Rome (NEV), October 12, 2017 – A “Paolo Spanu Award” to the best thesis concerning one of the aspects of the history of the Italian Baptist Church has been established by the Executive Committee of the Christian Evangelical Baptist Union in Italy (UCEBI), in collaboration with the UCEBI Commission for Baptist history.
Three years after the death of Baptist pastor Paolo Spanu (1935-2014), with this prize – whose amount of € 2,000 will be funded by the 2019 UCEBI 8 per thousand tax funds – the Italian Baptists intend to remember one of their major exponents.
After having graduated in theology at the University of Cambridge (UK), he returned to Italy and became one of the most prominent supporter of a “federated” Italian evangelism (he participated in the foundation of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) and of the Evangelical Youth Federation in Italy (FGEI)). He was also a firm advocate of the ‘ecumenical dialogue’ (in the 1980s he participated in the first “international conversations” between the World Baptist Alliance and the Pontifical Council for the promotion of Christian unity). After the UCEBI presidency (1984-1990), as a pastor in Milan, he contributed together with the Protestant churches of Milan and with the then archbishop Carlo Maria Martini, to the creation of the first Council of Christian Churches in Italy (CCCM), still active today.
His wife, Christine Calvert Spanu, expressed her thankfulness for the prize dedicated to her husband to the NEV Press Agency, underlining that among the activities he liked most, there was the students training and their follow-up.
The prize for the “Paolo Spanu Award” is intended for those who will obtain a Master Degree in Italian Universities (public or private), during the period from January 1st 2018 to April 30th 2019. Applications for participation must be received by May 5, 2019. For further information: ucebi@ucebi.it.
