The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Southern Baptists and Reformed theology

John, no it hasn't. James P. Boyce, the founder of the seminary, as well as most other founders were staunch Reformed Baptists. But then it declinhed into liberalism, mainly due to E. Y. Mullins in the mid-20th century because of his lenient views on what "inerrancy" or "inspiration" meant. In the 60's through the beginning of the 90s, the seminary was rife with liberals (or "moderates" as they like to call themselves). They denied inerrancy and pushed for women in the ministry. There was even a church nearby that was influential in seminary life that was a "jumping off point" for students who apostasized to RCC or UCC or whatever.

The main goal of Dr. Mohler and the other conservatives (there wre some on campus and in the local churches) were used to turn the seminary around in terms of Biblical inerrancy and the proper roles of men and women. The people in the churches were not as liberal as their pastors or those at the seminaries. What happened at Southern in terms of conservative theology happened at other SBC institutions as well.

Which brings us to the Reformed question. Mohler is a Calvinist, as well as others like Russ Moore, Bruce Ware, Tom Nettles, and Tom Schreiner. Midwestern used to have more of a Calvinist atmosphere, but I think there are fewer as more students have been coming to Southern and as several professors there came to Southern.

Sadly, I think that some of the Reformed teachings have gone by the wayside as they don't want to rock the boat of the SBC. There seem to be more outwardly Calvinist students than faculty,. Also, some of the professors have adopted four point Calvinism (like Bruce Ware), which is quite inconsistent IMHO. There is compromise in terms of not wanting to get people mad in the SBC.

Listening to last year's Southern Baptist Annual Meeting was horrible, as many pastors there misrepresented or spoke out against Calvinism. I think either many will leave the SBC or there will be a split of some sort. The first option seems to be the case, and that is one reason I left the SBC.