Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) 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 c ...

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 e ...

Wake Forest, North Carolina Wake Forest is a town in Franklin, Granville and Wake counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina; located almost entirely in Wake County, it lies just north of the state capital, Raleigh. At the 2020 census, the population was 47,601. That ...

. 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 ...

. in

. It was created in 1950 to meet a need in the SBC's East Coast region.William H. Brackney (2008), ''Congregation and campus: Baptists in higher education'', Mercer University Press, pp. 304–305. It was voted into existence on May 19, 1950, at the SBC annual meetingSEBTS web site: History
and began offering classes in the fall of 1951 on the original campus of

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

(then Wake Forest College) in

. The undergraduate program is called

The College at Southeastern The College at Southeastern (or Southeastern College) is a Baptist Christian college located in Wake Forest, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary ( Southern Baptist Convention). The ...

. The current president is

Daniel L. Akin Daniel Lowell "Danny" Akin (born January 2, 1957) is the sixth president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the College at Southeastern in Wake Forest, North Carolina, United States. A leader in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC ...

. It has been 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 ...

(ATS) since 1958 and by the Commission on Colleges of the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 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 priv ...

(SACS) since 1978.

History

The seminary, under the presidency of Sydnor L. Stealey, began offering classes in 1951 on the campus of

Wake Forest College Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

. When the college moved in 1956 to

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the Li ...

, Southeastern acquired the whole campus. In 1963, Stealey retired and Olin T. Binkley was elected the new president. Under his leadership, the

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theolog ...

(B.Div.) degree transitioned into the

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

(M.Div.) degree, and the Master of Religious Education (MRE) and the

Doctor of Ministry The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advance ...

(D.Min.) degrees were instituted. Binkley was also an equal-rights supporter. He retired in 1974 and was succeeded by W. Randall Lolley. During his presidency, enrollment at the seminary more than doubled. Under demands from an increasingly fundamentalist Board of Trustees, Lolley resigned in 1987 and was succeeded the following year by Lewis A. Drummond.

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

attended Drummond's inauguration. Drummond's time was marked by a large amount of turnover in the faculty and a decline in enrollment. He retired in the spring of 1992. The fifth elected president of Southeastern was L. Paige Patterson, a theological and political conservative, who reorganized the seminary on conservative lines, as well as upgrading degree programs and introducing doctoral degrees. Patterson's years at the school were another season of growth. He took the same position at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004, being replaced by

, the school's current president, who has taken a similar approach.

Lea Laboratory Lea Laboratory is a historic laboratory building located on the original campus of Wake Forest University at Wake Forest, Wake County, North Carolina. It was designed by noted Baltimore architect John Appleton Wilson (1851–1927) and built in 1 ...

was built in 1887– 88, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1975. The seminary was granted an exception to

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

in 2016, allowing it to legally discriminate against

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

students for religious reasons.

Notable alumni

* Addie Elizabeth Davis, first woman ordained as a Southern Baptist pastor. *

Will Graham (evangelist) William Franklin Graham IV (born January 30, 1975) is an American Christian evangelist. He is the executive director of the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove and associate evangelist of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham is ...

, grandson of

and American evangelist * Mark Harris, former Republican candidate for 9th district congressional seat in 2018 election that was not certified due to irregularities and allegations of fraud by Harris campaign advisors * Elizabeth Mburu, Kenyan biblical scholar, first female PhD graduate *

Johnny Hunt Johnny M. Hunt (born July 17, 1952) is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was also formerly senior pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, in Woodstock, Georgia. He was ...

, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist,

Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 33,039 as of 2019 according to the US Census Bureau. Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. ...

. * Jeff Struecker, former Army Ranger portrayed in Black Hawk Downhttp://jeffstruecker.com

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Baptist Christianity in North Carolina Educational institutions established in 1950 Seminaries and theological colleges in North Carolina Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Universities and colleges in the Research Triangle Wake Forest, North Carolina Universities and colleges in Wake County, North Carolina 1950 establishments in North Carolina Baptist seminaries and theological colleges affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention