Reflections on Baptist theological education in the twentieth century.

I am grateful for the invitation to share reflections on Baptist theological education in the twentieth century because Baptist theological education is the life to which I was born and the calling to which I am committed. Others who are older than I have lived through more of the story, but Tom Graves and I share the unique experience of having grown up in Baptist theological education and having spent our careers advancing the work of our mothers and fathers. Human life spans being what they are, there is no one today who can share firsthand the experience of life at Southern Seminary or Southwestern Seminary at the beginning of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, the chain is unbroken at least in the sense that I can vividly recall being in the home of Dr. and Mrs. W. O. Carver in 1953. My father came to Southern as a student in 1937, where he drank deeply of Carver's influence, and I have lived with that legacy ever since. Carver, in turn, went to Southern as a student in 1891 and stayed until his death in 1954.

Space will not allow me to attempt a complete history of Baptist theological education, which would include the histories of American Baptist, National Baptist, and other traditions. My aim is more limited. I will trace the highpoints of Southern Baptist theological education in the twentieth century using the history of Southern and Southwestern seminaries as the primary reference points. I will then offer some personal reflections on this piece of our history in hopes that they may help us address the challenges of doing theological education in the early years of the twenty-first century.

I. The Century in Review

The story of Baptist theological education in the twentieth century begins with one school fresh from theological controversy with Landmarkism, with a newly appointed thirty-nine-year-old president, a faculty of five other professors only one of whom was over forty, a student body of about 300, four buildings, a library of about 15,000 volumes, and an endowment of about $500,000. W. O. Carver was employed as an assistant instructor in 1896 for a salary of $600 a year. (1) None of the four founding members of the faculty lived to see the twentieth century. Only white men preparing for pastoral ministry were permitted to enroll as students in this school that had been established to fulfill the dream of "one Seminary for the entire Convention." (2) What a fragile vessel to sail into the rough seas that lay ahead! But there were giants in the land.

A brief review of the major developments by decade will help us grasp the sweep of Baptist theological education in the twentieth century.

1900-1909

In 1900, the faculty of Southern Seminary was composed of the following:

John R. Sampey (1863-1946), 1887-1942
A. T. Robertson (1863-1934), 1890-1934
E. C. Dargan (1852-1930), 1892-1907
William J. McGlothlin (1867-1933), 1896-1919
W. O. Carver (1868-1954), 1898-1943
E. Y. Mullins (1860-1928), 1899-1928

This faculty set about raising academic standards and strengthening the curriculum. W. O. Carver was authorized to establish a new missions department. In 1902, the trustees voted to allow women to attend classes and take exams, but not to matriculate as students. Forty-eight women, most of whom were wives of current students, attended lectures regularly in 1903-04. Carver began teaching a special training class in mission methods for women, and in 1907 the Woman's Missionary Union Training School was established. (3)

The first issue of The Review and Expositor (then The Baptist Review and Expositor) appeared in 1904. From the beginning, it was a faculty publication, established on the conviction that "the superficial Christianity which ignores the deep foundations of life and truth cannot rise to the demands of the hour." No attempt would be made to maintain "a rigid doctrinal uniformity" in the journal, but the faculty was concerned that increased emphasis be placed "upon the constructive element in theology." (4)

In the same year, 1904, A. T. Robertson called for a gathering of Baptists from around the world. The first Baptist World Congress was held in London in 1905 with Mullins, Carver, Gardner, and Robertson all present, and the Baptist World Alliance was formed. Robertson served on the executive committee of the BWA from 1905 until 1923, when Mullins was elected president of the BWA, an office that he held until his death in 1928.

In 1906, the trustees established a new chair of Sunday School pedagogy, to be supported jointly by the seminary and the Sunday School Board. B. H. Dement was the first to hold this chair, which was later named the Basil Manly Chair of Religious Education and Church Administration, that was held in succession by Landrum E Leavell, Gaines S. Dobbins, and Findley B. Edge. (5) Also foreshadowing later developments, Charles S. Gardner was appointed to the chair of homiletics and Christian sociology in 1907. From this chair he emphasized the importance of sociology, psychology, and ethics for life-centered preaching.

The remarkable first decade of the century also witnessed the publication of two seminal works for Baptist thought. Mullins's best-known work, The Axioms of Religion: A New Interpretation of the Baptist Faith, was published in 1908. (6) Carver's Missions in the Plan of the Ages was published in 1909. (7)

The first decade of the century witnessed developments of far reaching significance in Texas. B. H. Carroll, a giant in intellect, conviction, and stature, pastor of First Baptist Church of Waco, Texas, trustee of Southern Seminary, and trustee of Baylor University for twenty years, resigned the pastorate in 1898 to raise money for the Texas Baptist Education Commission. In 1901, he resigned from the commission to teach in the theological department at Baylor (while still chair of the trustees at Baylor). In 1905, on a train ride to Amarillo, God called B. H. Carroll to plant a school for the training of Baptist preachers in the Southwest. On August 31, 1905, the trustees voted that "Baylor University now make the Theological Department a complete School of Divinity. The step was not taken in rivalry with Southern Seminary, but "based upon our deep conviction that no one seminary can train all the preachers of the South and the Southwest" (8) The Baylor Theological Seminary opened, offering three degrees: Th.B., Th.M., and Th.D. The curriculum was influenced by the programs at Southern and Spurgeon's College in London. In addition to credits in Bible, church history, and theology, work in apologetics, missions, homiletics, ecclesiology, pastoral duties, and religious pedagogy was required.

In 1907, the decision was made that the seminary must separate from Baylor if it was to reach its full potential, but Bible would continue to be taught at Baylor. The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded on March 14, 1908. The faculty was required to subscribe to the New Hampshire Baptist Confession (with a slight emendation). Graduates of Baylor Theological Seminary were awarded new degrees in 1908 and recognized as alumni of Southwestern Seminary. (9) The three members of the faculty from the previous year were reelected: A. H. Newman, Calvin Goodspeed, and Charles B. Williams, and two new faculty were elected: Lee R. Scarborough, who held the first-ever chair of evangelism, and Jeff D. Ray. W. T. Conner replaced Goodspeed in 1910. On November 2, 1909, the trustees selected the property on Seminary Hill in Fort Worth. Streets adjacent to the property were named for Boyce and Broadus.

The sacrifices and trials of the faculty and 126 students during the first year in Fort Worth are the stuff of legends. The campus was located six miles from town and one mile from the end of the streetcar line. The seminary owned only one car. Students and some of the faculty lived communally in the unfinished Fort Worth Hall. There was no sewage system for the first five years, nor any nearby stores or cafes. The library held about 3,000 volumes. (10) Nevertheless, enrollment increased steadily in the early years.

1910-1919

Arguably, the most significant event of the second decade of the century, for Baptist theological education, was the publication of Robertson's "Big Grammar" [A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research] in 1914, 1,367 pages in its first edition. (11) Robertson had worked tirelessly on it over a period of twenty-six years, despairing at times that it would ever be finished. Carver read drafts and wrote over 300 pages of critical notes for Robertson. The manuscript was handwritten--and his handwriting was notoriously difficult--on assorted sheets of paper, with corrections, additions, and revisions, front and back. Late revisions required resetting of the type, and the expense was such that Robertson had to mortgage his house and take out a loan against his life insurance, other faculty members went into debt for the work, and Mullins authorized a loan of $10,000 to finance publication costs. When more was needed, an additional $4,000 was raised by the seminary. (12) Royalties went to repay the loan, and Robertson never made a dollar from the sales of the Grammar. It inaugurated a new understanding of the development of the Greek language in historical context, and has been justifiably hailed as the greatest work of Baptist theological scholarship in the twentieth century.

This singular publication should not obscure the productivity of the faculty as a whole, however, for the Southern faculty published a total of eighty-nine volumes during the presidency of E. Y. Mullins. (13)

At Southwestern, construction began on the Woman's Missionary Training School in 1913. That same year, Carroll fired Newman and Reeve for substituting Old and New Testament classes for his English Bible courses. They were replaced by W. W. Barnes and J. B. Weatherspoon, both Southern graduates. The diploma in English Bible was changed to Graduate in Theology and required the same study as the Bachelor in Theology except for Hebrew and Greek. The year 1914 marked the beginning of classes for African Americans and the offering of classes in music. B. H. Carroll died November 11, 1914, and the trustees elected L. R. Scarborough the following year. In his inaugural address, Scarborough declared that like Southern, Southwestern had been established on the principles laid down by James Petigru Boyce in 1858. (14) It was not an easy time. The Seminary stood stalwart against Darwinism, Higher Criticism, and the Social Gospel movement on one side and Fundamentalism on the other side. Robert Baker commented: "It is ironic from the perspective of the seminary that despite its consistently conservative stance, the Fundamentalists, led by J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth, were much more active in attempting to destroy South western Seminary than were the liberals or antisupernaturalists." (15) Every school should learn the lessons of its early history!

The Seminary Extension Department was begun in 1914, as was the Baptist Student Missionary Movement, led by Charles T. Ball, professor of comparative religion and missions. The latter organization became the Baptist Student Union in 1920. In 1915, John Milburn Price, a graduate of Baylor, Brown, and Southern, was elected to teach Christian Education, which he did for the next half a century. Because of the difficulty of transportation, the Seminary Hill Baptist Church (now Gambrell Street Baptist Church) was formed in 1915 with W. T. Conner as its pastor. (16) Seminary loans were made available to faculty to assist in the publication of books. The Southwestern Journal of Theology began in 1917. In 1919, the trustees approved a Th.D. with a major in religious education. (17) That same year, C. B. Williams resigned to become president of Howard College, H. E. Dana began his teaching career at Southwestern, and B. B. McKinney joined the staff of the Department of Gospel Music. Scarborough also added a force of field evangelists to the seminary staff. In 1919, the trustees voted to pay the faculty salaries for twelve months rather than nine months each year, but the faculty was expected to turn over any income they received for speaking, preaching, or teaching to the seminary. (18)

The Baptist Bible Institute, which became New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1946, was voted into being in 1917 and offered its first classes in 1918. It was founded out of missionary concern for New Orleans and Latin America, and has continued to fulfill these founding purposes. B. H. DeMent (1863-1933), who had taught at Southern from 1906 to 1914 (and whose sister had married W. O. Carver's father after the death of his first wife), became the first president of this new school, a position which he held until 1928. From its beginning until 1953 the school was located at 1220 Washington Avenue, in the heart of the Garden District of New Orleans.

1920-29

A "third generation" of core faculty was appointed in the twenties who would shape the life of Southern Seminary for the next three decades: Gaines S. Dobbins, W. Hersey Davis, J. McKee Adams, Kyle M. Yates, Harold W. Tribble, and J. B. Weatherspoon. Together these six would teach at Southern for 162 years. The Crescent Hill property for the seminary was acquired in 1921, construction on Norton Hall began in 1923, and the seminary moved to "The Beeches" in 1926. Mullins emerged as the leading Baptist theologian and statesman of the period, serving as president of the seminary from 1899 until his death in 1928, president of the SBC in 1921-24, and president of the BWA in 1923-28. (19) Sampey was sixty-six when he became president in 1929.

Optimism prevailed in the years following the First World War, and L. R. Scarborough was tapped to lead "The Seventy-Five Million Campaign" in 1919. During the next five years, this campaign raised more money for Southern Baptists and for theological education than had ever before been raised. Appropriations were made to Southern, Southwestern, and the Baptist Bible Institute to fund new buildings. Southwestern had received over $750,000 from this campaign by 1925. (20)

By 1921, Norris was attacking both Baylor and Southwestern in full fury. When he published an accusation that W. W. Barnes did not believe the Genesis account of creation, Scarborough asked Barnes to answer Norris's questions in writing. Giving evidence of true Baptist convictions, Barnes replied:

   Before the questions come, in order that the nature or content of the
   questions may not be involved, let me say, I would not answer any question
   he asks me for two reasons: First, that he was not the inquisitor of my
   conscience; and in the second place, he would misuse anything that I wrote
   him. The next day I received a list of twelve questions from Norris, but I
   ignored them as I ignored some ten or twelve letters that he wrote me
   through the years. I never one time paid any attention to any letter he
   wrote me. (21)

Norris continued his attacks until his death in 1952. At Memphis in 1925, the SBC adopted the Baptist Faith and Message statement. The following year the trustees of Southwestern adopted the Baptist Faith and Message statement and the statement of SBC president George W. McDaniel affirming that "man was the special creation of God." Southern and the Baptist Bible Institute were forced to accept the McDaniel statement also.

In 1920, Mrs. E. O. Thompson received the first Doctor of Theology degree conferred upon a woman at Southwestern, and in 1925 T. B. Maston received the first D.R.E. conferred by the School of Religious Education.

Baker noted that "social life, although viewed by the faculty with some suspicion, was structured through a committee of faculty and students, which made it possible for members of the opposite sex to engage in light conversation at the proper time and with adequate supervision." (22) Socials, recitals, lectures, and athletic games gave the students needed diversion.

In 1921, the Practical Work Department was formed, with required work in city mission work, settlement work, immigration work, extension work, and work done on local church fields. (23) The same year, the schools of religious education and gospel music were formed with little fanfare. In 1923, the School of Theology was named, and in 1925, guidelines were adopted for the work and administration of the three schools. Also in 1925, the SBC inaugurated the Cooperative Program. In 1926, when it moved into the Cowden Music Hall, the School of Gospel Music changed its name to the School of Sacred Music. The Practical work Department was phased out in 1927 and discontinued in 1930. (24) In 1927, Southwestern also changed from the quarter system to semesters.

From 1908 until 1925, Southwestern had been owned and operated by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In 1925, after extended negotiations, it passed under the control of the Southern Baptist Convention. By 1925, it was already supported by ten other state conventions, it drew students from every state in the union, and it had shared in the contributions of the Seventy-Five Million Campaign. (25)

William W. Hamilton Sr. (1868-1960), became president of the Baptist Bible Institute in 1928, serving until 1942. This period was marked by struggle for survival. At one point the faculty had to be reduced to five, including the president. Three former members continued to serve without compensation.

1930-39

These were desperate years. The failure of the Seventy-Five Million Campaign to achieve its goals, the rural depression of the twenties, and the indebtedness from buildings all left the seminaries and the convention in an unprecedented financial crisis. Operations were cut to the bone. Faculty salaries were reduced, eventually to 40 percent. In 1932, with an indebtedness of $98,636.43, Southwestern was only receiving $45,608.43 from the Cooperative Program. To generate income, the seminary planted and maintained citrus trees in the Rio Grande Valley. Gaines Dobbins recalled a meeting of the executive committee, apparently in 1930, at which Scarborough noted that faculty salaries had not been paid for two years and that Southwestern had reached the end of its rope. When he tendered his resignation and offered the seminary property to pay its debts, Sampey offered that Southern's apportionment be cut so that the difference could go to Southwestern, thereby enabling Southwestern to continue. (26) The Baptist Hundred Thousand Club was launched in 1933, enlisting 100,000 Baptists to pledge one dollar a month over and above their regular contributions. With the lessening of the depression, the response was spectacular. The full salaries of the faculty (based on a 33 percent reduction at the beginning of the depression) were paid for the first time in 1937, and the first salary increase since the start of the depression was granted in 1940. In 1943, former president Scarborough returned for a note-burning celebrating the payment of the last of the old debts. (27) In 1934, the seminary adopted its first retirement plan. Faculty who had served at least fifteen years, could retire at 70 and had to retire at 75, at half salary. (28)

