Studies Vol. 20, No. 2 (2020):46-58.

‘Pedagogy for Personal Transformation: Faith Development in the Context of a Scottish Baptist College,’ with Ian Birch and Graham Meiklejohn. Theology in Scotland, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2019), 29-44.

“Strangers in the Land and True Lovers of the Nation: The Formation of Lithuanian-speaking Baptist Identity, 1918-1940” in Perichoresis Vol. 16, No. 1 (2018): 99-117.

“From the Love of Friends to the Love of Strangers: Reflections on Friendship and Discipleship”, in Baptistic Theologies 7, No. 2 (2015), 73-87.

“The Practice of Humour and our Spirituality: Some Reflections” in Journal of European Baptist Studies 14, No. 3 (2014), 22-33.

“Leadership as a Virtuous Practice” in Baptistic Theologies 5, No. 1 (2013), 119-132.

“Foreword” in Albertas Latužis, Po Jo sparnais: Baptistų istorija Lietuvoje, 1841-1990 (Under His Wings: History of Baptists in Lithuania, 1841-1990) (Klaipėda: Eglė, 2009), 8-9 (in Lithuanian).

“On Being Called-out Strangers in the Land: Some Reflections on Contemporary Lithuanian Baptist Spirituality,” Journal of European Baptist Studies 7, no. 3 (2007), 25-33.

"Church, State, and Culture: On the Complexities of Post-Soviet Evangelical Social Involvement," Theological Reflections. Euro-Asian Theological Journal 3 (2004), 161-213 (in Russian, English, and Lithuanian), with Parush R Parushev.

“Jonas Inkenas and Forgiveness Lived Out: An Experiment in Biography as Narrative Theology,” American Baptist Quarterly XXII, no. 2 (2003), 247-261.

“Involuntarily Free: Single Women in the Believing Community,” Journal of European Baptist Studies 3, no. 1 (2002), 5-18.

Book reviews:

Ashley Cocksworth, Rachel Starr, and Stephen Burns (eds), with Nicola Slee, From the Shores of Silence: Conversations in Feminist Practical Theology (London: SCM, 2023). Journal of European Baptist Studies 24, No. 1 (2024), 160-162.

Nicola Slee, Fragments for Fractured Times: What Feminist Practical Theology Brings to the Table (London: SCM, 2020). Journal of European Baptist Studies 22, No. 1 (2022), 200-201.

Sergey Sannikov, Знаки присутствия. Крещение в контексте баптистской сакраментологии. [Signs of the Presence: Baptism in the Context of Baptist Sacramental Theology] (Kiyv: Duh i Litera, 2019). Journal of European Baptist Studies 21, No. 2 (2021), 181-3.

Gregory A. Boyd, Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting the Old Testament’s Violent Portraits of God in Light of the Cross, Vols I and II (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017). Anabaptism Today 3, No. 2 (2021), 144-5.

With Paul S. Fiddes, Tony Peck and Andy Goodliff. Response to Andy Goodliff, Renewing a Modern Denomination: A Study of Baptist Institutional Life in the 1990s. Monographs in Baptist History (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2020). Journal of Baptist Theology in Context, Issue 3 (2021), 57-62.

Rein Brouwer (Ed.), The Future of Lived Religious Leadership. Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion series, Vol. 7. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2018 In Journal of European Baptist Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2021), 216-17.

Jacques Ellul, Presence in the Modern World. Translated by Lisa Richmond, with a foreword by Ted Lewis and an introduction to Ellul’s life and thought by David W. Gill (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2016). In Journal of European Baptist Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2021), 210-11.

Jana Marguerite Bennett, Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). In Studies in Christian Ethics 32, No. 4 (2019), 546-549.

Jana Marguerite Bennett, Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). In Regent’s Reviews 10, No. 1 (October 2018), 13-14.

Curtis W. Freeman, Undomesticated Dissent: Democracy and the Public Virtue of Religious Nonconformity (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2017). In American Baptist Quarterly 36, No. 4 (Winter 2017), 402-403.

Fran Porter, Women and Men after Christendom: The Dis-ordering of Gender Relationships (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2015); Adrian Thatcher, Redeeming Gender (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016); Elaine Storkey, Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women (London: SPCK, 2015); and Frances Adeney, Women and Christian Mission: Ways of Knowing and Doing Theology (Eugene: Picwick Publications, 2015). In Baptistic Theologies Vol. 9, No. 1 (2017), 92-95.

Nadezhda Beliakova and Miriam Dobson, Женщины в евангельских общинах послевоенного СССР. 1940–1980-е гг. Исследование и источники [Women in the evangelical communities of the post-war USSR (1940s–1980s). Documents and analysis]. Мoscow: «Индрик», 2015. In Baptist Quarterly Vol 48, No. 4 (2017),
C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison, Slow Church: Cultivating Community in
the Patient Way of Jesus. Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2014. In Regent’s Reviews Vol 6, No. 2 (2015), 37-38.

Paul Mallard, Invest Your Suffering: Unexpected Intimacy with a Loving God (IVP, 2013), 181 pp. In Baptist Union of Scotland, http://www.scottishbaptist.org.uk/content/book-reviews
Karen E. Smith and Simon P. Woodman (eds), Prayers of the People. Oxford: Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Studies of Regent’s Park College and South Wales Baptist College, 2011. In Journal of European Baptist Studies 12, No. 3 (2012), 51-52, with Keith G. Jones.

Ivana Noble, Theological Interpretation of Culture in Post-Communist Context: Central and East European Search for Roots, Ashgate, 2010. In The Way 50, no. 2 (April 2011), 126-128.
Ivana Noble, Theological Interpretation of Culture in Post-Communist Context: Central and East European Search for Roots, Ashgate, 2010. In Journal of European Baptist Studies 11, No. 2 (2011), 49-50.

