Full report can be found on-line at http://www.baptiststandard.com/2000/pdf/studycomm.PDF

DALLAS (ABP) - A study committee recommending dramatic changes to the way Texas Baptists fund theological education filled in details at a called meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas administrative committee.

Proposals to reduce Texas funding of the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries by more than 80 percent and reallocate more than $4 million to Texas schools, were brought by a theological-education study committee chaired by Robert Campbell, pastor of Westbury Baptist Church in Houston.

The 16-member committee spent six months conducting research, including on-site visits to the six SBC seminaries and extensive dialogues with the president, administrators and some trustees of each school. The committee initially asked the SBC seminary presidents to meet with them in Dallas, but the presidents spoke as a group to decline that invitation.

"We did not appoint the committee nor ask for it, and we are not directly accountable to state convention committees anyway," Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina told the committee in a July 27 letter.

So, over a period of about two weeks, the Texas committee undertook a whirlwind tour of the SBC seminaries, which are scattered from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Completing its study, the committee cited a number of concerns behind its recommendation:

Creedalism

The committee specifically cited changes in the "Baptist Faith and Message" and the way those changes are being enforced at the SBC schools. "During interviews with the administration and trustees of the six SBC seminaries, it was clearly stated that no faculty member could call into question any portion of the 2000 'Baptist Faith and Message' for any reason at any time. Thus the 2000 'Baptist Faith and Message' is elevated to inerrant status."

The report also cites comments New Orleans Seminary President Chuck Kelley made at a faculty meeting this July when asked by a faculty member how to respond if a student were to ask an individual professor what he or she believes.

"That is irrelevant," Kelley told the faculty, according to documentation in the committee's report. "It doesn't matter what I believe; this is the SBC statement of faith."

Further, the report notes, four of the SBC seminary presidents told the Texas committee they believe the 1963 version of the "Baptist Faith and Message" is a "neo-orthodox document."

"We had never heard that before," Campbell said. "This is an alarming description."

Campbell said the committee responded by asking: "Do you know who you're calling neo-orthodox? All the presidents of the state conventions."

The 1963 "Baptist Faith and Message" committee was comprised of the presidents of the state Baptist conventions, with Southern Baptist statesman Herschel Hobbs of Oklahoma as chairman. The seminary presidents responded that Hobbs was "duped" by neo-orthodox individuals who heavily influenced the 1963 document, Campbell said.

Financial irregularities

"BGCT-related churches are spending a disproportionate amount of money on seminary education in the six SBC seminaries as compared with the amount spent on seminary education within BGCT-supported seminaries."

Specifically, the report notes, 93.3 percent of all BGCT funding for theological education has been going to the SBC seminaries, while 6.3 percent has gone to the BGCT-related seminaries. "Put another way, this is $14.90 to be split among six SBC seminaries and $1 to be split between the two BGCT seminaries."

Faculty purges and replacements

"Most Southern Baptists are well aware of the purging of faculty or administrators who refuse to go along with the ideas and philosophies of the new SBC president and trustees," the committee noted. "While the committee knows that faculty members can be terminated, the process by which some were dismissed or contracts were not renewed violates both due process and common decency."

Further, at least three of the six seminaries have experienced "significant faculty turnover," the committee reported. For example, at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., two thirds of the theology faculty has been hired since 1993, the year Albert Mohler became president. That does not account for other faculty members who were hired since 1993 and subsequently have left.

At Southeastern Seminary, 88 percent of the theology faculty is new since 1992. And at Southwestern Seminary, 37.5 percent of the theology faculty is new since 1995, the year after Russell Dilday was fired as president.

"One has to wonder why there is such a large turnover," the committee noted. "According to the presidents of Southeastern and Southern, it was because of retirements and normal attrition. The seminaries used to have many long-term faculty members. This is no longer the case. Why are faculty members leaving? Many times, faculty members are voluntarily leaving or retiring because they do not agree with the new philosophies or theologies of the current presidents and trustees."

On a related issue, "a large number of new faculty members are being employed in the six SBC seminaries who lack background or experience in Baptist life," the report charges.

"Some SBC seminaries have an inordinately large number of teachers who have no degree from any Southern Baptist or state Baptist convention-owned college or university," the report says. "Schools like Bob Jones University, Criswell College, Liberty University and Mid-America Seminary may have some Baptist connections, but those connections represent very narrow viewpoints. They do not represent widespread Southern Baptist or statewide Baptist thought.

"For instance, Southern Seminary had 15 out of 51 teachers in its 1999 faculty that did not have degrees from traditional Baptist schools. This is 29 percent of the faculty. Twelve of the 15 have been hired since Albert Mohler Jr. became president. In an Aug. 11, 2000, Baptist Press release, Mohler hired four new faculty members - three in the seminary and one in the undergraduate school. Only one out of the four had any educational degree from a Southern Baptist seminary or state Baptist-owned college or university."

Trustee interference

"The style of seminary governance has significantly changed in the last decade," the committee said, citing examples of trustees becoming involved in directing classroom content and teaching.

Further, the selection of seminary trustees "has been narrowed to no longer represent the broad spectrum of Southern Baptist thought and belief. Consequently, current SBC seminary trustee boards almost exclusively reflect the narrow attitude of doctrinaire Fundamentalism."

Texans appointed to serve on SBC seminary boards often are those who are "openly hostile" to the BGCT, the committee added.

Enrollment

"Enrollment in graduate-level theological education has plummeted in most of the SBC seminaries in the last decade," the report says. "At the same time, some SBC seminaries have inflated their enrollment figures by including undergraduate college and university-level degree programs. Cooperative Program dollars that were originally intended by most Southern Baptist churches for graduate theological education are now being used to fund these competitive and redundant undergraduate programs."

Further, the reporting of some enrollment figures at SBC seminaries is "confusing and misleading," the report adds.

The committee says that enrollment at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., was misrepresented during the recent presidency of Mark Coppenger, resulting in an overpayment of Cooperative Program funds totaling $300,000. "The funds were not returned," the report adds.

Also, Southwestern Seminary officials "misreported their enrollment in 1997 and 1998," the report says. "The correction of those figures appeared to give a serious decline of students in 1999."

After doing its work, the committee struggled with a desire to treat some of the SBC seminaries differently than others - Southwestern, for example, because of its location and Texas heritage - but finally realized it could not do so, Campbell said.

The six SBC seminary presidents specifically asked the committee to treat all the schools the same, he added. "The six seminaries chose to stand as one. That was their choice."

The process was painful for committee members, particularly those who are graduates of Southwestern or have known of its historic ties to the BGCT, Campbell said.

In the end, however, "Southwestern should be treated equally because the things we found are equally true," he said.

Southwestern is "a changed school," Campbell said. "The Southwestern I was trained in does not exist anymore.

"Are there still some good professors there? Absolutely. Are they as free as they used to be? No." The hard truth, Campbell said, is that Southwestern's faculty members "can't criticize the 'Baptist Faith and Message.' If I can't criticize this man-made document, I've made this document inerrant. That's creedal. And that's a big thing for us."

October 2000