September 1, 1999
EDITORIAL:
Committee will make a statement
___The committee named to study the Baptist Faith & Message statement will make a monumental impact on the Southern Baptist Convention. We now must wait to observe and determine the substance of that impact.
___SBC President Paige Patterson has named 15 people to the BF&M study committee. The committee contrasts sharply with the committee that drafted the SBC's last doctrinal statement, the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message. The outcome this time is sure to contrast sharply with the effects of the '63 statement.
___To begin with, the composition of the current committee differs widely from the previous group. The presidents of state conventions affiliated with the SBC comprised the '63 committee. Those popularly elected leaders not only represented the spectrum of the state conventions, they also represented the scope of those many Baptists.
___In contrast, the 15 members of the current committee represent only 11 of 38 state conventions, and two have been elected state president. This time, they represent loyalists to the so-called "conservative resurgence" or "takeover movement" that gained control of the SBC in 1990.
___Consequently, their constituents are people who backed an apparatus that steered the SBC sharply to the right. Don't look for the new committee to seek accommodation of the state conventions, which still reflect Baptists' broad diversity. Rather, they will reflect loyalty to the movement that placed them in control.
___The current committee also can be expected to contrast with consensus-building aims of the '63 committee. Almost four decades ago, the committee noted it sought to write a document that would "constitute a consensus of opinion ... for the general instruction and guidance of our own people and others concerning those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely held among us." Those statesmen worked hard to draft a document that could define basic Baptist beliefs but also provide enough gracious latitude to embrace the broadest number of Baptists. Of course, their work grew out of controversy regarding the first 11 chapters of Genesis, but they still sought to be inclusive, giving reason for people to belong to the SBC, not leave it.
___This time, the committee includes SBC leaders who espoused "purity, not parity" as their credo during the convention conflict. Adrian Rogers and Jerry Vines led the resurgence/takeover movement through its toughest political battles. Nelson Price was president of the Pastors' Conference, springboard to political power. Al Mohler and Richard Land have taken the helms of SBC institutions and used them as platforms to denounce Baptists who differ with them and to define the SBC in terms of what they are against, such as Disney, Democrats and deaconesses. Expect more of the same.
___And don't expect sensitive theological inquiry. Rogers once told the SBC Executive Committee that if the SBC voted that "pickles have souls," then seminary professors should teach that pickles have souls. That is a theology defined by political power, not biblical study.
___This committee has the potential to make three groups upset, and--believe it or not-- moderates are not among them.
___First, Patterson played down the committee's work, saying he doesn't anticipate "even beginning to approximate a rewrite" of the BF&M. If so, true believers who fueled the SBC revolution will wonder why they worked so hard. This is a chance to codify change. They aren't likely to look kindly on cosmetics in lieu of substance.
___Second, Calvinists are not strongly represented on the committee. During the closest political battles, their votes provided the margin of victory for the resurgence/ takeover. The "whosoever will" evangelistic/missionary leaders on the committee are likely to define faith in their terms. And Calvinists will be defeated theologically, just as moderates were defeated politically.
___Third, many churches and state conventions--which hold traditional Baptist views on the priesthood of all believers, separation of church and state, the authority of Scripture and cooperation with people who hold diverging views--are likely to disagree strongly with at least some articles of the new BF&M. Countless churches' constitutions say they ascribe to the Baptist Faith & Message. What will they do with their relationship to the SBC when that no longer is true?
___The BF&M committee will write its statement. Then Baptists will make theirs.
___ --Marv Knox
Email the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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