Friday, April 13, 2001 SEBTS adopts BF&M
By Jimmy Allen
BR Assistant Editor
New faculty members at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary will have to agree with the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M), but current faculty members won't have to sign the document.
Trustees voted 23-1 on April 9 to require new faculty to sign the statement of faith that was adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) at its annual meeting last June in Orlando. The statement has been hailed by conservatives as more closely representing Southern Baptists of today, and it has been criticized by moderates for de-emphasizing the priesthood of each believer and limiting the pastorate to men only.
"We felt it was important to send a message of cooperation and support to the Southern Baptist Convention," said Cecil Taylor, a trustee from Satsuma, Ala. who chairs the instruction committee.
Last fall, the trustees began studying the idea of adopting the 2000 BF&M. At the SBC annual meeting a resolution was made asking SBC institutions to refrain from requiring employees to sign the faith statement.
Taylor said the instruction committee struggled over whether to recommend the 2000 BF&M or to keep the Abstract of Principles, which the seminary has used since its founding in 1951. The committee decided to recommend both. By keeping the Abstract of Principles, the seminary is "true to the school's history," Taylor said.
Trustee Charlie Waller was the lone voter against the proposal to have both documents.
"In my mind we're committing institutional schizophrenia," said Waller, a Southeastern graduate who now lives in Jeffersonton, Va.
The two faith statements are similar and requiring faculty to sign both would be like a group having two mission statements, said Waller, who noted he doesn't oppose the 2000 BF&M.
"Our institution does not need a new confessional statement," Waller said. The problem has been with faculty honestly fulfilling the statement, not with the statement itself, he said.
Randall Lolley, president of the seminary from 1974-88, said he didn't want to comment about Waller's description of the faculty. He did say he was saddened to learn the trustees had adopted the Baptist Faith & Message as a "creed."
A trustee at the seminary from 1978-88 did counter Waller's comment about some previous faculty members not fulfilling the Abstract of Principles. Harold Stinson of Winston-Salem said he often visited classes while a trustee. "I never saw anything that wasn't on the up and up," Stinson said.
Russ Bush, academic vice president and dean of the faculty, said Waller is right in that if a person with integrity signs the Abstract of Principles, then the seminary shouldn't have a problem. But he said the differences between the two faith statements are minor and having both allows the seminary to keep its roots while affirming where the Convention is today. Faculty members said they wanted to keep the Abstract, he said, noting that Southern Baptist Theological Seminary requires faculty to sign both.
Trustee James E. Merritt of Easley, S.C. said he wanted the seminary to require the affirmation of the 2000 BF&M by faculty. "It's keeping this institution safe," he said.
Trustee Bradley Wilcoxen of Auburn, Calif. said he understood Waller's argument but asked him to consider the implication of a less than unanimous affirmation of the new faith statement.
Before the vote, trustee Tom Rush of Clovis, N.M., referred to the Abstract's impact on faculty while he was in the school. "The professors signed the same thing. They didn't teach by it," he said.
By approving the 2000 BF&M, the seminary shows its solidarity with the Convention, he said.
Waller, who as the trustee's secretary is hidden from view by people attending the meeting, said afterward he voted against the recommendation.
Although the vote does not require present faculty to sign the 2000 BF&M, Bush said they will be invited to sign during Awards Day at the seminary at the end of the semester.
Not more than one instructor will choose not to sign, he said. Bush described the professor as the most senior faculty member who will retire in a couple years. George W. Braswell is the only faculty member who served prior to the conservative takeover of trustees in 1987. He is distinguished professor of missions and world religions and director of the doctor of ministry program.
In other items, trustees did the following: |