The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

theological institute A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological educ ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. It is affiliated with the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

. It was established in 1908 and is one of the largest seminaries in the world. It is accredited by the

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History It was founded in 1918. The assoc ...

, the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priva ...

, and the

National Association of Schools of Music The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) is an association of post-secondary music schools in the United States and the principal U.S. accreditor for higher education in music. It was founded on October 20, 1924, and is based in Reston ...

to award diplomas and

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and doctoral degrees.

History

SWBTS grew out of the

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

theological department, which was established in 1901. By 1905, B. H. Carroll had managed to convert the department of five professors into the Baylor Theological Seminary, but still under Baylor University. In 1907, while Baylor University President

Samuel Palmer Brooks Samuel Palmer Brooks (December 4, 1863 – May 4, 1931) was the President of Baylor University from 1902 to 1931. The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary received its charter on March 14, 1908, but remained on Baylor's

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

campus until the summer of 1910, when the board accepted an offer made by Fort Worth citizens for a campus site and enough funds to build the first building. The campus was located on what came to be known as "Seminary Hill," one of the highest natural elevations in

Tarrant County Tarrant County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2020, it had a population of 2,110,640. It is Texas' third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 2 ...

. The first building was named "Fort Worth Hall" in honor of the seminary's new location. In 1925, the

Baptist General Convention of Texas The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) is the oldest surviving Baptist convention in the state of Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. In 2009, the BGCT began to also go by the name ...

passed control of the seminary to the

. The Department of Religious Education and the Department of Gospel Music were established within the seminary in 1915. These departments were eventually converted into schools within the seminary in 1921, becoming the School of Gospel Music and the School of Religious Education. As of 2019, the School of Religious Education is now known as the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries, and the School of Gospel Music is now known as the School of Church Music and Worship.

Conservative Resurgence: Russell Dilday's Dismissal and Ken Hemphill’s Election

In March 1994, the seminary experienced a sudden change in leadership with the dismissal of the seminary's sixth president,

Russell H. Dilday Russell H. Dilday is a pastor, educator, former seminary president, and chancellor of B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. He is best known for his tenure as President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary until his abrupt dismissal in 1994 ...

, during the

Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence Beginning in 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced an intense struggle for control of the organization. Its initiators called it the conservative resurgenceHefley, James C.''The Truth in Crisis: The Conservative Resurgence in the ...

. On March 9, 1994, the board of trustees voted 26 to 7 to dismiss Dilday after 16-years as seminary president. Dilday was called to a board meeting where he was removed without warning and his office was locked while he was still at the meeting, preventing his removal of personal effects. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

reported that the newly elected trustee chairman stated that the "institution needed new direction for the 21st century." Students gathered in front of the president's home in protest and support for Dilday. The election of Kenneth S. Hemphill as the seminary's seventh president followed, and he served the seminary from 1994 to 2003.Hawkins, Merrill M., Jr. (2007) "Columns: Glimpses of a Seminary Under Assault" ''Baptist History and Heritage'' 42(1): pp. 117–18

Recent history (21st century)

On June 24, 2003, the board of trustees unanimously elected

Paige Patterson L. Paige Patterson (born October 19, 1942) served as the fifth president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., from 1992 to 2003, as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 1998 to 2000, and as the eigh ...

as the seminary's eighth president. Patterson previously served as president of

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It was created in 1950 to meet a need in ...

for 10 years, thus becoming the second Southern Baptist leader to serve as president for two seminaries within the convention. Patterson also served as the president of the

from 1998 to 2000 and was a leading figure behind the Conservative Resurgence movement within the convention. In 2006 the seminary imposed a prohibition on professors or administrators promoting charismatic practices, such as private prayer languages. In 2007 a gender discrimination suit in federal court was filed by Professor Sheri Klouda over her dismissal. Klouda claimed she was dismissed from the faculty due to her gender, being a woman. In response, the seminary commented that Klouda was not dismissed but that she would not have tenure. The Klouda lawsuit was immediately dismissed because of church-state separation-related concerns. The federal judge who dismissed the case stated that "Leaders of a prominent Southern Baptist seminary who believe women are biblically forbidden from teaching men were within their rights when they told a female professor to leave", including a statement that the seminary was well within its

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

rights to dismiss Klouda. In 2014, the school received criticism from other evangelicals when it admitted its first Muslim student from

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. The Muslim student was enrolled in Southwestern's PhD program in archaeology. Seminary president Paige Patterson defended his decision to accept the student's application, despite criticism. The School of Preaching was established in 2015 with David L. Allen serving as the first dean. The purpose of the school is to teach students the importance of text-driven preaching. The seminary added two new graduate programs, Master of Arts in Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy in World Christian Studies, in 2016. On April 12, 2017, the executive committee reported to the board of trustees that The college at Southwestern would be renamed in honor of the seminary's second president Lee Rutland Scarborough, becoming the L.R. Scarborough College. In May, Patterson was criticized for his comments and views on women and sexual harassment. On May 22, 2018, after a 13-hour discussion with the trustee board of Southwestern, Patterson was appointed

President Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. On May 30, however, the executive committee of the Southwestern trustees voted to remove all benefits provided to Patterson, including the title of President Emeritus. Patterson was immediately fired from SWBTS. D. Jeffrey Bingham, dean of the School of Theology, was subsequently appointed interim president. On February 27, 2019,

