December 15, 1999
Theology has been growing
occupation for Southern Baptists
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Writing and teaching about theology--the study of God--has been a growth industry for Southern Baptists in the 20th century.
___As the century dawned, Southern Baptists had only one denominational seminary and no journal devoted exclusively to theology. At century's end, the Southern Baptist Convention alone has six seminaries, dozens of Baptist colleges and universities offer religion degrees and several universities now house divinity schools or seminaries.
___"A hundred years ago, theology among Southern Baptists was a very minor, provincial, unsophisticated enterprise," explained Dwight Moody, dean of the chapel at Georgetown College in Kentucky and a
DAGG
contributor to the 1994 book "Has Our Theology Changed?"
___In 1900, only two Southern Baptists had published theology books, J.L. Dagg and James Petigru Boyce. Dagg was president of Mercer University in the mid-1800s, and Boyce was the founding president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
___Both Dagg and Boyce were trained by Presbyterians, and their theology books published near the turn of the century "were basically Presbyterian with a thin veneer of Baptist ideas on top," Moody said.
___That assessment is shared by Curtis Freeman, professor of religion at Houston Baptist University.
___"If you go back and read Boyce, there's nothing distinctively Baptist about it," Freeman said. "It basically is his notes he got from (Charles) Hodge." Boyce studied under Hodge, a Presbyterian, at Princeton.
___This situation has changed dramatically in the 20th century. While Southern Baptists were drawing largely from the academic influence of other denominations at the beginning of the century, Southern Baptists at the end of the century have become a prominent influence on other religious bodies.
___"The most widely used textbook in theology in America is written by Millard Erickson, and he's on the faculty at Baylor," Moody noted.
___This illustrates the growth in theological thinking and writing among Southern Baptists over the last hundred years, Moody and others said.
___"By and large, there was very little theological enterprise" at the turn of the century, Moody said. "There was no theological industry like there is now. Theology was done mostly in Sunday sermons. This is why the annual associational doctrinal sermon was important. It's why confessions of faith were a little more important."
___"A hundred years ago, Baptists became aware of theological issues through debates," added Brad Creed, dean and professor of church history at Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. "It was not uncommon to find Baptists having debates with Methodists, members of the Church of Christ, Catholics.
___"We mistakenly look at these events as historical curiosities. We underestimate the influence they had in solidifying Baptist identity. People got issues out in the open and were able to talk about them. I don't know that we do that so well today."
___In time, the groundwork laid by Dagg and Boyce was built upon by an emerging class of Southern Baptist theologians, most notably E.Y. Mullins. Raised in Corsicana, Mullins was educated at Southern Seminary and in 1899 returned to Kentucky from New England to become president of Southern Baptists' mother seminary.
___In that position, Mullins became one of the most influential Baptist theologians of the century, serving as president of the Southern Baptist Convention and of the Baptist World Alliance. His book "The Christian Religion and its Doctrinal Expression" was "the first effort in America to fashion a truly Baptist theology," Moody said.
CONNER
___Mullins also published many other theological books, including "Baptist Beliefs" and "The Axioms of Religion," which was highly influential upon Herschel Hobbs, who shaped Southern Baptist theology in the latter half of the century as chairman of the committee that drafted the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement.
___Mullins "became the most powerful voice in Southern Baptist theology in the early part of the 20th century," noted Freeman. "E.Y. Mullins was one of the great statesmen, great theological leaders of Southern Baptists. He is the mind behind the Baptist Faith & Message."
___Others who expanded Southern Baptist theology alongside Mullins were W.T. Conner and W.O. Carver. Conner, a student of Mullins, taught systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary 39 years, beginning in 1910. Carver, who taught theology, homiletics and missions at Southern Seminary from 1896 to 1943, wrote numerous books on theology and missions.
___Mullins, Conner and Carver "really helped develop Baptist theology in the South and gave us some sophistication, some Baptist identity," Moody said.
___This paved the way for an explosion in Southern Baptist theology after World War II. Not only did the number of Southern Baptist seminaries increase, but enrollment in all seminaries mushroomed. Thousands of men and women were trained to serve in local church ministries, and hundreds were trained to teach in Baptist schools.
___In this post-war environment, the theological horizons of Southern Baptists began to expand as well. More Southern Baptists traveled overseas, some even studying at prestigious European universities and seminaries. And more internationals began traveling to the United States, bringing their backgrounds and influences to bear.
___The rapid expansion of worldwide missionary efforts in the 20th century created a new kind of "international dialogue" and "cross-fertilization" in theology, Moody said.
___Ultimately, this resulted in a "broader kingdom vision," said Paul Basden, pastor of Brookwood Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., and editor of the book "Has Our Theology Changed?"
___One hundred years ago, Southern Baptists were moving toward cooperating with other Baptists in the Baptist World Alliance, he said. At century's end, this desire to cooperate in a broader kingdom vision is seen more on the local level than on the national level, headded, citing local church involvement with groups such as Habitat for Humanity as an example.
KING
___As Southern Baptist theology has expanded and received more attention throughout the 20th century, several difficult issues have required attention, said Freeman, who is editor of a newly published reader in Baptist theology called "Baptist Roots."
___A great deal of attention has been focused on "coming to terms with modernity," he said. "That means an understanding of history, coming to terms with science, ... all the questions about miracles and the nature of the Bible and the person of Christ. Everything gets re-evaluated based upon that."
___There's also been an emphasis on a "quest for righteousness," Freeman said. More than any other question, Baptists in the 20th century have struggled with what it means to stand for righteousness, to integrate ethics and theology, he said.
___That's why he believes Martin Luther King Jr. must be seen as one of the most significant shapers of Baptist theology in the latter half of the century. King's message of civil rights was "calling the church to be a righteous church."
___"There were some Southern Baptists who said the cross of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with civil rights," he said. "King really helped us see that our call to follow Jesus meant standing for righteousness."
___But even so, are Southern Baptists in 1999 more theologically sophisticated than their forebears in 1899?
___"We would assume we're more sophisticated because we're a hundred years down the road," Creed said. "Certainly the way we deal with theology is different. But Baptists still have a difficult time talking about theological issues without controversy erupting."
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