Cynthia Y. Aalders, To Express the Ineffable: The Hymns and Spirituality of Anne Steele. Studies in Baptist History and Thought, Vol. 40. Paternoster, 2008. In Journal of European Baptist Studies 10, No. 1 (2009), 53-54.

Toivo Pilli, Dance or Die: The Shaping of Estonian Baptist Identity under Communism. Studies in Baptist History and Thought, Vol 37. Paternoster, in cooperation with the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, 2008. In Baptistic Theologies 1, no. 1 (2009), 124-125.

Linda Wilson, Marianne Farningham: A Plain Woman Worker. Studies in Baptist History and Thought, Vol 18, Paternoster, 2007. In Journal of European Baptist Studies 9, No. 1 (2008), 50-51.

Tim Carter, Anthony Clarke (eds) et al, Expecting Justice, But Seeing Bloodshed: Some Baptist Contributions to Following Jesus in a Violent World, Oxford: Whitley Publications, 2004. In Journal of European Baptist Studies 5, no. 3 (2005), 46-47.

Book Chapters

‘Baptists in Continental Europe,’ In Oxford Handbook of Baptist Studies, ed. Paul S. Fiddes, David W. Bebbington, Elizabeth H. Flowers, and Steven R. Harmon (Oxford University Press, 2026), forthcoming.

‘She Did What She Could’: Some Historical Observations on Following Jesus as a Single Woman.’ In Anthony R. Cross and Brian Haymes, Re-Membering the Body: The Witness of History, Theology, and the Arts in Honour of Ruth M.B. Gouldbourne (Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2021), 159-178.

“Revival Among the Aliens: The Case of Lithuanian Baptists”. In William L. Pitts, Jr. (ed.), Baptists and Revivals: Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Baptist Studies (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2018), 304-323.

“Struggling with Female Happiness: God's Will and God's Blessing in Primary Evangelical Theology,” in Pieter J. Lalleman, Peter J. Morden and Anthony Cross (eds.), Grounded in Grace: Essays to Honour Ian M. Randall. Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Series (Oxford: Regent’s Park College: 2013), 277-291.

“From the Edge: On Approaching the Task of Breaking Open the Word,” in Fausto A. Vasconcelos (ed.), Baptist Faith & Witness, Book 4: Papers of the Study and Research Division of the Baptist World Alliance 2005-2010 (Falls Church: Baptist World Alliance, 2011), 97-105.

“Theological Education in Baptist Churches—major trends, networks and documents,” in Dietrich Werner et al, eds., Handbook of Theological Education in World Christianity: Theological Perspectives – Regional Surveys – Ecumenical Trends. Regnum Studies in Global Christianity Series (Oxford: Regnum, 2010), 686-696, with Keith G. Jones and Parush R. Parushev.

"’I have Called You Friends’: On a Theology of Friendship", in Parush R Parushev, Ovidiu Creanga, Brian Brock, eds., Ethical Thinking at the Crossroads of European Reasoning (Prague: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007), 115-129.

“Some Reflections on Environmental Education at the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS),” in John Weaver and Margot R Hodson, eds., The Place of Environmental Theology: A Guide for Seminaries, Colleges and Universities (Oxford: Whitley Trust, and Prague: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007), 69-73, with Petra Veselá.

“McClendon’s Concept of Mission as Witness,” in Wilbert R. Shenk and Peter F. Penner, eds., Anabaptism and Mission (Schwarzenfeld: Neufeld Verlag, 2007, published in cooperation with International Baptist Theological Seminary), 247-264, with Parush R. Parushev.

“As Songs Turn into Life and Life into Songs: On the First-Order Theology of Baptist Hymnody,” in Keith G Jones and Parush R Parushev, eds., Currents in Baptistic Theology of Worship (Prague: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007), 129-141.

“On Baptistic Monasticism as Educational Mission: A Case Study of Lithuanian Baptists,” in Peter F. Penner, ed., Theological Education as Mission (Schwarzenfeld: Neufeld Verlag, 2005), 209-214.

Memberships & Networks

Editor of Theology in Scotland journal, Chair of Worship and Spirituality Commission at Baptist World Alliance, Fellow of the Baptist Scholars International Roundtable (BSIR), Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Member of the Baptist World Alliance Team, Third round of international dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church Member, British and Irish Association for Practical Theology, Member of the Editorial Board, Baptist Journal of Theology in Context, Member of the Editorial Board, Anabaptism Today, Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of European Baptist Studies.

Other Activities

“‘Friendship in Christian Practice: Personal, Communal, Missional’

‘Theology Live!, 29 January 2021. https://soundcloud.com/bloomsbury-1/lina-toth-friendship-in?in=bloomsbury-1/sets/theology-live-2021

“Singleness and Marriage: Lessons from Jesus and the Anabaptists.” Annual Lecture, Centre for the Anabaptist Studies, Bristol Baptist College. Bristol, 11 February 2019.

“Closer than a Brother”: A Theology of Friendship. Part of the ‘Theology for Everyone’ series organised by Cranmer Hall, Durham. Stockton Baptist Church, Stockton-on-Tees, 10 November 2018.

“Contemporary Evangelicalism as a Product of the Reformation: Global and Local Pictures”. In Lithuanian. Siauliai State College, Lithuania. Public Conference celebrating 500 years of the Reformation. Siauliai, 14 October 2017.

“Revival Among the Aliens: The Case of Lithuanian Baptists.” Main paper, International Conference on Baptist Studies VII, Manchester, 15-18 July 2015.

“Singled Out.” BMS Catalyst Live, Sheffield and Reading, 23 and 24 October 2014. http://www.bmscatalystlive.com/video/lina-andronoviene-reading-2014/