WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP) – Daniel Akin, academic dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will be recommended as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary next month, according to a search committee.
A special meeting of Southeastern's trustees has been set for Jan. 15, when the recommendation will be presented, said Timothy Lewis, trustee chair and chair of the search committee. If elected, Akin will succeed Paige Patterson, who left to become president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in his native Texas. All three seminaries are owned by the Southern Baptist Convention.
“Dr. Akin is a man with great vision, keen insight and spiritual understanding,” said Lewis in a news release. “His enthusiasm is contagious and genuine. We do not feel any other man in Southern Baptist life could better follow Dr. Patterson than Dr. Daniel Akin.”
Akin, 46, is vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology at Southern in Louisville, Ky. He was professor of theology, dean of students and vice president for student services at Southeastern from 1992 to 1996.
Akin holds a bachelor's degree from Criswell College, a master of divinity degree from Southwestern, and a doctor of philosophy from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has been a pastor in Florida, Alabama and Virginia. He was New Testament editor of The Believers Study Bible by Thomas Nelson Publishers and he has written the volume on the epistles of John for the New American Commentary series.
In 1996, Christianity Today magazine named Akin as one of 50 emerging Christian leaders under the age of 40. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Southern Baptist Historical Society, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Evangelical Theological Society.
Akin and his wife, Charlotte, have been married for 25 years and have four children: twins Daniel and Jonathan, 22; Paul, 20; and Timothy, 18.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, with its main campus in Wake Forest, N.C, was founded in 1951. In 1987 it was the first of the six SBC seminaries to come under the control of conservatives, who rose to power in 1979.
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