By Molly Marshall Seminaries are in the news these days as the church continues to shift in social location in our communities. Theological education, in my judgment, can be a source of renewal for congregational life, and it may be…
Seminary president fears liberal drift in churches
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist Convention seminary president says he foresees a day when the six SBC-owned seminaries may for the first time be more conservative than the churches they serve. Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,…
Bodies in motion: Some Baptists are recovering the physical in worship, prayer
By Jeff Brumley Baptists have historically minimized bodily movement in worship and prayer out of concern for appearing too charismatic or Catholic, scholars and spiritual formation ministers say. Baptisms and altar calls and the occasional layings-on of hands are accepted,…
For SBC, 1984 was the year of the pivot
By Bob Allen In 1949 George Orwell published Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel imagining a future totalitarian state where people are constantly reminded of mass surveillance by the slogan “Big Brother is watching you.” Thirty years ago, Russell Dilday, then…
Study: Seminaries do little to train pastor to help mentally ill congregants
By Terry Goodrich People struggling with mental illness often turn to pastors for help, but seminaries do very little to train ministers in how to recognize serious psychological distress and when to refer someone to a doctor or psychologist, according…
Culpepper stepping down after 20 years as McAfee dean
By Bob Allen Alan Culpepper, founding dean of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, is stepping down after nearly two decades at the end of the current academic year. After a sabbatical, he plans to teach full time on the…
Needed: Christian ministers who do the stuff
A dramatic story—perhaps an urban legend—about John Wimber, one of the founders of the Vineyard Movement, relates to something that happened following his conversion to Christianity around 1963. It is said that he began attending a church nearby. After several…
A seminary finds a golden gateway. Others find a rusted exit.
A couple of days after the announcement that the deal to sell the property and buildings of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary had been completed, I was in San Francisco. Sunday afternoon I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge into…
McAfee trip expands limits of faith, culture and ministry
By Jeff Brumley Walking through ritually sacrificed goat’s blood at a Hindu temple and watching Buddhist monks meditate for hours on end didn’t shake Baptist Rebecca White’s faith one bit during a three-week trip to India. It was just the…