Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-149).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-149).

Chapter 1 is the introduction, which proposes that Thomas Treadwell Eaton achieved great influence in the Southern Baptist Convention and utilized that influence to effect political change in the relationship between Southern Baptist churches and the denomination. Chapter 2 traces the influences of Eaton’s formative years among Tennessee Baptists. Eaton became an avid supporter of denomination institutions for higher education and was an active participant in state convention meetings, where he led the Baptists in the state to unify for the purpose of supporting a university. Chapter 3 follows Eaton to Virginia where he pastored between 1875 and 1881, and became intimately familiar with the political influence of denominational newspapers. As a pastor and leader in denominational causes, he was immensely successful in raising associational support for foreign missions and religious education. Chapter 4 surveys Eaton’s first decade as a Baptist pastor in Louisville. Particular emphasis is given to his growing denominational leadership in the Long Run Baptist Association and his contributions to the surge of denominational giving towards missionary causes and Southern Baptist ministries. Chapter 5 demonstrates how Eaton worked to promote his vision for Baptist identity through literature dissemination and denominational leadership. Eaton used the advantage of the denominational press to promote the distinctive doctrines of Baptists and to oppose heterodox theology. Most importantly, Eaton became a leading proponent in the development of the Southern Baptist Convention’s denominational consciousness through his support of the Sunday School Board and the 1894 Fortress Monroe Comity. Chapter 6 introduces the Whitsitt controversy and demonstrates Eaton’s efforts to oppose Whitsitt for undermining Baptist identity. Emphasis is given to the Western Recorder editorial strategies, the publishing output of the Baptist Book Concern, and the denominational parliamentary meetings that collectively pressured Whitsitt to resign from the seminary presidency. Chapter 7 examines Eaton’s career after the Whitsitt controversy; though perceived by many as a divisive force, he continued to defend Baptist principles against the creeping influence of liberal theology and kept pressure upon the Southern Seminary faculty to respect denominational interests. Eaton remained actively involved in denominational causes. Chapter 8 is the conclusion.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-06-24T13:36:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ivandiasdasilva.pdf: 984706 bytes, checksum: edc1274de7cce92f9e66af20480a35f6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-07-13T15:44:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ivandiasdasilva.pdf: 984706 bytes, checksum: edc1274de7cce92f9e66af20480a35f6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-13T15:44:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ivandiasdasilva.pdf: 984706 bytes, checksum: edc1274de7cce92f9e66af20480a35f6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-01 / Esta dissertação tem por objetivo geral apresentar as controvérsias entre as perspectivas teológicas liberal e fundamentalista ocorridas no âmbito da Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), nos EUA, iniciadas na década de 60, com seu ápice na década de 80 e desdobramentos que resultaram na cisão da referida Convenção no final do século XX. A SBC é a maior denominação do cristianismo protestante do mundo, com cerca de 16 milhões de membros e poderosa influência nos ambientes religioso e político norte-americano. Os conflitos intra-denominacionais tiveram como alvo o controle dos recursos e direção ideológica da SBC. De um lado estavam os fundamentalistas, que defendiam a Bíblia como inerrante e entendiam que a tendência modernista presente na denominação era um grande mal a ser extirpado. Do outro se encontravam os liberais, que valorizavam a abordagem histórico-crítica às Escrituras, a teoria da evolução, a filosofia existencialista e o estudo das religiões comparadas. A diferença entre estas perspectivas teológicas tornou a convivência no mesmo ambiente denominacional inviável, gerando um conflito que veio a culminar com a emergência fundamentalista ao poder na SBC, destituindo os outrora solidamente estabelecidos liberais de suas funções de comando na Convenção. / This Master’s thesis’ general goal is to present the controversies between the liberal and fundamentalist theological perspectives which have occurred within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), that have been initiated in the beginning of the 1960’s, with its apex in the 1980’s and developments that led to a split in the Convention at the end of the 20th century. The SBC is the largest world’s Christian protestant denomination, whith approximately 16 million members and powerful religious and politics influence in the USA. These denominational conflicts targeted to control the resources and the ideological direction of the Southern Baptist Convention. On the one hand were the fundamentalists, upholding the Bible as an inerrant book and believing that the modernist tendency was the great evil to be purged from the denomination. On the other were the liberals that appreciated the historical-critical approach to the Bible, the theory of evolution, the existentialist philosophy, and the study of comparative religions. For these different theological perspectives their coexistence at the same denominational scope became unfeasible, giving rise to a conflict that resulted in the fundamentalist’s emergence to the Conventions’ leadership, removing the liberals that once was well-established in charge in the SBC.

This study examined the relationship between the continuing professional education practices of Southern Baptist pastors and their tenure in their pastoral positions. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect data about the pastors' continuing education and pastoral tenure. A stratified sample of 500 pastors was selected from the 36,235 Southern Baptist churches according to church membership. A total of 217 (43 percent) of the questionnaires was returned and used in the data analysis. Thirty percent of the pastors reported spending no days in continuing education during the past year. Sixty-two percent spent five days or more in continuing professional education. Tenure was not significantly linked to continuing education among the pastors. A personal perception of ministerial competency was positively related to continuing education. The majority of pastors felt accountable to God and themselves in terms of their competency. They strongly resisted any move toward certification or accreditation. The majority of the pastors did not view mobility as an alternative to becoming involved in continuing education. However, the reasons reported for mobility could be interpreted as needs assessment addressed by professional growth. A majority of the pastors strongly agreed that a basic seminary education did not alone prepare a minister for the pastorate. In addition, they were personally committed to being lifelong learners. However, only a small minority had developed a personal strategy for continuing education for the coming year. Neither part-time nor full-time work status nor past formal education influenced the amount of days spent in continuing education. The level of formal education did increase the pastors' commitment to being "lifelong learners." However, there seemed to be missing links between the following: 1) formal ministerial preparation and continuing professional development, 2) mobility and needs assessment, 3) competency and accountability, and 4) a commitment to lifelong learning and a practical strategy for continuing education.

