Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Motto For the truth. For the church. For the world. For the glory of God
Type Private
Established 1859
Affiliation Southern Baptist Convention
President R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Location Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Affiliations Kentuckiana Metroversity and Boyce College
Website www.sbts.edu

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), in Louisville, Kentucky, is the oldest of the six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The seminary was founded in 1859 at Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first lodged on the campus of Furman University. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and later moved to its current location in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with a current FTE (full-time equivalent) enrollment of over 2,100 students. [1]

Campus

In the wake of the Civil War, the seminary suspended classes for several years.[2] With the financial help of several wealthy Baptists, including John D. Rockefeller and a group of Kentucky business leaders who promised to underwrite the construction of a new campus,[3][4] the seminary relocated to Fifth Street and Broadway in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, in 1877.

In 1926, during the administration of Southern president Edgar Y. Mullins, the seminary occupied "The Beeches," a 100-acre (0.40 km2) suburban campus east of the city center[5] designed by the Frederick Law Olmsted firm. The campus now contains 10 academic and residential buildings in Georgian architecture and three housing villages for married students.

Civil rights history

In 1951, President Duke McCall integrated the campus, in defiance of Kentucky state laws that established segregation at public facilities. Later, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Southern was the only SBC agency to host a visit by Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King (1961).[6] During King's address at SBTS he mentioned he had been to the seminary's chapel several times in the past when accompanying his mother, since King's mother was an organist for the Women's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention.[7] As a result, many donors withheld their gifts to Southern, and some demanded McCall's resignation because Dr. King had spoken in the seminary chapel.[8]

Administration and organizational structure

In 1938, Southern was among the first group of seminaries and divinity schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.[9] Thirty years later, in 1968, Southern was one of the first seminaries to be accredited by its regional accrediting body, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.[10]

Throughout its history, Southern has been an innovator in theological education, establishing one of the first Ph.D. programs in religion (1892), the first department of Christian missions (1902), the first curriculum in religious education (1925), and the first accredited, seminary-based social work program (1984).

In 1953, President McCall and the trustees reorganized the institution along the lines of a small university. The curriculum was distributed among three graduate-professional schools—Theology, headed by Dean Penrose St. Amant; Religious Education, led by Dean Gaines S. Dobbins; and Church Music, under Dean Forrest Heeren.

In 1984, Dr. Anne Davis became founding dean of the Carver School of Church Social Work, which launched the first seminary-based Master of Social Work program to be accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (1987). The school was disbanded in 1997 by a subsequent seminary administration.[11] It decided that secular social work was inappropriate for a seminary, and replaced the program with a school for training evangelists, missionaries and church-growth specialists.

In 1968, Southern helped establish Kentuckiana Metroversity, a local consortium of two seminaries, two state universities, a community college and two private colleges. They offer a joint library catalog, cross-registration of any student in any member institution, and faculty and cultural exchanges. In 1970, Southern helped create the Theological Education Association of Mid-America (TEAM-A), one of the United States' first seminary "clusters," a consortium of five schools related to the Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Roman Catholic and Baptist traditions. They provide inter-institutional team teaching, cross registration among students, and a joint library catalog.[12]

The seminary is governed by a board of trustees[13] nominated and elected by the SBC. It receives almost one-third of its $31 million annual budget from the SBC Cooperative Program, the unified financial support system that distributes gifts from the congregations to the agencies and institutions of the denomination. In fiscal year 2007-08, Southern received $9.5 million through the Cooperative Program. Its endowments and invested reserves totaled $78 million.[14]

Southern is currently organized into three schools:

Academics, philosophy, and faculty

The seminary's mission statement is: "Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the mission of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is to be totally committed to the Bible as the Word of God, to the Great Commission as our mandate, and to be a servant of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention by training, educating, and preparing ministers of the gospel for more faithful service."[15]

Southern was one of the first seminaries in the nation to offer the PhD degree, beginning in 1895. During the 1970s and 1980s, it had the largest accredited PhD program in religion in the United States. It was the first seminary in the nation to offer courses in religious education, beginning in 1903. This program ultimately expanded into a School of Religious Education in 1953.

In 1907, William Owen Carver founded the Women's Missionary Union Training School, which eventually became the Carver School of Missions and Social Work.[16]

In 1910, Southern established the Norton Lectures, a series of lectures on "Science and Philosophy in their Relations to Religion."[17] Speakers have included conservative scholars William A. Dembski, Marvin Olasky, Gregory Alan Thornbury, and Alvin Plantinga.

In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music.

After endowing the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism in 1965 (the first such professorship in any Baptist seminary), Southern expanded it in 1994 into the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth.[18] It is the first program in the SBC dedicated solely to training missionaries and evangelists.

