October 28, 2002
Southwestern trustees adopt 'declaration' on BF&M 2000
___FORT WORTH--Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary further cemented their allegiance to the Southern Baptist Convention and its current doctrinal views Oct. 22.
___Although the SBC-owned seminary already requires faculty to affirm the SBC's 2000 Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement, trustees went a step further by adopting a "Declaration on Academic and Theological Integrity."
___"We affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 because we believe it expresses a faithful and foundational interpretation of God's word, which we seek to promote and extend in faithfulness to the calling of Jesus Christ," the three-page declaration states.
___Many Texas Baptists, including messengers to two annual sessions of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, have rejected the SBC's revised faith statement, calling it a non-Baptist creed and faulty in its view of Scripture and Jesus. Critics also have objected to the statement's assertion that women may not serve as pastors, demand that wives must submit "graciously" to the leadership of their husbands and weakening o
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| SOUTHWESTERN SEMINARY officers discuss the declaration during a break in their meeting Oct. 22. They are David Allen of Dallas, Matthew McKeller of Tyler and Michael Dean of Fort Worth. (Richard McCormack/BP Photo) |
f references to the doctrines of local church autonomy and the priesthood of believers.
___The Southwestern document affirms the Bible as "inerrant" in three references, including one that calls the Bible "the inerrant, trustworthy and sufficient authority in all that it affirms."
___The declaration also calls the Bible "the supreme starting point in the pursuit of all wisdom and knowledge."
___Fundamentalists who gained control of the seminary by firing President Russell Dilday in 1994 rallied around biblical inerrancy as a theme. Dilday and other moderate and centrist Baptists affirmed the complete authority of the Bible but declined to use the term "inerrant" because they considered it a political term rather than a useful theological term.
___In recent years, moderate Baptists and BGCT leaders have accused the SBC of elevating the authority of the Bible above the authority of Jesus. This charge stemmed largely from the SBC's removal of a statement in the Baptist Faith & Message that Jesus is "the criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted."
___The Southwestern declaration refutes that charge, noting trustees "deny a difference between the authority of Scripture and Jesus Christ" and "reject any attempt to set in opposition Christ, the living word, and the Bible, the written word."
___The seminary document also reinforces the SBC's position on women in ministry, explaining that "the Lord has appointed the pastoral office to men ... and many ministry positions to women."
___Further, the declaration leaves no doubt that Southwestern will affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, teach in accordance with it and hire faculty who affirm it.
___"We heartily affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a statement of shared faith with the messengers of the convention June 2000, are pleased to be accountable to the ongoing Southern Baptist Convention, and are grateful for the convention's support of our academic mission," it states. "We affirm the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 because we believe it expresses a faithful and foundational interpretation of God's word which we seek to promote and extend in faithfulness to the calling of Jesus Christ."
___Baptist Press quoted Michael Dean, pastor of Travis Avenue Baptist in Fort Worth and chairman of the trustees, as calling the document a "historic opportunity for the board to affirm the passion and direction of our president and the seminary."
___"I praise the Lord for this," Dean said. "This is a document that will serve us well in the future."
___President Ken Hemphill said the declaration charts a clear course for the seminary.
___"It is a simple declaration of direction for the future," he said. "This is who we are, this is what we believe, this is what we teach, and this is what we affirm."
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