President John R. Sampey, assisted by Gaines Dobbins as treasurer, saw Southern Seminary through the Depression and the resolution of the million-dollar debt it had incurred in its move from downtown Louisville to Crescent Hill. Enrollment fell from the previous high of 435 when Sampey became president to 343 students in 1933-34. Faculty salaries were cut substantially until 1942. A. T. Robertson died in September of 1934. Laymen preparing for a vocation in religious education were permitted to enroll in classes for the first time in 1938. Dobbins later recalled that Sampey "made Moses, the prophets and the kings `march across the stage of history with the vividness of a motion picture,' yet with remarkable accuracy of detail." (29)

I have all of my father's notes from his work for the year 1939-40, for Davis's Galatians, McDowell's Greek NT 37, and Adams's NT 32 Archaeology. The lecture notes and reading notes are remarkable evidence of the high standards of teaching and study that prevailed. At the end of the year, Dad certified above his signature that he had spent an average of forty hours a week by actual count in study for thirty-three weeks. During this time of study he had read forty books, which he listed, not counting the three grammars he had studied, prepared three papers and made notes for a fourth, and done no outside work. If only we could get our students to maintain such standards today!

At Southwestern, George W. Truett was president of the board of trustees from 1930 until 1944. B. B. McKinney resigned in 1930, and William L. House began teaching in administration and religious education in 1932. Baker James Cauthen taught missions at Southwestern from 1935-39, when he resigned to become a missionary to China. H. E. Dana left Southwestern in 1938 to become president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. The same year, Ray Summers joined the faculty to teach New Testament. Others who came about this time were Jesse Northcutt (theology and New Testament), Frank Means (missions), and in 1942, Robert Baker (church history). In 1934, the Woman's Missionary Training School was absorbed into the School of Religious Education and separate diplomas and degrees in missions were discontinued. The department of Philosophy of Religion and Historical Theology began in 1939.

1940-49

Prior to 1940, Scarborough had ignored the need for accreditation by either AATS or the regional association. A number of issues had to be addressed before the seminary was fully accredited in 1944. The library at Southwestern reached 20,000 volumes in 1942; prior to 1942, there was no annual budget for the library and no allocation for acquisitions. Microfilming of old Baptist papers, however, began in 1937.

In 1942, B.A. Copass, long-time professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and L. R. Scarborough retired. In his moving farewell address, Scarborough noted that the enrollment of the seminary had risen to 760 resident students and 937 correspondence students. In thirty-four years it had trained over 8,000 students. The full-time and part-time faculty numbered twenty-seven, the annual budget was $132,690, and the endowment stood at $1,215,398. The debt would be retired the next year. Scarborough and his wife retired t6 the seminary's citrus groves in the Valley until his death in 1945. (30)

Scarborough was succeeded by E. D. Head, who had been pastor of First Baptist Church of Houston for ten years. The beginning of his presidency in 1942 witnessed rising prosperity and a growing enrollment as the war years broke the grip of the depression. The SBC worked to become "Debt Free in '43." Growth and freedom from debt opened the way for improvements to Fort Worth Hall and Cowden Hall and the addition of two new buildings: the Memorial Building, that contains Scarborough Hall, the Fleming Library, and the Truett Memorial Auditorium, and J. M. Price Hall, home of the School of Religious Education. In 1944-45, the seminary's property in the Valley was sold and the proceeds added to the endowment, bringing it to $1,800,0007. (31) Under President Head, both the trustees and the faculty were reorganized to keep pace with the growing size and complexity of the seminary. In 1945, the faculty voted to begin offering the Bachelor of Divinity for the three-year degree course. The Master of Theology required an additional year beyond the B.D. In 1948, Cal Guy was named to the chair of missions. By 1940, the enrollment at Southern had grown to 520 students. Mueller comments in the language of the day: "From 1940 onward Negro students were privately taught by members of the faculty; and before another decade had gone by, members of the Negro race were admitted to all the facilities of the school." (32)

When Sampey retired in 1942, he had taught at Southern for fifty-five years. Ellis Fuller was a resourceful and energetic builder. Prior to coming to Southern as president, he had been pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta for fourteen years, during which time 6,500 people joined the church. He was also president of the Home Mission Board during these fourteen years, and from 1939 to 1943 president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. During his eight years at Southern, he built eighteen new buildings including the Alumni Chapel, and established the School of Church Music, which opened in 1944. Fuller appointed twenty-four new members to the seminary faculty, fifteen to the theology faculty, all of whom held Southern Seminary degrees.

In W. O. Carver's letters to my father between 1945 and 1949, he discussed his own writings: "I am still trying to carry through my Ephesians project. It is my present hope and purpose to finish the manuscript by the end of this year." (33) My father's plans for mission service: "If it shall be the will of God I shall have joy in seeing you back in China some day. But I shall have joy in your work wherever the providence of God may direct it." My father's plans for further study: "We must not indulge in vain regrets. Yet I have always wondered whether you had not been making a mistake in not majoring on the philosophy of religion. I hope that you will do that on your furlough, as you suggest. I have much appreciation of both Yale and Union, but I strongly incline to Yale for you.... I do not think Harvard would have anything for you." (34) Mission strategy: "I definitely approve the idea of winning an element of what we may call the `cultural leadership' of Chile. Such an ideal is necessary to the highest achievement in missionary work. You may recall the comparisons which I used to make in my missions course among Anderson, Wilson, and Duff in their strategy in India. All of them were needed, and all of them together were only providing for the Christian cultural leadership in a land where `the common people' must, as in the ministry of Jesus, be the main objective of the gospel enterprise. It is good to remember that while `He had compassion on the multitudes' and always took care that `the common people heard him gladly,' He also definitely undertook the training of a leadership. Again, I used to say that in the light of His example, in the long run, `it is more important to indoctrinate a dozen than superficially to evangelize a million.'" (35) What a pity that the International Mission Board still has not learned this lesson from Jesus' example!

Carver also allowed himself some revealing comments about his colleagues: "I must not take your time or mine to talk to you now about our new professors. I rejoice in them. You will understand when I say that I take peculiar pride in Price's coming to us. For years I have hoped that that might come about, but I had not dared hope to see it so soon. With him and Goerner, who permit me to call them `my boys," I have great gratitude to God." Carver expressed hope that William A. Mueller would prove to be "a comprehensive, evangelical theologian" and suggested that "technically he is more historian than theologian." Then he added: "May I venture to add that I think Dale will out-grow his Brunner-Barth complex." (36)

At the age of 80, Carver could still express excitement about forward-looking changes in the curriculum: "In the midst of last session I broached with the different men whose departments were involved and then with our president the idea of a new approach to the theological curriculum. I was surprised at the readiness with which approval of the idea was met. The idea is that the story of our Christianity and its interpretation should be studied historically by its great periods; that the various aspects of it, expansion, institutional development, worship, philosophical contexts, and consequent theological formulation, should be studied together. Thus, while Price is technically in the Department of Church History, he is not to be limited to history in the ordinary technical sense. Similarly, the other men in history are to take a more comprehensive view. There is to be interdepartmental co-ordination and co-operation in a measure not heretofore practiced. At least, such is my hope and my understanding." (37) That dream has not yet been realized, that I know of, and to the extent to which it has, it would await the comprehensive abilities and sensitivities of E. Glenn Hinson.