Adam W. Greenway Adam W. Greenway is an American pastor, theologian and religious leader. He was the 9th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas. He was installed as president on February 27, 2019. He is the youngest pre ...

was elected by the board of trustees as the ninth president of the seminary. He is the first alumnus since Russell Dilday to serve as president, having earned his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary in 2002. Greenway had previously served as dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Ministry at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. After Greenways resignation, Dr. O. S. Hawkins, also an alumnus, was called as Interim President on September 23, 2022

Presidents

Administration and faculty

SWBTS is currently administered by a 40-member

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

serving staggered terms of office. Board members are elected by the Southern Baptist Convention. Trustees elect faculty members and administrative officers. Financial support is derived from the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program, endowment earnings, gifts and student fees. Dr. Adam W. Greenway was the ninth president of the seminary. The full-time faculty includes approximately seventy individuals with nearly twice as many part-time and adjunct faculty members.

Academics

Aside from theology, the school offers a wide variety of graduate majors such as apologetics, biblical counseling, Christian education, divinity, Islamic studies, missiology, and music. Since 1908, Southwestern Seminary has graduated more than 44,000 students. Southwestern's current student body represents 46 states and 45 countries. The seminary's academic journal, '' Southwestern Journal of Theology'' has been published since 1958. It is conservative and Baptist in orientation. In the fall of 2005, the seminary converted its undergraduate program into the L.R. Scarborough College, later renamed Texas Baptist College. In 2007 the seminary began an initiative for engaging and transforming culture, its new Center for Cultural Engagement, named in honor of

Richard Land Richard D. Land (born 1946) is the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, a post he has held since July 2013. Formerly he served as president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public polic ...

. In line with this initiative, the seminary employed prominent

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

advocate William A. Dembski. In 2016, the seminary added a master's degree program in Philosophy. The program was approved by the board of trustees and, in January 2017, by the accreditation body, the

Association of Theological Schools The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History It was founded in 1918. The associ ...

(ATS). Southwestern's then President,

, stated ''Everybody is a philosopher, the question is are you a good one or a bad one? We are committed to having good philosophers and to making good thinkers and philosophers out of our people.'' Southwestern is divided into six schools: * The School of Theology * The School of Church Music and Worship * The Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries * The Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions * The Texas Baptist College

School of Theology

Established in 1908, the School of Theology trains seminary student for master's or doctorate degrees in theology. Concentrations include biblical languages, apologetics, theology, church history, preaching, pastoral ministry, etc. The current dean is Gregory A. Wills. Students are able to obtain a master's or doctoral degree designed as an entrypoint into Christian ministry in a variety of contexts.

School of Church Music and Worship

Originally a department within the School of Theology, the School of Gospel Music was established in 1921. The school was renamed to the School of Sacred Music in 1926, a name which it bore until 1957 when the school was renamed the School of Church Music. In 2019, the school was renamed the School of Church Music and Worship. The current dean of the school is Joseph R. Crider.

Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries

The Terry School of Educational Ministries offers several different master's and doctoral degrees such as the Master of Arts in Christian Education (MACE). The school was originally a department within the School of Theology until the School of Religious Education was established in 1921. The school was renamed to the School of Educational Ministries in 1997. The school was officially renamed in 2009 in honor of Jack D. Terry. Current concentrations provided in this school include biblical counseling, children's ministry, collegiate ministry, and student ministries. The current dean is Michael S. Wilder

Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions

In 2005, the division of evangelism and missions in the School of Theology was reorganized as the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions. This division provides students with spiritual ''mentorship, a solid theological grounding in Scripture, and coursework that equips'' them ''to share the Gospel with intelligence, relevance and boldness.'' The current dean is John D. Massey.

Religious beliefs

The

Baptist Faith and Message The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) is the statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It summarizes key Southern Baptist thought in the areas of the Bible and its authority, the nature of God as expressed by the Trinity, the spi ...

(2000) is the seminary's confessional statement (see the ''Southwestern Declaration on Academic and Theological Integrity''). The

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is a written statement of belief formulated by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference convened by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and held in Chicago in October 1978. The stat ...

and the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood provide further interpretive guidance related to the seminary's doctrinal positions on the nature of biblical inspiration and gender roles, respectively.

Extension Campuses

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has its main campus in Fort Worth, but also offers programs and selected degrees at remote campuses. *Master of Arts in theology (

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, Germany)

Notable people

Faculty

Alumni

SWBTS includes many notable and well known alumni including several different

Southern Baptist Convention Presidents The president of the Southern Baptist Convention heads the convention and is elected at the Annual Meeting. The president's duties include presiding over the annual meeting; appointing members to SBC committees; serving as an ex officio member of ...

, a U.S Senator, a US Governor, U.S.

presidential candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

s, members of the White House

Cabinet of the United States The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to t ...

, seminary presidents, pastors, educators, theologians, Civil Rights activists, songwriters, authors, etc.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Seminaries and theological colleges in Texas Baptist seminaries and theological colleges affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention Universities and colleges in Fort Worth, Texas Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Educational institutions established in 1901 Evangelicalism in Texas 1901 establishments in Texas