The purpose of this study is to examine the programming of religious education in Southern Baptist institutions of higher education, including a comparison of current religious education programs, the articulation between college and seminary religious education programs, and the identification of future trends that these programs may follow. From these findings, the following conclusions were drawn: Religious education is apparently considered important enough to be included in the curriculum of Southern Baptist colleges. The evaluation of the role of the institution in training students for careers in religious education has been a vital factor in changes that have been made in the programs. Programs designed to grant credit for work done prior to seminary enrollment are being favorably, although not unanimously, received. Additional undergraduate religious education programs appear to be likely, should programs granting credit for previous work develop. Exploration into the development of other means for the granting of credit would bring improvement in the cooperative relationships between the colleges and the seminaries. From these conclusions, the following implications were derived: Southern Baptist schools will continue to train persons for church-related vocations. Attitudinal changes must occur, both among the college and the seminary leaders, before major changes will be made. If changes in the articulation of the college and seminary programs are to be made, seminary leaders are in the best position to lead in such changes. The designing of a prerequisite program for entry into a seminary master's degree program in religious education might be considered as a key to the articulation between graduate and undergraduate programs.

This dissertation examined how the more recent graduates of The Southern Baptist Seminary (SBTS) are incorporating the twenty-one core values of the institution into their present ministries. The data garnered from this present research will enlighten interested parties to the world of assessment in higher education and the role that core values play in that process. Future graduates of SBTS will be impacted in their education due to the findings of this dissertation. A researcher-designed survey was placed before the recent graduates of SBTS under the direction of the Office of Institutional Advancement of the seminary. The raw data received through this research was tabulated and put into visual formats to aid the reader in seeing what these findings mean. Graduates from across the spectrum of theological education are in no way to be generalized by this research. Only those graduates across the spectrum of the four graduate school of SBTS are represented in the research population for this study. The findings have shown that while the high majority of those graduates that were surveyed had no prior knowledge of the existence of the core values the core values nonetheless existed in their ministries. The graduates reflected a trace of each of the core values throughout their ministries with the core values that focused on the glory of God, surrender to the Lordship of Christ, and a trust in the fidelity in the Bible to be the values that emerge over all others. Core values that collect the least amount of prevalence in the ministry of recent graduates were those that focused on new technologies and denominational affiliation. The overall picture of an average SBTS graduate is one of a studious student who carries a love of continued learning throughout his or her ministry. The recent graduate of SBTS does not lay claim to a vast knowledge of the historical setting of the seminary. With that understood, the history of the core values can be seen in his or her life due to the fact that such a large number of the graduates had no prior knowledge of the existence of the values, yet many of the values appear in their ministries. Across the spectrum of the four graduate schools, the number of respondents and the type of core values they responded to remain the same. The top three core values in positive or negative responses remained true from The School of Theology, The School of Music, The School of Leadership, and Church Ministry or The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. Further research is needed to reveal the thoughts on and impression of the core values of the seminary on the ministries of future graduates. Further research is also called for to examine if the present day core values add or detract from the past seminary training of older alumni. Any future research will add to the literature base for this area of study while at the same time keep the accreditation protocols and practices of training fresh among those tied to SBTS and the mission of the institution.

The primary problem in this study was to develop a comprehensive long-range plan for Arkansas Baptists to use as a guide in meeting their needs in the field of Christian higher education. These needs were viewed in two ways: 1. Need as related to the purposes and philosophy of Christian higher education of Southern Baptists; 2. Need as related to the number of persons to be served.

The application of Gowin's knowledge vee as a means to design instruction for adult Bible study was investigated in this study. The study was designed to determine whether subjects using this instructional approach differed from subjects using traditional instructional materials regarding their attitudes toward Bible study, attendance, knowledge retention, application of study materials to life, and recruitment of new class members.

This dissertation provides a historical and theological examination of Baptist views of the gospel ministry from English Separatists of the late sixteenth century to the Southern Baptist Convention of the mid-1920s. Chapter 1 provides the thesis of the dissertation, background material to its being written, and the methodology by which its conclusions are reached. Chapters 2 through 4 provide overviews for the ministry among English Separatists, British Baptists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and American Baptists of the mid-seventeenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries, respectively. Each chapter focuses upon primary writings revealing each group's understanding of such issues as the office of the minister, the divine call to the ministry, ordination, preparation, the call by a congregation to a local church, and mutual responsibilities of ministers and church members. Chapters 5 through 7 examine the ministry among Southern Baptists from about 1865 to 1925. While the fifth chapter follows the same pattern as the previous three, Chapter 6 examines the beginning of a shift in the focus of the work of the minister from 1865 to 1900 with the introduction of organizational efficiency. Chapter 7 demonstrates that this shift became denominationally accepted during the early twentieth century. This work maintains that the heritage of Southern Baptists expressed consistent views concerning the office of the minister into the latter decades of the nineteenth century. The minister's call to the ministry, preparation, ordination, call to a congregation, and mutual responsibilities with church members were derived from clear biblical statements and principles. The end of the nineteenth century, however, witnessed a shift in the Southern Baptist view of the work of the ministry regarding the ability to produce quantifiable outcomes-a shift which became firmly established during the first two and a half decades of the twentieth century. This shift fueled a Baptist concern for organizational efficiency, a concern which viewed successful churches as those which were optimally organized to produce quantifiable results. Because pastors were seen as the key to organizational efficiency, they were judged according to the success of their churches' achieving those results. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.