Posts by Charissa Crotts

‘Go find someone hurting,’ Tada says at Southern Seminary February 24, 2017

Joni Eareckson Tada speaks at the Feb. 10 Southern Seminary Student Life Conference on disability ministry.
Joni Eareckson Tada speaks at the Feb. 10 Southern Seminary Student Life Conference on disability ministry.

Life is about more than a healthy body, said Joni Eareckson Tada along with her husband, Ken, during two events at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Feb. 10-11. Tada, a quadriplegic, is a speaker and author who uses her testimony as a platform to highlight disability ministry.

“Go find someone hurting worse than you and help them,” said Tada in a talk given to 350 Southern Seminary students and their families for the Feb. 10 Student Life Conference. Tada told her personal story and focused on practical ministry to the disabled in local churches. Tada is the founder of Joni and Friends, a ministry seeking to show Jesus’ love to people with disabilities.

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God’s Word essential 500 years after Reformation, Mohler says at SBTS spring convocation February 8, 2017

 

Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. delivers the spring convocation message Feb. 7 in Alumni Memorial Chapel.
Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. delivers the spring convocation message Feb. 7 in Alumni Memorial Chapel.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation must remind Christians that proclamation of God’s Word remains necessary for advancing the gospel and nourishing the church, said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the institution’s Feb. 7 convocation.

In an address titled “God Did It By His Word...Revisited: What the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Means for Southern Seminary” on Hebrews 4:12-13, Mohler said the seminary’s own theological reformation in the 24 years of his presidency occurred solely because of fidelity and faithfulness to the living Word of God.

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Modular Th.M. to provide opportunity for advanced distance learning February 3, 2017

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — Four professors at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are leading a new degree program that will allow students to continue to study beyond the M.Div. level in a modular format. The modular Master of Theology in Theological Studies will permit distance students to complete all the requirements for a Th.M. in 30 months with only five week-long visits to campus.

Four distinguished Southern Seminary professors will guide the new modular Th.M. program.
Four distinguished Southern Seminary professors will guide the new modular Th.M. program.

The program’s faculty will provide an interdisciplinary curriculum, with each professor teaching core seminars in their areas of expertise: Jonathan T. Pennington in New Testament, Peter J. Gentry in Old Testament, Michael A.G. Haykin in church history, and Gregg R. Allison in systematic theology. The modular student will also complete a thesis in their chosen area of study during the course of their degree program.

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ETS 2016: Ware defines Trinity view; Mohler urges conviction and compassion on transgender issues November 18, 2016

Theologians Wayne Grudem, Bruce A. Ware, Millard Erickson, Kevin Giles, and Sam Storms (left to right) participate in a discussion on authority and submission in the Trinity, Nov. 15 at the 68th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, Texas.
Theologians Wayne Grudem, Bruce A. Ware, Millard Erickson, Kevin Giles, and Sam Storms (left to right) participate in a discussion on authority and submission in the Trinity, Nov. 15 at the 68th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Antonio, Texas.

SAN ANTONIO (SBTS) — The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary led all participating institutions with more than 40 paper presentations from faculty and students at the 68th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov. 15-17. Of those, 15 presentations dealt with topics related to the conference’s theme on the Trinity in the areas of systematic theology, biblical studies, church history, and practical theology.

Bruce A. Ware, T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary, further defined his theological views in a highly anticipated session on authority and submission in the Trinity. Earlier this year, a debate on theological websites focused on the Trinitarian positions of Ware and theologian Wayne Grudem and their application to complementarian gender roles. Ware and Grudem have argued that God the Father and God the Son eternally have been equal in divinity but that the Son has submitted to the Father eternally. The view has been labeled as “eternal functional subordination” (EFS) or “eternal roles of authority and submission” (ERAS).

