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FORT WORTH—In what was thought to be their shortest meeting on record, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustees spent less than an hour in plenary session April 15 to hire a new dean of theology and beef up systematic theology and language requirements to remedy what the president called his momentary “lapse in courage” when he approved an earlier effort to graduate students faster.
“Seminaries have the responsibility to supply churches with pastors skilled at exegeting, proclaiming and applying God’s Word,” explained Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Charles W. Patrick Jr. In a statement provided to the TEXAN, Patrick said, “A pastor who is not optimally proficient hurts the church long term and adds to the biblical illiteracy prevalent in today’s congregations.
“The new curriculum ensures that students are competent in the biblical languages so they can translate and exegete the passages they preach,” Patrick said, adding that additional theology and survey courses teach them their “tool of the trade—the Bible.”
Shepherding much of that effort will be newly named dean and professor of the School of Theology, Jeffrey Bingham, who was elected unanimously by trustees. He comes from Wheaton College where he held a similar position as associate dean. A member of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Bingham briefly served as an assistant theology dean at SWBTS from 2002-2003 after six years at Dallas Theological Seminary.
He replaces David Allen who serves as the founding dean of the new School of Preaching at SWBTS. Allen was surprised with news of his promotion to distinguished professor of preaching, which was also approved during the trustee meeting. Other promotions were given to Old Testament Professor Helmuth Pehlke and Systematic Theology Professor Malcolm Yarnell, both bumped to the status of research professors, and H. Gerald (Jerry) Aultman from professor of music theory to the rank of distinguished professor.
Three new faculty members were elected, including, Justin Buchanan as assistant professor of student ministry in the Terry School of Church and Family Ministries and Robert Lopez as professor of humanities in the College at Southwestern. A third candidate, John-Paul Lotz, declined to accept a post teaching church history, citing a lack of peace about the move from a Boston pastorate.
The current 91-hour M.Div. degree was replaced with a new 92-hour “text-driven” curriculum that offers greater emphasis on biblical authority and exposition, extending systematic theology to three semesters, adding another semester of both Old and New Testament survey courses, and a third semester of Greek to focus on translation and interpretation. Elementary Greek courses become uncredited prerequisites, which would make the degree 98 hours for those with no prior Greek classes in undergraduate work. Also, the three-hour education class was shortened to one hour on ministries of the local church, and the number of elective hours was reduced from 18 to 15.
Changes were made to all other master’s degrees to incorporate elements of the new three-semester sequences courses in Old and New Testament and systematic theology, impacting the MACE, MACSE, MTS, and Advanced MTS degrees.
A new B.A. in humanities and biblical studies combines elements of the current B.A. in humanities and B.S. in biblical studies and phases out the former. Minors in philosophy and apologetics will be offered for the new degree.
In other business, trustees approved a nearly $37.5 million budget, approved May graduates, elected Kevin Ueckert of Georgetown as vice-chairman, and re-elected current chairman Lash Banks of Murphy and secretary Danny Johnson of Little Rock.
In his report to trustees, SWBTS President Paige Patterson praised the school’s fundraising efforts to become an “all Steinway school,” previewed an upcoming archaeology dig in Gezer, celebrated the matriculation of seven women earning Ph.D.s, and noted soul-winning endeavors by SWBTS students in Revive this Nation efforts and pre-convention outreach in St. Louis.
“Since the fall of 2013 there has not been one single week that we have not reported at least one person coming to Christ as Savior through the witness of students and faculty,” Patterson said. “I’m not sure which makes me happier—the faculty or students involved to that degree.”
