Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020)
Article: A Legacy Of Scholarship: Legendary Teachers And World-Class Research
Author: James Parker

JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020) p. 261

A Legacy Of Scholarship:
Legendary Teachers And World-Class Research

James Parker

&

Rex D. Butler

James Parker is professor of Biblical Interpretation and executive director of the Michael and Sara Moskau Institute of Archaeology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

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.

Introduction

As Park H. Anderson describes in his New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary: A Brief History,1 only those who were involved in the founding of the Baptist Bible Institute (BBI) and what is today called the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), could really understand that they were creating an institution with world-class faculty who would be as scholarly as any institution of higher education in the world. Anderson reflects that there was no intention on the part of Southern Baptists to create another seminary in the South. Apparently there was a strong feeling that Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, should be the “seminary” where all Southern Baptist ministers received their academic training. B.H. Carroll named the school he founded in Fort Worth, Texas Southwestern Seminary; however, it was not, as was also the case of Southern Seminary, founded by the Southern Baptist Convention, but by Texas Baptists, so Carroll could call it whatever he liked. The school in New Orleans, however, would be a denominational creation and because of that, the founders were very sensitive to the issue. Anderson notes that you can see this in the naming of the school, Baptist Bible Institute instead of “seminary” and acknowledges the wisdom in this move.

JBTM 17:2 (Fall 2020) p. 262

One can see the scholarly intent of the founders by looking at the professors and teachers that were employed and the curriculum that they taught. There were eight original professors and teachers, including Byron Dement, who taught twenty-one courses for the forty students that showed up on October 1, 1918. While there was a practical side to the curriculum with classes, in missionary training, personal work, pastoral training, gospel music, and Sunday School work,2 the more classical “seminary” curriculum was present such as New Testament Exposition, Bible Synthesis, Old Testament Exposition, Christian History, and Christian Doctrine. E.O Sellers, who was professor of Music, Personal Work, and Student Activities, wrote the Alma Mater for BBI, and as William Mueller mention...