An aside: On January 10, 1984, I had an extended conversation with T. C. Smith at his home in North Carolina, in which I asked him to tell me how critical study of the Bible had been introduced at Southern. I made notes of his account. In 1947, T. C. returned from Edinburgh. Davis and McDowell were the other members of the New Testament department. Davis was good with Greek; McDowell was excellent as an interpreter. During the second semester Davis was ill, and T. C. took over for him. T. C. introduced critical issues, which scared Davis. McDowell had had his eyes opened at Union. Sampey, Davis, Yates, and Francisco would all deal with critical issues with graduate students but not with B.D. classes.

The year after Fuller went to Southern, Duke McCall (1914-) became president of the Baptist Bible Institute (1943-46). In 1946, it became New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. McCall was followed by Roland Q. Leavell (1891-1963), who served from 1946-58.

In 1944, Isham B. Hodges, pastor the Golden Gate Baptist Church of Oakland, secured a charter for the Golden Gate Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which opened that year with seven students. In 1945, the Southern Baptist General Convention of California assumed ownership and control of the school. In 1946, Benjamin Oscar Herring became president.

In 1945, the Buncombe Baptist Pastors' Conference asked the Executive Committee of the SBC to consider establishing a seminary at Ridgecrest, North Carolina. After studying the matter, a committee was appointed in 1947 to study the convention's needs in theological education. In 1949, this committee recommended the establishment of "two seminaries--one in the West and one in the East." (38)

1950-59

The first woman to receive a seminary degree at Southern was Helen Armstrong in 1950. Duke K. McCall was elected president of Southern Seminary in 1951, having served as president of New Orleans Baptist Theological seminary from 1943-46. In 1953, he organized the seminary into three schools: Theology, Religious Education, and Church Music. The B.D. was strengthened, and standards for the Th.M and Th.D. degrees were raised. The faculty grew to some sixty full-time professors teaching more than 1,300 students. The Doctor of Music degree was added in 1956. Summer school and evening school programs were added.

In 1951, with Gaines Dobbins serving as acting president, the trustees at Southern voted that "qualified Negro students" be admitted to the seminary. (39) Gaines Dobbins, whose literary output has been estimated at over six million words, wrote a book every summer for twenty years. (40) J. B. Weatherspoon taught through the presidencies of Sampey and Fuller and the early years of McCall. In 1954, he led the Southern Baptist Convention to endorse the Supreme Court decision on integration.

In 1958, there were only two dissenting votes on the faculty statement that "Low morale exists in the faculty because of the administration." The two were Wayne E. Oates and Sam Southard. Thirteen members of the faculty submitted their resignations over conflict with the administration: William H. Morton (1948-58), Theron D. Price (1948-58), Henry E. Turlington (1949-58), T. C. Smith (1950-58), J. Estill Jones (1951-58), Guy H. Ranson (1952-58), William L. Lumkin (1943-58), J. Morris Ashcraft (1955-58), Heber F. Peacock Jr. (1956-58), John Moore Lewis (1956-58), Thomas O. Hall Jr. (1956-58), and G. Hugh Wamble (1956-58). T. C. Smith, one of the thirteen, reports that he told Eric Rust not to sign with the thirteen. The bitterness of the situation is reflected in a personal letter from James E. Tull to my father, dated December 30, 1958, from Wake Forest, N.C.:

   "I am hoping that Dale will stay, because his great prestige in the
   denomination Can be a constructive influence in rebuilding the school....
   As you detected while you were here, nearly our whole faculty is so bitter
   against Duke that I am afraid our vision of the situation there has been
   distorted. Some wonder how, since the local sentiment here is so strong, he
   can hold on there another day."

The rebuilding of the faculty began in 1959 with the first appointments of a new generation of faculty. Among the appointments that would follow shortly were: G. Willis Bennett, Joseph A. Callaway, James W. Cox, James Leo Garrett, D. Swan Haworth, E. Glenn Hinson, Bill Hull, Page Kelley, David L. Mueller, W. Morgan Patterson, Harold Songer, C. Penrose St. Amant, Ray Summers, Marvin Tate, E. J. Vardaman, and Donald L. Williams. Dad began teaching as an assistant professor, June 1, 1959, at an annual salary of $6,000. The Boyce Centennial Library was occupied in 1959. William E. Hull has chronicled the enlivening effect of this influx of able faculty members on the quality of the intellectual life and graduate program at Southern in the years that followed. (41)

When E. A. Head retired from the presidency of Southwestern in 1953, the school had grown from 734 students to 2,160 students during his tenure, and the faculty had grown from twenty-three to forty-two. The old debts had been paid off, and the endowment had grown by $600,000. (42) Over the misgivings of his wife, who was concerned about his health, J. Howard Williams, then fifty-nine and the executive secretary of the BGCT, became president of Southwestern in 1953. He is remembered for his warm, winsome spirit. Although he had only five years as president, they were fruitful years. Because the student-faculty ratio was 50:1 and classes ran as large as 180, Williams enlarged the faculty, with such notable additions as W. R. Estep, C. W. Scudder, Jerry Vardaman, Milton Ferguson, and C. W. Brister. W. L. Howse moved to the Sunday School Board in 1954, and J. M. Price retired in 1956, after effectively creating the field of religious education. A modest retirement plan was introduced, and faculty were given $100 per annum for travel to the annual SBC meeting or professional society meetings. In 1955, the first two black graduates of the seminary received their degrees. To meet the need for additional teaching and library space, two wings were added to the Memorial building in 1956. Construction on what became the J. Howard Williams Student Village began in 1957. Between 1953 and 1958, the enrollment grew from 2,160 to 2,471. (43) When L. R. Elliott retired as librarian in 1957, the library had grown from a few thousand volumes to 118,558 books and over 136,500 total items. In 1958, the Southwestern Journal of Theology, which had been published from 1919-24 was reestablished. President Head also worked at getting increases from the Cooperative Program, and in 1958 the SBC Executive Committee proposed a formula for allocations to the seminaries. After five vigorous years, J. Howard Williams died on April 20, 1958.

Robert Ernest Naylor, chairman of the board of trustees and pastor of Travis Avenue Baptist Church, became president of Southwestern in 1958, beginning a term of twenty years that would be marked by unprecedented growth.

The SBC assumed operation of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in 1950. That same year a committee of the SBC recommended the establishment of Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The convention accepted the offer of the Wake Forest Campus at a cost of $1,600,000. Southeastern was opened in 1951. Midwestern opened in 1958. These three initiatives were all taken in part at least to address the problem of ballooning enrollments in the already established seminaries. The Booz, Allen and Hamilton report in 1958 recommended that "immediate steps should be taken to provide the seminaries with the funds required to provide quality education," and "allocations of the Cooperative Program funds should be related more directly to the number of students the seminaries are expected to train." (44)

Rivalry among the seminaries for students and financial support was intense. As a result, the study committee recommended a comprehensive revision of the formula for allocations, taking into consideration: enrollment, equal quality of training, differences in costs, adequate support for the smaller schools, and the size of the schools' endowments. The cost per year per FTE at the time ran $300-400 at the Baptist seminaries and $527 nationally. Allocations for capital needs had been included in the operating budgets submitted to the Executive Committee since 1951. (45)

Plans were being pursued to locate Southeastern in Atlanta when the Wake Forest University property became available, since Wake Forest 'was relocating to Winston-Salem. In 1951, Stealey, McDowell, and Binkley left Southern to start Southeastern Seminary. Eighty-five students were in the first class. The first year the school occupied the whole campus (1956-57), the enrollment reached 681. Sydnor L. Stealey (1897-) was the first president at Southeastern. Truett Gannon, a member of the second class at Southeastern, remembers Stealey as "gentle, rough, plain-spoken, a gifted individual." He "sold" the seminary to the community, and negotiated an arrangement with Westinghouse, whereby any student who needed a job would be able to find one at Westinghouse. He also taught church history, offering some of the best courses that were taught at that time, though from time to time he had to say to a class: "I haven't had time to bale this hay, fellas, so you will have to take it as I give it to you." Other members of the faculty during the early years at Southeastern included Olin T. Binkley, R. C. Briggs, R. T. Daniel, Pope A. Duncan, Ben C. Fisher, J. Leo Green, Garland A. Hendricks, J. B. Hipps, Marc H. Lovelace, E. A. McDowell, M. Ray McKay, Stewart Newman, B. Elmo Scoggin, William C. Strickland, J. Carroll Trotter Jr., James E. Tull, John T. Wayland, and Richard K. Young. (46)

Herring resigned as president of Golden Gate in 1952, and was succeeded by Harold K. Graves. In 1956, the seminary acquired its present campus on Strawberry Point. It became a member of AATS in 1954 and was fully accredited in 1961. (47)

In 1953, New Orleans Seminary moved to its present location at 3939 Gentilly Boulevar. H. Leo Eddleman (1911-) served as president at New Orleans from 1959 to 1970.

