Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 03:1 (Spring 1999)
Article: Crawford Howell Toy and the Weight of Hermeneutics
Author: Paul R. House

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SBJT 3:1 (Spring 1999) p. 28

Crawford Howell Toy and the
Weight of Hermeneutics

Paul R. House

This article was first presented in 1997 as a Founder’s Day address at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

Few figures in Baptist history engender as divergent opinions as Crawford Howell Toy. One of the most brilliant scholars ever to graduate from and teach at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was also the first faculty member to resign for theological reasons, an event that took place in 1879. During his lifetime many of his students and friends thought Toy was unjustly forced from the seminary. Though grieved at Toy’s departure, his colleagues James Petigru Boyce and John Albert Broadus disagreed. They concluded that Toy’s beliefs were not in accordance with the institution’s Abstract of Principles, and would eventually lead to his rejection of virtually all supernatural elements of Christianity.1 C. A. Briggs, who was put on ecclesiastical trial by Presbyterians for holding similar views, lauded Toy as the first American scholar to suffer for historical-critical beliefs.2

More recently, Toy biographer Billy Grey Hurt has depicted him as a seeker of truth forced to resign because of denominational politics.3 On the other hand, Tom Nettles and Russ Bush have described Toy as a man whose positions had so changed from his earlier beliefs that his resignation was both honest and appropriate.4 Reflecting yet another opinion, Roy Honeycutt has stated that Toy illustrates the seminary’s desire to balance creative challenge and traditional values. He writes, “Despite the fact that Crawford Howell Toy was forced to resign from the faculty in 1879 and later abandoned his heritage, his ideals continued to provide an impetus to open inquiry and dedicated scholarship.”5

It is apparent that each interpreter’s theological convictions and vision of theological education are reflected in his treatment of Toy. To steal an image from Albert Schweitzer’s famous comment on the search for the historical Jesus, when one stares down the well of reflection on Toy, it is amazing how often the historian’s face appears. Still, each of these experts has contributed to a better understanding of the man who served as Southern’s fifth faculty member.

The goal of this article is to present Toy’s interpretative methodology accurately, and to explore its impact on his beliefs. To achieve this aim, it is necessary to survey his...

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