Above, the faculty of Central Baptist Seminary, circa 1988/1989: from l. to r.: Hugh Rendle, Stan Fowler, Richard Mitchell, Jim Rendle, George Bell, John Wilson, myself, Don Clark, and Terry Giles.
I have taught in a number of seminaries. And I can solidly affirm that by and large these schools have been a blessing to the churches which they served and to whom they were accountable.
The experiences in two stand out in my memory as models of what a seminary should be like. First, Central Baptist Seminary (CBS), where I was the professor of church history from 1982 to 1993. The faculty in 1988 or 1989 are pictured above. It was my first full-time role as a professor and I learned a tremendous amount from the students and my fellow faculty and the leadership of the school. It was, for me, a deeply harmonious experience, and I look back on those early days of my teaching there (I was but 28 when I began) with deep affection and more than a twinge of nostalgia.
The second seminary in which I taught that has been exemplary for me has been The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where I began as adjunct in 2002 and became full-time in January 2008 to the present-day. When I was at CBS, I was the only church historian. What a fabulous joy to come to Southern where I was in a department of church history with initially in 2008 such godly scholars as Tom Nettles, Greg Wills, David Puckett, Shawn Wright, and more recently, Berry Driver, John Wilsey, Stephen Presley, Eric Smith, and Dustin Bruce.
What an absolute joy it has been to teach with these men at Southern: I can honestly say that in twenty years and more of teaching with these men, our experience has been one of joy and total harmony. Yes, we have differences here and there on tertiary issues, but on the key matters of the gospel (“Amazing love, how can it be?” Yet, ‘tis true, Jesus, the Lord of glory died for us sinners) and on the secondary issues of church polity, we have had complete oneness of soul and heart.
I am so deeply thankful to God for the privilege of teaching with these men. And, of course, deeply thankful for the fellowship in the classroom and outside of it with a cadre of remarkable male and female students.
I should mention that critical for such unity there must not only be doctrinal clarity, but also the character of the professor is critical. I have been in seminary contexts where there has been orthodoxy but the prickly, indeed obstreperous, character of one or two professors has caused significant unrest. When issues arise in schools. it is easy for those from afar to think the matter only concerns doctrine. But all too often, it is the personal character of the people involved that is the leading factor of unrest.
But when it comes to the historians at Southern—men of definite orthodoxy and winsome character—what good they have done for the Church. If I ever were to doubt of the importance of seminaries in the life of the church, all I need do is look at the Church History dept at Southern and see the enormous good that this body of brothers have wrought for the glory of the Triune God and the benefit of the Lamb of God’s people.
Remember and appreciate so many of those pictured back then.
And the students are grateful as well!