In 1957, the SBC voted to open Midwestern Seminary and appointed 29 trustees, who elected H. I. Hester as president of the board. The new seminary was to "limit its scope of work to a School of Theology." L. R. Elliott, long-time librarian at Southwestern procured 10,000 volumes for a library, and classes begin in the fall of 1958 in space rented from the Calvary Baptist Church of Kansas City. Millard J. Berquist, pastor of First Baptist Church of Tampa, was elected president in 1957, and he gathered the first faculty of four: Ralph H. Elliott (OT and Hebrew), Joseph T. McClain (NT and Greek), William H. Morton (Archaeology), and V. Lavell Seats (Missions and Evangelism). Classes began in September of 1958 with 151 students. That same year the seminary purchased the Vivion farm for its present campus.

1960-69

The "Forward Program," adopted in 1957 and implemented by the Stewardship Commission in 1960, began to generate increased funding for theological education through the Cooperative Program, but the percentage of Cooperative Program receipts going to theological education was dropping. (48) Long-range planning, definition of objectives, and coordination of the various agencies and programs through the Inter-Agency Council marked a new emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness. The presidents of the seminaries began meeting together regularly and the rudiments of an inter-seminary conference were developed.

In 1961, Duke McCall prophetically warned that "a runaway rebellion and theological revolt ... threatens to destroy the Southern Baptist Convention." The revolt he saw, however, was not from fundamentalism but from disenchantment with denominationalism and institutions in general. Thirty years before we coined the term "post-denominational," McCall lamented: "There is a fuzzy assumption that if the old denominational patterns and organizational lines do not enclose all the bright Christian spirits and creative minds, then we might as well abandon them." (49) In 1963, the Carver School of Missions and Social Work merged with the seminary. The School of Music was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music in 1967, and Southern was accredited by SACS in 1968.

Under Naylor's leadership, the budget for Southwestern grew from $1,349,846 in 1958-59, to $2,025,499 in 1967-68, to $6,396,434 in 1977-78. During the same period, the endowment grew from $3,752,120 in 1958-59, to $6,337,591 in 1967-68, to $12,081,335 in 1977-78. Naylor also addressed the needs of the faculty. By adding faculty, he was able to reduce the faculty student ratio from 1:45 to 1:28. He also quadrupled salaries during the twenty years of his presidency. This reduction in the student-faculty ratio was affected at Southwestern, as at other schools by a decline in the number of students entering the seminaries in the 1960s. At Southwestern, the annual cumulative enrollment reached a high of 2,395 in 1958-59, declined to a low of 1,859 in 1966-67, and did not reach a new high point until 2,406 were enrolled in 1972-73. By 1978, enrollment had reached 4,136. By 1965, Southwestern's library held 335,000 items.

When controversy erupted over Ralph H. Elliott's The Message of Genesis in 1961, Naylor affirmed to the trustees that Southwestern was "totally conservative." (50) The seminary adopted resolutions affirming faith in "the entire Bible as the authoritative, authentic, infallible Word of God" and condemning theological views that undermined the historical accuracy and doctrinal integrity of the Bible. The convention adopted the revised Baptist Faith and Message statement in 1963, and the trustees made this confession the official statement of faith of Southwestern Seminary in 1965.

In 1966, Southwestern changed the B.D. to the M.Div. Since 1945, B.D. students could opt either for the biblical languages or take other electives (with the understanding that they could not take further work at Southwestern without the languages). Beginning in 1966, the biblical languages were required for all M.Div. students at Southwestern.

1970-79

In 1970, Southern began work on a D.Min. program. The Boyce Bible School was started in 1974. April 3, 1974, a tornado hit the Southern Seminary campus doing extensive damage to trees and buildings. William E. Hull resigned as dean of the School of Theology in 1975. In 1976, enrollment hit a high of 2,400 students.

In 1970, Southwestern was accredited by SACS, and in 1971, Southwestern bought its first computer. (51) Faculty assessment began to be done by "management by objectives." Naylor reorganized the administration in the early 1970s, appointing four vice presidents. In the early 1970s, Southern and Southwestern both began offering the D.Min. degree as a professional doctorate. Southwestern then phased out its Th.M. program. The Th.D. was restructured in 1959, and in 1973, the nomenclature was changed to Ph.D., with new requirements for supportive work to be taken at an accredited university. Similar curricular changes were made in the schools of Church Music and Religious Education as the seminaries recognized advances in burgeoning fields of study, the need for programs to be more responsive to student needs, the proliferation of areas of ministry, and the leadership of the ATS. Off-campus centers began to be developed at Houston Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and the Mexican Baptist Bible Institute in San Antonio. In 1978, the holdings of the Fleming Library numbered 453,176 items.

Naylor gave notice in 1976 of his intention to retire in 1978. In 1977, the trustees appointed Russell H. Dilday Jr., then pastor of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta as president-elect. Early in 1978, he moved to Fort Worth, the leadership transition began June 1, and on August 1, Naylor became president emeritus. Tragically, the presidency that began with what many termed "one of the smoothest transitions in Baptist history" (52) would end with one of the most abrupt transitions when a fundamentalist board of trustees relieved Dilday of his responsibilities, change the locks on his office while they were still in session, and ushered him out the back door. Dilday surrounded himself by capable leadership, appointing John P. Newport vice president for academic affairs, and Lloyd Elder as executive vice president.

Milton Ferguson moved from Southwestern to Midwestern to become president there in 1973. Grady C. Cauthen served as president at New Orleans in 1970-74 and was succeeded by Landrum E Leavell II (1974-95), the nephew of Roland Leavell. W. Randall Lolley was elected president of Southeastern in 1974, and William Pinson became president at Golden Gate in 1977.

The most significant event of the decade for Baptist theological education, however, in retrospect, was the beginning of the Fundamentalist takeover of the SBC that began at the Houston meeting in 1979.

1980-89

Roy L. Honeycutt was elected as the eighth president of Southern Seminary in 1982. Honeycutt emphasized that his administration would "look to the Seminary's historic strengths" to chart its course, "reaffirming our commitment to be rooted in the Word of God, devoted to the centrality of the local church, and obedient to the call of Christ to evangelism, missions and preaching. We intend to stand upon this heritage as we reach toward the future with hope." (53) As Hull has noted, one of the ironies of the era is that "in the hour of its greatest triumph, doctoral work at Southern came under its greatest threat." (54) The same could be said of all facets of the educational program at Southern during this decade.

