Mission, Transmission, and Confession: Three Central Issues in Theological Education R. Albert Mohler Jr.

magazine published by a seminary of cal knowledge from one generation to the next. A the old Protestant “mainline” crossed my Viewed over the last 200 years, the history of theo- desk in recent days. The major theme of the issue logical education demonstrates that the one thing was the adjustment necessitated absolutely essential to that faithful transmission is R. Albert Mohler Jr. is the ninth President of The Southern Baptist by the fact that the seminary sold a robust and regulative confessionalism. Theological Seminary. its majestic and venerable campus This was already apparent when the founders and is downsizing to a smaller cam- of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary He hosts a daily live nationwide pus, yet to be built. A faculty focus set out their design for this institution. The defec- radio program on the Salem Radio Network and writes a regular, article featured a professor’s new tion of some well-known theological institutions, popular blog on moral, cultural, book on the perils of monotheism. almost all in the North, was well documented by and theological issues. Dr. Mohler The fault lines in American the 1850s. These schools had exchanged ortho- is a frequent guest on national and international news outlets theological education are clear, dox Christian theology for Unitarianism or were and is a popular preacher, teacher, and the most important of these embracing the new “higher criticism” of the Bible. and lecturer. He is the author dividing lines is, perhaps unsur- The theological trajectory of these schools was all of many articles and books, prisingly, theological. too evident. including Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth The mission of theological James Petigru Boyce and Basil Manly Jr. had (Multnomah, 2008), He Is Not education, defined biblically, is attended Princeton Theological Seminary, where Silent: Preaching in a ­Postmodern the task of educating and prepar- they had studied under confessional Presbyteri- World (Moody, 2008), Desire and ing servants of the church and ans. Basil Manly Sr., Southern Seminary’s first Deceit: The Real Cost of the New Sexual Tolerance (Multnomah, agents of the gospel. This is accom- trustee chairman, was also a proponent of con- 2008), and Atheism Remix: A plished through the transmission fessional theological education. In 1856, when Christian Confronts the New ­Atheists of biblical, theological, and practi- Boyce presented his inaugural address at Furman (Crossway, 2008).

4 SBJT 13.1 (2009): 4-5. University, “Three Changes in Theological Educa- Southern Baptists seemed to perceive the real peril tion,” he was well aware of the danger of theologi- at the time, a theological crisis was then explod- cal accommodationism, and he was ready with his ing—an explosion that would thoroughly reshape prescription—regulative confessionalism. the convention. “A crisis in Baptist doctrine is evidently In retrospect, it is clear that the controversy approaching,” Boyce warned, “and those of us who could have been avoided had Southern Baptists still cling to the doctrines that formerly distin- held their schools and faculties accountable to guished us have the important duty to perform of “The Baptist Faith & Message” and, at the same earnestly contending for the faith once delivered time, had the Convention understood that a con- to the saints.” fession of faith must be updated regularly in order Boyce’s point was elegant and simple: Theologi- to address the new and unexpected issues raised in cal institutions that do not hold themselves and every generation. their professors accountable to a confession of Those lessons were not learned until the last faith will eventually compromise or abandon the years of the twentieth century, and those les- faith. Over the course of the past 150 years, the sons were learned with pain and controversy. history of Southern Seminary reveals that a regu- Nevertheless, by the time the Southern Baptist lative confession, though essential, is not sufficient Convention again adopted a revised version of in itself to prevent theological defection. The other “The Baptist Faith & Message” in 2000, it had essential element is the determination of the semi- learned the necessity of a regulative function for nary’s leadership and governing board to enforce the ­confession—at least for its seminaries and the regulative nature of the confession of faith. mission boards. Like its oldest seminary, the Southern Bap- The crisis in Baptist doctrine James P. Boyce tist Convention has learned a similar lesson from saw on the horizon in 1856 came and continued. history and hard experience. When organized Boyce’s concern for the theological fidelity of the in 1845, the SBC adopted no confession of faith. seminary he would found was, as time revealed, The churches represented at the organizing con- prophetic. Yet, at the same time, we can see that vention in Augusta were virtually all members of his concern for a regulative confession of faith— Baptists associations that were robustly confes- binding on all who would teach—was crucial to sional. Yet, by 1925, with the furor of the Funda- the recovery of confessional theological education mentalist/Modernist controversy tearing apart well over a century later. denominations in the North, Southern Baptists The mission of The Southern Baptist Theo- adopted “The Baptist Faith & Message” as a state- logical Seminary is the preparation of ministers ment of faith. and missionaries by means of the transmission Less than four decades later, controversies of Christian learning from one generation to over biblical authority again threatened the peace the next. And that mission, we now know, is of the Convention. As in 1925, the Convention anchored in a commitment to confessional theo- attempted to resolve a controversy by means of logical education. a confession—in this case a revision of “The Bap- As Southern Seminary celebrates its sesquicen- tist Faith & Message.” But, as in 1925, the Con- tennial, we dare not forget the lessons we should vention once again attempted to resolve a crisis have known and honored from 1859 onward— by means of a confession, but without adopting and the essential nature of confessional theo­ confessionalism. The confession held an instruc- logical education is the first of these lessons we tive and symbolic status, rather than a regula- must remember. tive function and authority. Though relatively few

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