Southern Seminary Stands Firm

Despite opposition from students and faculty, the administration and trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky recently stood firm in their decision to hire only faculty members who are opposed to the ordination of women as pastors.

The furor was precipitated by seminary president Albert Mohler's decision in March to ask for the resignation of Diana R. Garland as dean of the seminary's Carver School of Church Social Work. This followed a conflict over Mohler's refusal to hire David Sherwood of Gordon College, who supports the ordination of women to pastoral ministry.

Garland's complaints reflected her concern that academic freedom was endangered by these decisions. In an interview with Christianity Today, she said, "There is no room for diversity, even on personal viewpoints that are not related to the confessional stance of the institution." Mohler also told CT, "I will not accept that a person can teach in good conscience what one does not hold as conviction."

Thirty-seven of Southern's 65 faculty members signed a resolution in support of Garland. Protesting students sent letters to trustees and alumni, and held vigils outside Mohler's office. On one occasion, Mohler graciously sent out for pizza for the protesting students, but warned them in an assembly to abandon their "pattern of self-destructive behavior" and get back to their books.

Trustees take action

On April 18, seminary trustees voted overwhelmingly to affirm President Mohler's actions regarding Garland's dismissal (she still holds a faculty position), and put into writing that candidates will be evaluated regarding their views on the Abstract of Principles, and "current pressing issues of concern to evangelicals and Southern Baptists."

David Dockery, vice president for academic administration, said there was a strong consensus among trustees on these four requirements for faculty nomination:

1) affirming women in ministry and their giftedness but restricting the role of women in the church from the office of senior pastor or overseer;

2) affirming the exclusiveness of salvation in Jesus Christ alone;

3) being clear that the Bible teaches that all homosexual behavior is sinful; and

4) acknowledging that the sanctity of life is pro-life and against abortion except in the most extreme circumstances.

The trustees said that these "are only indicative examples, and [are] not to be viewed as exhaustive."

President Mohler commented on the role of CBMW in this conflict, "In addressing the contested issues of manhood and womanhood in biblical perspective, I have found great encouragement and faithful substance in the Danvers Statement adopted by CBMW, and the Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood volume. The book is a lucid elaboration of the statement itself, which I have found to be faithful in substance, biblical in foundation, compassionate in spirit, and bold in confrontation."

Mohler continued, "I am convinced that this issue will be in the coming decade one of the crucial dividing lines separating evangelicals committed to biblical authority and inerrancy from those who are seeking to transform evangelicalism from within. Though the issue is now most focused upon the service of women in the church-and this is a vital and inescapable issue-I am convinced that the rebellion against God's pattern of gender relations and the home will grow even more bold in coming years."

CBMW stands with Dr. Mohler and Southern Seminary; we are grateful for their strong stance. There are many in our culture and in the SBC who battle against biblical virtues and values as well as against conservative theological positions. Our shared faithfulness to Scripture requires us to continue to stand and seek God's blessing through His revealed pattern for men and women.