In 1984, President Honeycutt relieved Dale Moody of his teaching responsibilities because of Moody's expressed disagreements with the Abstract of Principles. (55) Yet, on August 28, 1984, in an effort to signal the danger that faced the convention, Honeycutt, drawing on the imagery of the Old Testament, issued a call to "holy war" entitled "To Your Tents O Israel! A Biblical Call to Duty, Unity and Honor."

In 1985, 45,000 Baptists converged on Dallas to contest the election of the convention president. Charles Stanley was elected and Winfred Moore was defeated by a vote of 24,453 to 19,795. (56) The convention then appointed a "peace committee" to investigate charges of liberalism in the seminaries. By the end of the year, the faculty was preparing for the visit of the "peace committee" that raised questions about the teaching of thirteen members of the Southern faculty. In October of 1986, the six SBC seminary presidents gathered at Glorieta and issued the "Glorieta Statement," which stated that "The sixty-six books of the Bible are not errant in any area of reality." Many of the faculty at Southern and at Southwestern felt that the presidents had capitulated to the convention leadership, and in retrospect it is clear that the adoption of the "Glorieta Statement" marked the beginning of the end of the controversy.

When the peace committee brought its report in 1987, recommendation v. of this report stated: "We recommend that, in view of the intense public discussion of the last few years, that trustees determine the theological positions of the seminary administrators and faculty members in order to guide them in renewing their determination to stand by the Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963, to the Glorieta Statement ... and to their own institution's declarations of faith...." Randall Lolley resigned in 1987, and was succeeded by Lewis A. Drummond. Faculty members at Southeastern and then at Southern began leaving by the end of the decade.

1990-99

Roy Honeycutt retired in 1993, and wrote a haunting farewell column in the March/April issue of "The Tie" entitled, "Empty Chairs--Empty Tables" quoting a line from Les Miserables (the next line is "Where my friends will meet no more"). Russell Dilday was fired in March 1994.

The nineties were also a decade of promising new beginnings as new seminaries and schools of theology opened.

Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School--1986

Baptist Studies Program at Candler School of Theology--1989

Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond--1991

Christopher White School of Divinity, Gardner-Webb University--1993

Baptist Studies Program at Brite Divinity School--1994

George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University--1994

Logsdon School of Theology, Hardin Simmons University--1994

Campbell University Divinity School--1996

McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University--1996

Wake Forest University Divinity School--1999

These schools and programs, along with Central Baptist Theological Seminary, formed a Consortium of Schools partnering with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1998.

II. Reflections

Those of us involved in theological education are constantly doing assessment, and certainly the end of one century and the beginning of another ought to be a time for reflection on where we have traveled, what we have learned, and how our common experience ought to guide us as we attempt to offer our best in theological education for the next generation. Well, what have we learned about theological education in a hundred years?

1. Character--Baptist theological education is unique, but it has never been uniform. Each school developed its own character, style, themes, and traditions. Baptist theological education flowers from our peculiar heritage and regional contexts. It is constructive, warm-hearted, committed to missions and evangelism, focused on the local church, Bible centered, and blends theory and practice, scholarship and piety. Commenting on "the true mutuality and marriage of piety and intellect" at Southern Seminary, at the inauguration of Roy Honeycutt, Robert Linn declared, "Such a witness provides balance, stability, wholeness, and loyalty to the gospel of our Lord and such a witness is enormously important in a time in which Christians are tempted by a know-nothing religion that is wrapped in the mantel of piety and by a sterile intellectualism." (57)

2. Faculty--Nothing is more important than the faculty.

a. When students and graduates of any generation are asked about their theological education, their response is invariably a testimony to the formative influence of one or more of their teachers.

b. Most of the early faculty were known as capable preachers and dedicated churchmen. Leaders of the seminary faculty were also denominational leaders, serving as presidents of the SBC, Mullins founding the BWA, and Broadus and Manly the Sunday School Board. Carver's comments about Sampey are typical: "He also developed and cultivated a great interest in evangelistic preaching and more and more held evangelistic meetings in churches and in colleges, in the latter of which he took very great satisfaction.... He was also in very great demand for work in assemblies and in `preacher schools.' Besides, he was for most of the time pastor of a country church between Frankfort and Versailles through a period of 40 years in which he distinguished himself as a country parson." The next sentence is predictable: "All these activities along with his always heavy load in the Seminary left him too little time for scholarly writing." (58)

c. Most of the spiritual formation students received was a by-product of the genuine piety of particular professors. In one of his chapel addresses, Mullins "defined spirituality as facing and discharging the present duty in the conscious leadership and help of the Holy Spirit. When the preparation of a Hebrew lesson was your duty it should be just as truly a spiritual exercise as the devotional reading of a section of the Bible." (59)

d. The faculties created distinctive communities of learning that were at their best when they blended the appointment of a school's own graduates, long tenures of service, and graduates of other institutions who brought other perspectives into the life of the community.

e. Theological schools require continuity to develop. Look at the long tenures of service, the number of graduates who return to the faculty, and the stability of these institutions through most of their history.

f. The faculties of Baptist seminaries, when at their best, have stood between grassroots Baptists and the cutting edges of scholarship. They have moved to the forefronts of their disciplines, while staying committed to and involved with Baptists broadly, their love of the gospel, their commitment to missions, and the needs of churches, ministers, and lay persons.

3. Curriculum.--Several observations can be made about the curriculum.

a. Its stability. History shows that there has been amazing stability in the core curriculum of theological education. Certainly methods and perspectives have changed and new areas have been added, but the core has remained remarkably constant. The curriculum from the earliest days included:

   I. Biblical Introduction
  II. Interpretation of the Old Testament (English and Hebrew)
 III. Interpretation of the New Testament (English and Greek)
  IV. Systematic Theology (General and with languages)
   V. Polemical Theology and Apologetics
  VI. Homiletics
 VII. Church History
VIII. Church Government and Pastoral Duties (60)

b. Students could earn a certificate or diploma in each of these areas (or Schools, as they were called), culminating in the degree of "Full Graduate" or "English Graduate." The faculty also approved advanced work leading to diplomas in other languages and areas of study, but these were elective and not required for the degrees Full Graduate or English graduate. (61)

c. Its commitment to the elective system, although before the McCall era at Southern students could make only limited choices in their degree requirements. (62)

d. The decision to teach students of varying background, age, and ability together, so that those who had more ability could challenge the others and those who had greater practical interests could keep the others (students and professors) "close to the line of practicability." (63)

e. Its resolution that theological education (and biblical studies in particular) should be offered at a general level accessible to those with little prior formal training or language study. Students could take only English courses if they so chose, receiving a certificate rather than a diploma.

f. Concern for integration of the curriculum. As far back as Whitsitt, the faculty was concerned for the integration of the whole theological curriculum. Whitsitt divided theology, which he conceptualized holistically, into exegetical, historical, systematic, and practical theology. Mueller reported that, "Following German precedents, Dr. Whitsitt lectured at first on theological encyclopedia and methodology. In this he was concerned to show the students the organic whole of the science of theology; the relation, for instance, between exegesis and history and of both to systematic theology; and of all these to practical theology." (64)

g. The range of the curriculum has grown to truly challenging breadth, due to advancement in the various fields of study, the creation of new disciplines, and the proliferation of vocations in ministry. (65)

h. Our task is still one articulately defined by W. O. Carver half-century ago:

   On my part, I gradually defined my conviction that we would be most loyal
   to our founders and fathers by doing what they had to do. They took account
   of the needs of a Baptist ministry and leadership under the conditions of
   their own day. They formulated courses and adopted methods which they were
   intelligently convinced would most adequately provide for efficiency and
   loyalty in this leadership. We must take the same attitude and be willing
   to modify and to vary their methods and the disciplines which they provided
   for their students, so as to make our Seminary the best possible instrument
   for a worthy Baptist ministry and for leadership in the Baptist, the
   Christian, and the cultural world of the twentieth century. (66)

