Baptist Briefs

Posted: 8/03/07

Baptist Briefs

Accrediting association reprimands Criswell College. A Bible college with close ties to the Southern Baptist fundamentalist movement is in danger of losing its accreditation due to financial problems. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced it has placed Criswell College on a one-year probation period for failure to comply with standards regarding financial stability and control of finances. The Dallas-based school’s finances have been under scrutiny by the accrediting agency for two years. While the association’s statement indicates Criswell displayed enough progress on “noncompliance” with SACS financial standards to prevent a complete withdrawal of accreditation, those advances apparently were not enough to return it to good standing with the association. SACS rules require it either to regain good standing after the two-year study period, continue accreditation but in a probationary period, or have its accreditation revoked entirely. SACS officials said they would continue studying the school’s finances and make another determination on Criswell’s status in June 2008.

Gushee migrates to Mercer. Ethicist and author David Gushee has been appointed distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. Gushee currently serves as a university fellow, Graves Professor of moral philosophy and senior fellow of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. At Mercer, he will be based in the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta and is expected to teach interdisciplinary ethics courses throughout the university. Gushee is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he earned an undergraduate degree. He received the master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a master of philosophy degree and a doctorate in Christian ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Gushee is a columnist for Christianity Today and Associated Baptist Press, and he has written or edited nine books. Gushee, an ordained Baptist minister, is married to Jeanie, a homemaker, poet and nurse. They have four children: Holly, David, Marie, and Madeleine.

N.C. Baptist moral activist arrested. Coy Privette, chief of a Christian morality group and a former state legislator and Southern Baptist Convention leader, has been arrested on prostitution-related charges in North Carolina. Privette, the president of the Christian Action League, was charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. Privette’s alleged actions took place in a Rowan County hotel between May 4 and June 25. Tiffany Denise Summers, 32, of Salisbury, N.C., was charged with six counts of prostitution in connection with the investigation. Privette, 74, is a former trustee of the Christian Life Commission (now Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), the Southern Baptist Convention’s moral-watchdog agency. He is a former trustee chair of the SBC’s Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Privette, who is married, was freed from Rowan County jail on a written promise to appear in court Aug. 22. A State Bureau of Investigation spokesman said the investigation is ongoing. Privette could not be reached for comment. Privette is a current member of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and its executive committee. During a conference call, the board of the Christian Action League removed Privette as president, pending resolution of the charges. League Vice President David Hansley of Kinston, N.C., has assumed the duties of president.