In the 1980s, Southern became the first seminary or divinity school to establish a school of church social work offering an accredited, seminary-based M.S.W. degree.

In 1993, the seminary's president R. Albert Mohler, Jr. came into office re-affirming the Seminary's historic "Abstract of Principles," part of the original charter of Southern created in 1858. The charter stated that every Professor must agree to "teach in accordance with, and not contrary to, the Abstract of Principles hereinafter laid down" and that "a departure" from the principles in the Abstract of Principles would be grounds for resignation or removal by the Trustees.[19]

Dr. Mohler, following these instructions, required that current professors affirm, without any spoken or unspoken reservations, the Abstract of Principles. Professors were also asked to affirm the "Baptist Faith and Message" of the Southern Baptist Convention, since Southern is an agency of the SBC. An overwhelming majority of faculty affirmed the Abstract of Principles, but declined to affirm some of the doctrines stated in the "Baptist Faith and Message," which had recently been amended to bring it in line with more conservative positions held by the SBC.[20] In the wake of the subsequent dismissal or resignation of a large percentage of the faculty, Southern has replaced them with new professors who agree to adhere to the "Baptist Faith and Message" in addition to the seminary's Abstract of Principles.

In 2005, Southern revised its pastoral care and counseling major. It ended the counseling program which it had been offering since the 1950s, under Dr. Wayne Oates and his colleagues. It replaced it with the "Nouthetic Counseling" or Bible-based counseling program, championed by Dr. Jay E. Adams since the 1970s. The dean of Southern Seminary's school of theology stated that the change was necessary because a successful integration of modern psychology and theology was not possible.[21]

In 2009, Southern Seminary expanded its doctoral program to include a Spirituality PhD. Students pursuing this degree try to incorporate their Christian-based spirituality with research for a dissertation.[22]

Notable associates

Alumni

Faculty

Presidents

References

  1. ↑ "Annual of the 2015 Southern Baptist Convention" (PDF). p. 217.
  2. ↑ John A. Broadus, Memoir of James P. Boyce, p. 239.
  3. ↑ "New York Hall - SBTS". Archives.sbts.edu. 2005-02-24. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  4. ↑ "Norton Hall (1893) - SBTS". Archives.sbts.edu. 2005-02-24. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  5. ↑ "Norton Hall (1926) - SBTS". Archives.sbts.edu. 2005-02-28. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  6. ↑ "The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories". Library of Congress. The American Folklife Center. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
    "Dr. King's Visit - SBTS". Archives.sbts.edu. 2005-05-11. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  7. ↑ King Jr., Martin Luther (1961-04-19). "Address by MLK at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary". King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. JPMorgan Chase. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  8. ↑ Wills, Gregory (2009). Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859-2009. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 417. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
  9. ↑ "ATS Member Information Page". Ats.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  10. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20051018075432/http://www.sacscoc.org:80/dtails.asp?instid=65520. Archived from the original on October 18, 2005. Retrieved July 14, 2005. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "ACE | Cora Ann Davis". Acenet.edu. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  12. ↑ "Team - A". Eteama.org. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  13. ↑ "Annual of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention" (PDF). p. 383.
  14. ↑ "Annual of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention" (PDF). pp. 329–331.
  15. 1 2 "About". The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
  16. ↑ Who's Who in Christian History (Google books). p. 142.
  17. ↑ "Norton Lectures". Resources. SBTS. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
  18. ↑ "Chafin To Fill Graham Chair of Evangelism" (PDF). News Service of the Southern Baptist Convention. March 21, 1965.
  19. ↑ "Abstracts of Principles With Statement". Founders.
  20. ↑ "Young, Restless, Reformed". Christianity Today. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  21. ↑ Winfrey, David (2007-01-23). "Biblical Therapy". The Christian Century 124 (2): 25–26.
  22. ↑ "Southern Seminary (SBTS): A Seminary in Kentucky". Seminaries & Bible colleges. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  23. ↑ Michael Foust, Obituary of LaVerne Butler, Baptist Press, December 21, 2010
  24. ↑ H. Allen Anderson: Grady Lee Nutt from the Handbook of Texas Online ((undated)). Retrieved January 31, 2001.
  25. ↑ T. A. Prickett, The Story of Preaching, Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2011, pp. 80-81
  26. ↑ "Bruce A. Ware". SBTS Theology.
  27. ↑ Robinson, Jeff (Dec 1, 2008). "SBTS' Bruce Ware is ETS' new president". Baptist Press.
  28. ↑ "The Other ID Opponents". Christianity Today. April 2006. Retrieved 2008-08-18.

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 38°14′54″N 85°41′13″W / 38.24846°N 85.68689°W / 38.24846; -85.68689

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