Then Carver added prophetically, and now poignantly:

I think we have, all in all, moved in this direction about as rapidly as a constituency such as ours would approve or submit to. We have not always been to the degree in which some of us have thought we should be, the leaders of denominational progress and preparation for changes. (67)

4. Pedagogy--Theological education, like higher education in general, has moved progressively from teacher-centered to student-centered pedagogy. Whitsitt introduced the style of "a university lecturer, rather than a classroom teacher and questioner of students on material which they were supposed to have prepared." (68) Carver recalls that Boyce printed his lecture materials and required students to memorize,

   literally, the four or five pages of the book assigned for each class
   meeting and reproduced it as they were called on. The recitation was
   sometimes by writing out the outline on the blackboard, sometimes by
   standing in one's place and reciting the text until stopped by the
   professor, when another student would ... "take it up at that point." If by
   inattention or any other cause he could not "take it up" so much the worse
   for him. Down went a zero in the record book! (69)

One student ventured in one of the earliest issues of the Seminary Magazine that the best way to pass the examination in Systematics was to "Cram Dr. Boyce's Theology the day before the examination, and forget it the day after!" (70) The recitation style of teaching prevailed at Southern through the Sampey era. There were exceptions, however. In praising Crawford Toy's erudition, one of his students and later a colleague at Harvard wrote: "In the classroom he seemed to know everything about the subject which he taught. He criticized the textbooks with freedom, and sought not to fill the minds of students with facts, though he never minimized the value of a fact, but to stir up the mind and to exercise its own powers." (71)

Both professors and students today can be grateful that examination practices have changed. At Manly's death, Sampey became professor of both Hebrew and English OT History and Interpretation. "Along with his teaching of both classes in Hebrew and meeting the constant demands of the English course, he had to grade all these examinations papers. And in those days examinations began at 8:00 a.m. and closed at whatever time the student could finish, up till 9:00 p.m." (72)

5. Freedom and fidelity--a. The balance of connectedness and freedom is a very fine one, rooted deep in the character of Baptist theological education. While Manly affirmed plenary inspiration, he did not oppose the beginnings of higher criticism. In 1891, he spoke at Newton Theological Institution on "Free Research and Firm Faith." (73) If either is lost, the quality of education a school provides will suffer. Baptist theological education, when it has managed to hold in check the destructive influences of fundamentalism, has been able to engage the equally destructive dangers of secularism, skepticism, and relativism, and offer Baptists a distinctive, authentic, and spiritually enriching interpretation of Scripture, history, theology, and ministry. When it has not held these threats at bay, it has lost some of its best minds and spirits: Toy, Whitsitt, Elliott, and Moody.

b. How might history have been different, if Southern had grown up as part of Furman or Mercer, and if Southwestern had remained the Baylor Theological seminary? Would the universities have provided more stability and freedom for Baptist theological education? Would they have been able to withstand the theological controversies of the twentieth century while remaining vitally related to Baptists?

c. The Baptist tradition has been, and if it is to flourish in the twenty-first century, must remain broad enough to encompass Boyce, Mullins, Carver, Stagg, Moody, and Tupper--and they all in one institution's heritage.

d. There has been a symbiotic relationship between controversy and theological education. Without assigning blame, it seems there have always been populist detractors of theological education, and at times those who moved too far from the Baptist grass roots. Crawford Toy's resignation--which was precipitated in part at least by concerns about the effects of his views on fund-raising--should stand as a warning for all developing seminaries. Carver recalled:

   There came to be criticism, which grew, of his views which certainly did
   conflict with the traditional ideas concerning Old Testament History and
   Religion. In order to meet the criticism and to clarify his own standing,
   Prof. Toy submitted his resignation to the Board of Trustees in a letter
   which is a model of proper procedure and of a spirit of fellowship. He was
   definitely surprised when his resignation was accepted and must have been
   very gravely distressed when he found that both Boyce and Broadus--I do not
   know about the other members of the faculty--felt that his severance from
   the Seminary was necessary unless he could modify his views and his methods
   of teaching. One of the tragedies of the situation was and is that in the
   resolution accepting his resignation it is set out as if it were the
   determining factor that his remaining in the Seminary would hinder the
   raising of money for the institution. (74)

6. Boyce's "Three Changes"--The touchstone of the distinctiveness of Baptist theological education is still in some important respects Boyce's "Three Changes in Theological Institutions," which he articulated in 1856.

A. A Baptist theological school ought not merely to receive college graduates, but men of less general education, even men having only what is called a common English education, offering to every man such opportunities for study as he is prepared for and desires.

B. Besides covering, for those who are prepared, as wide a range of theological study as could be found elsewhere, such an institution ought to offer further and special courses, so that the ablest and most aspiring students might make extraordinary attainments, preparing them for instruction and original authorship, and helping to make our country less dependent upon foreign scholarship.

C. There should be prepared an Abstract of Principles, or careful statement of theological belief, which every professor in such an institution must sign when inaugurated, so as to guard against the rise of erroneous and injurious instruction in such a seat of sacred learning. (75)

Each of these "Three Changes" needs to be reexamined.

a. The spirit of the first change is still vital for Baptists. Theological education must be offered broadly to all who desire it, regardless of their educational background, theological orientation, or vocational calling. The references to "men" and "man" in Boyce's statement are now at odds with his own inclination in this statement, as was his unstated assumption that they were talking about white men. By "common English education" Boyce meant those whose education had not given them a basic working knowledge of Latin or Greek. At the time, other seminaries taught the Bible using only Greek and Hebrew and taught Theology only in Latin. Southern's radical departure was not in offering work in the original languages but in teaching the Bible and Theology in English. This spring, I discovered a copy of my father's homework for A. J. Armstrong's English 247 at Baylor in 1935. For this English course he had been required to turn in an original translation of the Latin eulogy delivered at Robert Browning's funeral. Compare this with the recent observation in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education lamenting the decline we have experienced in classical education: "Professors say they are increasingly met with blank stares as they toss off once-familiar terms or names of 19th century philosophers. They bemoan their students' inability to write a simple essay.... The growing number of students for whom English is a second language also poses a challenge." (76) The truth is that most of us, and most of the students we teach today, had only a "common English education." Boyce's sentiment is right headed. It just needs to be expanded. Baptists need to continue to offer theological education to all who desire it, men and women, those who are preparing for vocations in ministry, and lay persons seeking a deeper grounding of their faith and more resources for their ministries as lay persons. How best to fulfill this mandate should be a matter of continuing concern for Baptists and their schools.

b. While offering theological education for all, Baptist seminaries need to continue to offer the highest levels of education for those who are able and aspire to what is now doctoral level work. Given the numbers and resources of Baptists and Baptist schools and faculties, this is now one of the most neglected areas of Baptist theological education. Where will the Broaduss, Robertsons, Carvers, and Moodys--the Carrolls, Conners, Bakers, and McBeths--of the next generation be trained? The problem is even more pressing in the areas most directly related to ministry and the church. Where will the Weatherspoons, Dobbinss, Edges, Oatess, and Barnettes--the Howes and the Prices--of tomorrow's faculties do their doctoral work?

c. Three questions need to be asked of Boyce's call for the faculty to sign an abstract of principles or statement of theological beliefs:

Is it Baptist?

Did it work?

What will keep our seminaries Baptist?

