Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020)
Article: Looking Back And Looking Ahead: A New Era At NOBTS
Author: Rex D. Butler

JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020) p. 179

Looking Back And Looking Ahead:
A New Era At NOBTS

Rex D. Butler

Rex D. Butler is professor of Church History and Patristics, occupying the John T. Westbrook Chair of Church History at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

It’s a Dew Day! At NOBTS and Leavell College, we are well into the second year of Dr. Jamie Dew’s presidency and a new era. The advent of our ninth president comes on the heels of a year-long centennial commemoration that concluded in October 2018. This extended moment of transition calls for looking back and looking ahead. Those of us connected to the seminary and college – faculty and students, administration and staff, current students and alumni, donors and friends – are mindful of our long history and grateful for God’s providence.

Therefore, it is appropriate for this issue of the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry to celebrate our past while also dreaming of our future. All our authors are members of the NOBTS and Leavell College faculty, and each one brings his own expertise and viewpoint to the task at hand. I am gratified that Dr. Adam Harwood, editor of the journal, invited me to serve as guest editor of this issue. Also, I must express appreciation for the preliminary work done by Dr. Steve Lemke, who initially envisioned a centennial chronicle and commissioned the articles included in this journal.

In our opening chapter, Dr. Lloyd Harsch asks with local flair: “Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Teach Dem Saints?” Harsch explores Baptist beginnings in New Orleans during the years leading up to the founding of the Baptist Bible Institute in 1917.

In a tour de force of historical reminiscence, Dr. Chuck Kelley, President Emeritus, takes us on a “Walk through the Presidents.” Kelley reenacts his introduction to the previous presidents, whose portraits line the walls of the Dement Room and whose stories he told to incoming faculty. Dr. Steve Lemke and I complete the gallery with our introduction to our newest president, Dr. Jamie Dew.

JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020) p. 180

Two of our greatest presidents came from the same legendary family, and it falls to me to relate “The Leavell Legacy.” This story begins with the Leavell family and their nine sons, eight of whom distinguished themselves in Christian work. Roland Q. Leavell and his nephew, Landrum P. Leavell II, left their marks and their names throughout the history and the campus of NOBTS.

Throughout the history of NOBTS and Leavell College, our first-rate faculty have left their own legacy in scholarship and the establishment of research centers. Dr. Jim Parker and I present “A Legacy of Scholarship: Legendary Teachers and World-Class Re...