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Doxology and Theology exhorts Reformed worship November 14, 2016

Matt Boswell, pastor of ministries and worship at Providence Church in Frisco, Texas, leads worship at the third Doxology and Theology Conference at Southern Seminary.
Matt Boswell, pastor of ministries and worship at Providence Church in Frisco, Texas, leads worship at the third Doxology and Theology Conference at Southern Seminary.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — Like Paul in Romans 11, the worship leader’s doxology should be a response to the gospel and drenched in humility, said worship pastor Matt Boswell at the third Doxology and Theology conference Nov. 3-5, held at The Southern Baptist Theology Seminary.

The theme of the 2016 conference was “Worship Reformed,” which leaders said would  demonstrate how the Reformation impacted the worship of the church. Drawing from the Five Solas of the Reformation, Boswell exhorted attendees to stand on and under the Word of God, marvel at the grace of God, cultivate their faith, trust in Christ alone, and seek the glory of God alone.

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Boyce College to publish undergraduate research journal November 1, 2016

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — The Augustine Honors Collegium at Boyce College will publish the inaugural issue of an undergraduate research journal in June 2017 and is seeking submissions from college students, school leaders announced Nov. 1.

“The Augustine Honors Collegium represents one of the most exciting and significant developments in recent months at Boyce College,” said Matthew J. Hall, dean of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s undergraduate school. “Under Dr. Jonathan Arnold’s leadership, I believe the collegium provides an opportunity for students and faculty to dig in deeper into the history of ideas and the contours of a thick biblical worldview in a way that will have a lasting impact on their lives and vocations.”

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SBTS Press releases “Confessing the Faith,” a commentary on Abstract of Principles October 31, 2016

confessingthefaithLOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — Written nearly 25 years after R. Albert Mohler Jr. called for the restoration of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s confessional identity, a new book published by SBTS Press honors the enduring importance of the Abstract of Principles. In Confessing the Faith: The Living Legacy of Southern Seminary’s Abstract of Principles, Mohler, SBTS president and the book’s editor, and 19 faculty members contribute chapters defending each article of faith established in the institution’s 1858 confessional document.

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Issues of authority and salvation still divide Protestants and Catholics, authors write October 27, 2016

unfinishedLOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — With the approaching 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the need for clarity on the commonalities and differences between Catholics and Protestants grows ever more urgent, according to the authors of The Unfinished Reformation.

Gregg R. Allison, professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Chris Castaldo, lead pastor of New Covenant Church, Naperville, Illinois, provide a thorough and careful examination of the issues at stake. Both authors have experience with Catholicism: Allison served with CRU at Notre Dame and was a missionary to Italy, and Castaldo was raised Roman Catholic and later converted to evangelicalism.

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Boyce College to offer Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree October 21, 2016

Boyce College logoLOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) —  A new degree program at Boyce College will prepare students to apply a Christian worldview in the areas of politics, international justice, and economic development, according to leaders at the undergraduate school of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Bachelor of Science in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics will be available beginning in fall 2017.

“This is another great step in the maturity and growth of Boyce College,” said Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. “This is one of the most significant and timely majors we could offer at this time, especially to young people who are going to be prepared to apply the Christian worldview to every dimension of life and to some of the most pressing challenges of our day in economics and politics. I’m really proud of this new degree program and if I were a young person preparing to major in college I would want to attend Boyce College and take this major.”

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Evangelical support of Trump destroys ‘moral credibility,’ Mohler says on ‘CNN Tonight’ October 12, 2016

Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler appears with Charmaine Yoest on "CNN Tonight" to discuss Trump and evangelicals.
Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler appears with Charmaine Yoest on "CNN Tonight" to discuss Trump and evangelicals.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (SBTS) — The 2016 presidential election presents “an excruciating moment” for evangelicals because the two major candidates fail “the baseline test of character,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, during an Oct. 11 appearance on “CNN Tonight” with host Don Lemon.

“When it comes to Donald Trump, evangelicals are going to have to ask the huge question, ‘Is it worth destroying our moral credibility to support someone who is beneath the baseline level of human decency for anyone who should deserve our vote?’” Mohler said, in response to the 2005 video released last week of Trump’s lewd comments. “I think that’s a far bigger question than the 2016 election. This election is a disaster for the American people; it’s an excruciating moment for American evangelicals.”

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