April 7, 1999
Southwestern to offer graduate
degrees at Criswell College in Dallas
___FORT WORTH--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary plans to move its Dallas satellite campus from Garland to Criswell College near downtown Dallas, seminary officials have announced.
___The move is part of a new partnership between Southwestern and Criswell College, a self-supporting Bible college founded out of First Baptist Church of Dallas.
___Under the agreement, Southwestern will begin offering master's-level courses on the Criswell campus and Southwestern students will be able to take undergraduate-level classes at Criswell.
___Criswell College announced March 25 that it is phasing out its master's-level programs, except one lay-oriented program.
___President Richard Wells said Criswell will focus on undergraduate education.
___"By partnering with Southwestern, Criswell College reaffirms its historic commitment to provide first-rate biblical and theological education, and in more fields than ever before," Wells said. "At the same time, we are affirming the educational ministry of a great seminary--and all for the advance of the kingdom and the glory of God."
___The partnership also signals that Southwestern is not planning a full-scale entry into the arena of undergraduate education, said Scotty Gray, seminary vice president for academic administration.
___Several other Southern Baptist Convention seminaries have launched aggressive undergraduate programs in recent years, programs that presidents of state Baptist colleges and universities have said are competing with them.
___Southwestern desires to develop relationships with Texas universities that would encourage mutual referrals of students, Gray said. "We refer our diploma students to them and they refer their graduates to us. We are reaffirming our state Baptist schools."
___Although supported by First Baptist Church of Dallas, Criswell College has no direct links to the Baptist General Convention of Texas and is not funded in the BGCT budget except that churches may designate a portion of their Cooperative Program gifts to support Criswell.
___Southwestern already offers classes through off-campus centers on the campuses of three universities that are affiliated with the BGCT: Dallas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University and East Texas Baptist University.
___In a reverse trend, at least two Texas Baptist universities have launched their own divinity schools in recent years, Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!