To the first question, I think we can now answer: No, it is not Baptist to call on a Baptist to sign anyone else's statement of theological beliefs. The Baptist principles of freedom, soul competence, and priesthood of the believer mean that Baptists need to find other ways to encourage fidelity and harmony. Boyce responded that the seminary is not a church and that such an abstract was necessary. It is clear now that fidelity to the Abstract has led to a much more serious failing: a betrayal and loss of fundamental Baptist principles. The preamble to the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message statement--that was dropped from the 2000 revision--stated: "Such statements have never been regarded as complete, infallible statements of faith, nor as official creeds carrying mandatory authority." While it was never the intent that this statement should have a binding force, be used punitively, or restrict the freedom of other Baptists, when it is used to determine the orthodoxy of theological faculty, that is precisely its effect. Baptist schools of theology, when based on a particular statement of faith become creedal institutions. In an essential respect, they thereby become non-Baptist.

The second question is, did it work? Here again, I think the evidence of nearly a century and a half is largely negative. Signing the Abstract of Principles did not keep Crawford Toy from moving too far ahead of Baptists of his day when he accepted Darwin's theory of evolution or Wellhausen's higher criticism of the Pentateuch--though these are not proscribed by the Abstract. Neither did it prevent the Landmarkers from forcing Whitsitt's resignation, though again the Abstract does not prescribe a trail of blood view of Baptist history. It also proved a liability to Dale Moody, whose problem was that he affirmed the authority of the Bible more strongly than his critics. On the other hand, neither has signing the Abstract brought the current generation of new faculty at Southern into the long heritage of that school. The Abstract ceased to be an affirmation of fidelity and became an implement of controversy during the last two decades of the century. In a calmer day, William A. Mueller astutely observed that "James P. Boyce, Basil Manly Jr., and the other leaders showed rare discretion and wisdom, for they excluded from this doctrinal statement with its mildly Calvinistic tenor those matters of belief on which Southern Baptists were in disagreement." (77) By contrast current leaders seem determined to frame and adopt statements that force division rather than bring unity among Baptists.

The third question is not how to keep the beliefs of a faculty from changing over time. It is a double-sided question: how to keep a faculty faithful to its Baptist heritage and community of faith on the one hand, yet free to pursue truth and speak critically and prophetically for the good of the church? We are still searching for the best means for guiding schools over time, either by the framing of "founding principles" that are Baptist in spirit but do not attempt to define doctrinal guidelines (McAfee School of Theology), or by asking each faculty member to write his or her own statement of faith (BTSR).

Theological education continues to be vital for Baptists, and I believe the outlook for Baptist theological education is bright. Will we learn the lessons of experience? That is a question another Baptist educator will have to answer--in another century.

Endnotes

(1.) William A. Mueller, A History of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1959), 197.

(2.) W. O. Carver, "Recollections and Information from Other Sources concerning the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary," unpublished manuscript (1954), 25.

(3.) Mueller, History, 183-84. For a history of the Woman's Missionary Union Training Schools, see C. Anne Davis, "Just Keep On, Daughter! The Stars in their Courses will Fight for You!" (January 11, 1982).

(4.) E. Y. Mullins, "Introductory," Review and Expositor, 1 (April 1904): 1.

(5.) Mueller, History, 187.

(6.) E. Y. Mullins, The Axioms of Religion: A New Interpretation of the Baptist Faith (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1908).

(7.) W. O. Carver, Missions in the Plan of the Ages, 1909.

(8.) Robert Baker, Tell the Generations Following: A History of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1908-1983 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1983), 122, quoting B. H. Carroll, "Opening Address before the Theological Department, Baylor University," Standard, 14 September 1905, 1ff.

(9.) Baker, 139.

(10.) Ibid., 163.

(11.) A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (George H. Doran Company, 1914).

(12.) Carver, "Recollections," 41-44.

(13.) Mueller, History, 208.

(14.) Baker, 198.

(15.) Ibid., 200.

(16.) Ibid., 211.

(17.) Ibid., 206.

(18.) Ibid., 214.

(19.) See "The Mullins Legacy," Review and Expositor 96, no. 1 (1999), esp. Phyllis Rodgerson Pleasants, "E. Y. Mullins: Diplomatic Theological Leader," 43-60.

(20.) Baker, 219.

(21.) W. W. Barnes, "L. R. Scarborough's Break with Norris," unpublished manuscript, quoted by Baker, 223.

(22.) Baker, 229.

(23.) Ibid., 231.

(24.) Ibid., 266.

(25.) Ibid., 237-38.

(26.) Ibid., 254.

(27.) Ibid., 259.

(28.) Ibid., 274.

(29.) Thorp K. Wolford, "The Seminary and the City: Their First Century Together," address delivered on Founders Day 1977.

(30.) Baker, 275.

(31.) Ibid., 296.

(32.) Mueller, History, 215.

(33.) Personal letter from W. O. Carver to Hugo H. Culpepper, October 6, 1946.

(34.) Personal letter from W. O. Carver to Hugo H. Culpepper, September 14, 1948.

(35.) Ibid.

(36.) Ibid.

(37.) Ibid.

(38.) Baptist Advance, 346-47.

(39.) Mueller, History, 225.

(40.) Ibid., History, 220.

(41.) William E. Hull, "Doctoral Studies at Southern Seminary: 1944-1994," Review and Expositor, 92 (1995): 359-371.

(42.) Baker, 319.

(43.) Ibid., 351.

(44.) Ibid., 383.

(45.) Ibid., 386.

(46.) See Thomas A. Bland, ed., Servant Songs: Reflections on the History and Mission of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1950-1988 (Macon: Smyth & Helwys, 1994).

(47.) Baptist Advance, 342-43.

(48.) Baker, 382.

(49.) "McCall Says Theological Revolt May Destroy Baptist Convention," The Courier-Journal, May 20, 1961, 6.

(50.) Baker, 395.

(51.) Ibid., 379.

(52.) Ibid., 447.

(53.) The program for the inauguration of Roy L. Honeycutt, April 21, 1982.

(54.) Hull, "Doctoral Studies at Southern Seminary," 366.

(55.) These are contained in a letter addressed to Duke K.McCall, dated February 8, 1980.

(56.) Stan Hastey, "Stanley reelected, peace move begins," Western Recorder, 159, 24 (June 18, 1985), 1.

(57.) Robert Linn, "Address at the Inauguration of Dr. Honeycutt," (unpublished), 1982.

(58.) Carver, "Recollections," 33.

(59.) Ibid., "Recollections," 82.

(60.) Mueller, History, 113, citing Broadus.

(61.) Ibid., History, 116.

(62.) Carver, "Recollections," 77. "For the Master's degree there was no choice except in the order courses were taken and even here selection was inevitably limited.... It was in my own department and at my request that this principle [the elective system] was put into operation, at first in a very limited way. Our conditions and demands were constantly moving toward extensive revision of methods and requirements and, while slowly response to those demands was being brought about, it remained for the administration of Dr. McCall to see extensive restudy of the whole range of theological programs and the introduction in a large way of extensive use of the methods of research, of seminar discussion and of the methods of graduate schools."

(63.) Mueller, History, 115.

(64.) Ibid., History, 146.

(65.) Carver, "Recollections," 77.

(66.) Ibid., 78.

(67.) Ibid.: see further p. 79.

(68.) Ibid., 17.

(69.) Ibid., 19.

(70.) Mueller, History, 119.

(71.) Ibid., 137.

(72.) Carver, "Recollections," 31. Mueller, History, 116, adds: "During the first thirty years of the Seminary's history these examinations lasted from nine to ten hours. In 1899 it was decided that all intermediate examinations should last only five and a half hours."

(73.) Mueller, History, 100.

(74.) Carver, "Recollections," 27.

(75.) John A. Broadus, Memoir of James Petigru Boyce (New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1893), 121.

(76.) Beth McMurtle, "Teaching Theology Students Who Don't Know Aristotle from Aquinas," Chronicle of Higher Education, April 7, 2000.

(77.) Mueller, 32.

Alan Culpepper is dean, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia.