October 19, 2006

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Votes To Hew To Baptist Tradition

I guess I don't find any of this to be a big deal. After all, what the board of the institution has done is indicate it is going to stay within the bounds of what has always been Baptist custom and practice.

Trustees at a Baptist seminary have put it in writing: They will not tolerate any promotion of speaking in tongues on their campus.

The 36-1 vote Tuesday came nearly two months after the Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington said during a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that he sometimes speaks in tongues while praying.

McKissic, a new trustee at the Fort Worth school, passed the lone dissenting vote on the resolution.

It states: "Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including private prayer language. Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices."

As an organization, Baptists (especially Southern Baptists) are not charismatic/pentecostal in their theological stance. As a seminary, the school is indicating that it will anchor itself to baptist tradition.

That isn't to say that I have a problem with any of the spiritual practices the school disassociates itself from -- I remain neutral on the validity of them.

Frankly, I'd be shocked if it did not -- and would hope that any seminary of any denomination would cling to its its doctrinal anchors.

Posted by: Greg at 10:30 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 The gift to speak in tongues, at least as it has been explained to me, is the ability to express your ideas to those who do not share your common language; not the spectacle of jibberish claimed by some.  I have heard that the Spirit is able to translate one language in the mind of another, that the person speaking is able to temporarily voice a language to which he is not trained in nor has a command of with the aid of the Spirit.  I have heard that even with a group of folks, where their language is common, that a message which was not vocalized by the speaker was understood to carry a meaning above and beyond that which was heard by the ear, and yet understood by the mind.  This is not the same as a side show at some tent revival in a carnival atmosphere as is depicted or sometimes associated with the speaking in tongues.

Posted by: T F Stern at Fri Oct 20 07:22:47 2006 (z1IoH)

2 Agreed, my old friend. I flirted with that movement some years ago (actually, was trying to get a date with a girl from an Assemblies of God church on campus and found it to be spiritual foolishness.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Fri Oct 20 10:20:10 2006 (0jJSk)

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