Reflections on Baptist theological education in the twentieth century

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2000 by R. Alan Culpepper

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.