Fall 2022. Vol 90, No. 2 Archives

How Did the Fathers Use Creeds?

Confessions pervaded the life of the early church. It used them catechetically, liturgically, and apologetically. The early church would not know how to disciple new believers, perform acts of worship, or defend the faith apart from the use of confessions.

Stephen Presley

A Confessing People: A Brief History of Baptist Confessions of Faith

Emerging from the Puritan separatists in England, Baptists in every generation, and from a variety of theological traditions, have articulated their beliefs in published confessions to show continuity with orthodox Christianity and to give witness to their distinctive ecclesiology and practice.

Joe Harrod

1922: Northern Baptists Lose Their Confession

Two distinct visions of Baptist identity had clearly emerged, one rooted in historic orthodoxy, the other in a highly individualistic doctrine of soul liberty. In the Northern Baptist Convention, only one could endure.

Eric C. Smith

“I am Southern Baptist”: A Confessional People and Their Confession of Faith

Yet people ask us all the time, “Who are you? What’s a Baptist? How are you different than any other church or religious group?” One would hope that any church-going Southern Baptist could answer such questions with aplomb. But can they?

Peter Beck

From The President

Confessional Integrity in a Time of Theological Crisis: The Abstract of Principles Then and Now

From the very beginning, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been a confessional institution. Every professor must sign our confession of faith, the Abstract of Principles, agreeing to teach “in accordance with and not contrary to all that is contained therein.” This pledge has remained unchanged since 1859, but the history of Southern Seminary is a history with many twists and turns.

As you will learn or be reminded in this issue of the Southern Seminary Magazine, we believe that a healthy church or a healthy seminary is one that clearly confesses what it believes and then commits to teach in accord with and not contrary to that statement of faith. The Bible teaches a very certain body of truth that is able to make one “wise unto salvation,” and a strong confession of faith will make those things clear.

Stories

Seminary Wives Institute: 25 Years of Faithfulness

In February of 1997, Mary Mohler met with a few wives of Southern Seminary faculty members to share a burden and a vision that wives of seminary students needed to be encouraged and trained, and in the fall of that year, Seminary Wives Institute (SWI) was born.

Jeff Robinson

How Narrow Should a Church Confession Be?

I did a double-take when I read the sign in front of a small, white church beside a two-lane blacktop that snaked through the hills of western North Carolina. I stopped and backed up my SUV to get a second look. The weathered 12’-by-18’ sign read: “Welcome to Trinity Baptist Church. We are an Independent,…

Jeff Robinson

How Do You Cast a Confessional Vision in a Non-Confessional Church?

“I agree with every word, but only Roman Catholics read creeds.” I was walking down the sidewalk with a member of our congregation, and we had just finished discussing why our church reads creeds and confessions during congregational worship. The issue was at once simple and decisive—our church should not read creeds during congregational worship…

Raymond Johnson

Southern Seminary Editorial Board:

Southern Seminary Magazine Staff:
Vice President of Communications: Dustin W. Benge
Managing Editor: Jeff Robinson
Copy Editor: C. Rebecca Rine
Creative Director: Stuart Hunt
Production Manager: Evan Sams
Graphic Designers: Dustin Benge, Stuart Hunt, Benjamin Aho
Photographer: Trevor Wheeker
Contributing Writers: R. Albert Mohler Jr., Peter Beck, Eric C. Smith, Joe Harrod, Stephen Presley, Raymond Johnson, Jarvis Williams, Jeff Robinson, Travis Hearne

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