Tuesday, August 24, 2010

New conservative prof takes seminary campus by storm!

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to be specific about the campus.

No, not in 2010 but in 1965.

In our Southern Baptist Convention, among our churches, members, institutions and agencies, is it worth remembering that there was a day far different than today?

I think so.

My friends over at Ethics Occasionally have an article up, Anniversary of Bailey Smith's Harmful Moment in Baptist-Jewish Relations. Fair enough. That bit of SBC history is in the record.

How about we celebrate the 35th anniversary of a single theological conservative taking one of our seminaries by storm? Jerry Vines article on the death of Clark Pinnock, put it just that way:

Dr. Pinnock’s arrival at NOBTS took the campus by storm. Liberal professors had intimidated conservative students, suggesting they were intellectually inferior because they believed the Bible to be without error. Dr. Pinnock provided the intellectual foundation the students needed to undergird their belief in an inerrant Bible.

My guess is that most SBCers living today would have a hard time believing that there was such a day in the SBC.

Thank God for the Conservative Resurgence.

13 comments:

Dave Miller said...

Amen to that. By the way, but your blog has become one of my favorites.

Norm said...

"... Liberal professors had intimidated conservative students ....”

Norm: When pressed for evidence bad-professor stories reveal themselves to be without merit. Moses’ people would have found these stories useful, however. Interestingly, at BaptistLife among some conservatives, Pinnock became a “bad-professor” for his open-theism beliefs. SBC: Where today’s conservative is tomorrow’s liberal.

William said...

You may be right, Norm. One of my profs would call conservatives 'slow liberals.'

Thanks, Dave. I may even have so many blog readers that I have to count using more than my fingers and toes.

foxofbama said...

I left my comment awaiting moderation at Vines Blog
It was pretty good. Followed up on Marney and made a reference to No Country for Old Men.
Didn't mention Momma walkin out on Vines sermon in 87. May broach that if Vines gets up to 7 comments. I may go for 8
Smoke on the Water BBQ right near the Destination Bridge, 1 Augusta Street, Greenville, SC.
May meet you there some time, Dr. Thornton, if our travel plans in that locale coincide.

John Wylie said...

I guess I'm slow but are you saying the conservative resurgence was good or not? Just for the sake of transparency, I am a supporter of the cr.

William said...

"Thank God for the Conservative Resurgence!" That's pretty plain, although I don't always write plainly.

I do read ABP, Ethics Occasionally and other mod/lib stuff and do have friends who are mod/libs, even recommend that SBCers read those sources...but I'm a conservative SBCer.

David R. Brumbelow said...

I remember those days of professors making fun of students who believed in inerrancy. It still happens in many Baptist Universities.

But God has blessed the Southern Baptist Convention. Thank God our convention, seminaries, mission boards are led by those who believe the Bible is totally true and trustworthy.
David R. Brumbelow

John Wylie said...

Yeah I thought you might have been kidding when you said that.

foxofbama said...

My comment on Vines blog is still awaiting moderation.
Have any of you fellows had any luck commenting there and it seeing the Light of Day?
This morning the news is about Bruce Prescott's latest revelations about how Deep Adrian Rogers was in the Religious Right.
See Ethics Daily.com and the Transformative Post at bl.com

Norm said...

David: “... those days of professors making fun of students who believed in inerrancy. It still happens in many Baptist Universities.

Norm: “Those days” and “these days [i.e., "still"]”, it is asserted. Who were and are these professors and in what way and in what context did they make fun of students for believing in inerrancy?

foxofbama said...

If anyone can turn up Richard Marius's Dec 81 Esquire mag piece on SBC; it was ominous and may speak to some concerns here.
OTOH; was interesting to see Jerry Vines remark about Marney in his tribute blog to Pinnock. If that was in 68 or so, you could read Pinnock at that time to be mocking progressive BAptists.
Marney and Criswell had an understanding. I think alot of these urban legends are from preacher boy students who had a chip on their shoulder.
Some of it, as Hull says about the McCall and Honeycutt era tried to in good conscience be dealt with the Boyce Bible College track at Southern.
Some of it was a class differential; some of it was different abilities thrown into a class and Jesus didn't quite get through with all the egos involved soon as they learned there was a stackpole preacher route when you graduated.
Some preacher boys never were comfortable with the Country Club Churches, and God help the textile worker's son who had a conscience and some ability and tried to speak prophetically in those situations.
Earl Stalings was capable and Prepared and look what FBC Bham did to him in the mid 60's. At same time thank God he didn't turn out to be another Doug Hudgins.
I don't have all the answers for every situations. Maybe it's a prayer that the rams horns are long and the thicket is dense, or some version of "By Faith, Noah........

John Wylie said...

Dr. Adrian Rogers was a great man of God who tried to turn the Convention and the nation around for God. Christians have as much right as anyone else to speak to the political and moral climate of our nation.

William said...

Stephen, my friend. For once you offer some decent thoughts, though a bit disjointed. I don't buy the explanation as a whole but what you say has some applicability.