Reflections on Baptist theological education in the twentieth century

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

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!