Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Southern Seminary" redirects here. For the school formerly known as Southern Seminary Junior College, see Southern Virginia University. For the Lutheran Seminary, see Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.

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

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), located 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. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to Louisville at the corner of 5th St. and Broadway and later moved to its current location in Louisville. Southern is one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE (full-time equivalent) enrollment of over 2,000 student and over 170 FTE faculty.

Campus

In the wake of the Civil War, the seminary suspended classes for several years. 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, the seminary relocated to 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 designed by the Frederick Law Olmstead firm. The campus now contains 10 academic and residential buildings in Georgian architecture and two housing villages for married students.

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. 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.

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 the minister and leader, Dr. Martin Luther King. 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.

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. 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 he 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.

Today the seminary is governed by a board of trustees 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.

Southern is currently organized into four schools:

• The School of Theology
• The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth
• The School of Church Ministries
• Boyce College

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."

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 1908, William Owen Carver founded the seminary's department of missions, one of the oldest in the world.

In 1910, Southern established the Norton Lectures, a series of lectures on "Science and Philosophy in their Relations to Religion." Recent speakers have included William A. Dembski, Marvin Olasky and Alvin Plantinga.

In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full degree course in church music. 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 current president R. Albert Mohler, Jr. came into office re-affirming the Seminary's historic, "Abstract of Principles," which was part of the original charter of Southern created in 1858. The charter stated that every Professor who wishes to teach at Southern 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.

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 the faculty, who could not affirm the doctrines stated in these documents, resigned. Mohler described the situation recently when he stated, "I said, in sum, if this is what you believe, then we want you to stay. If not, then you have come here under false pretenses, and you must go." Since then, Southern has attracted many distinguished biblical scholars who adhere to the 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, one 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. This move reflects the perceived disparity which the Southern administration believes is found between theological anthropology and the secular anthropology assumed by modern psychology. One of the main differences between the two lies in the, "doctrine of sin," and specifically that of the, "total depravity," of mankind. Other seminaries adhering to this biblical counseling model include Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Master's Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary among others.

After endowing the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism in 1966 (the first such professorship in any Baptist seminary), Southern expanded it in 1994 into the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. It is the first program in the SBC dedicated solely to training missionaries and evangelists.

Recent budget deficit

It was announced on December 16, 2008, that Southern would impose budget cuts, a hiring freeze, halt capital construction projects and potentially lay-off employees, due to an anticipated budget deficit of $3.2 million. The deficit was caused by decreasing endowment funds and fewer donations in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008. On January 14, 2009, Southern announced that 20 full-time and 15 part-time non-faculty employees would be laid off.

Notable associates

Alumni

• Charles C. Baldwin, Chief Chaplain U.S. Air Force 2004–2008
• LaVerne Butler, Pastor of 9th & O Baptist Church in Louisville, 1969-1988; president of Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, 1988-1997, leader of conservative resurgence in Southern Baptist Convention in 1970s and 1980s
• Douglas Carver, Chief Chaplain U.S. Army 2007–present
• Chris Clarke, missionary to the equestrian community in Kentucky and neighboring states
• W.A. Criswell, late pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas; author; and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention
• Miguel A. De La Torre, prolific author on Hispanic religious life; social ethics professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, CO, 1999–present.
• Amzi Dixon, late pastor of Moody Church, Chicago, IL; and Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England.
• Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church, Charlotte, NC; and author of Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare To Ask God for the Impossible
• Clarence Jordan, late founder of Koinonia Farm (forerunner of Habitat for Humanity) and Greek scholar who translated the New Testament into a Cotton Patch version using the vernacular of the Civil Rights era in the South.
• R.T. Kendall, pastor of Westminster Chapel, London, England, 1977-2002.
• David Gordon Lyon, Hollis Chair at Harvard Divinity School and founding curator of Semitic Museum
• Grady Nutt, religious humorist and national television personality; died in air crash, 1982.
• Harold H. Oliver, Professor of Philosophical Theology at Boston University (1965-1996).
• William Bell Riley, late founder of the World Christian Fundamentals Association
• Jeff Struecker, received his M. Div. from Southern; Current Army Ranger Chaplain, U.S. Army
• Edwin O. Ware, Sr., Kentucky native who was first president of Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana

Faculty

• George Arthur Buttrick
• Michael Haykin
• Donald Hustad, member of the Billy Graham Team, professor of church music at Southern, 1966–86; fellow of the Royal College of Organists, London.
• Eric Johnson
• Basil Manly, Jr., author of the Seminary Hymn, was founding professor of Old Testament on the original faculty.
• Wayne E. Oates, late author of best-selling pastoral care text The Christian Pastor, SBTS professor, 1947–74; first to coin the term, "workaholic"; nationally known authority on theology and health care.
• Archibald T. Robertson, author of a widely used Greek grammar text.
• Frank Stagg, noted Greek scholar and authority on the Book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke.
• Kurt Wise - Head of Center for Theology and Science (since August 2006 - August 2009)

Former presidents

• 1888 James Petigru Boyce (titled Chairman of the Faculty, 1859–87)
• 1888-1895 John Albert Broadus
• 1895-1899 William Heth Whitsitt
• 1899-1928 Edgar Young Mullins
• 1929-1942 John Richard Sampey
• 1942-1950 Ellis Adams Fuller
• 1951-1982 Duke Kimbrough McCall
• 1982-1993 Roy Lee Honeycutt
• 1993–present R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Further reading

• Mark R. Wilson. William Owen Carver's Controversies in the Baptist South (Mercer University Press; 2010) 235 pages. Biography of a prominent professor (1868–1954) at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who was involved in several major controversies in the denomination.

External links

• The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary