by Dave Roberts » Tue Nov 13, 2018 7:30 pm
If I had known what today was bringing, I might not have gotten out of bed. Today, it was announced that Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond would be closing at the end of this academic year. The financial equation is such that it is economically impossible to continue to provide masters and doctoral programs. I grieve this on many levels.
First, I grieve for the people who birthed the seminary amid the conflicts in Baptist life in the 1980's. Many of the original faculty were either professors who had taught me like Page Kelley and Glen Hinson, people with whom I had been in seminary like Tom Graves, and people from Southeastern Seminary whom I had come to know by pastoring in North Carolina. It was the dream that this might be the east coast's moderate seminary for Baptists.
Second, I grieve today for the people who are current faculty and staff members. I was at a gathering today with the current president of the seminary, and saw almost all the faculty and staff people, many of whom are friends. At the end of this academic year, they will be unemployed, and there aren't a lot of jobs out there for Old Testament and New Testament professors without jobs. Staff members, some of whom have been with the seminary for as much as twenty years, will also be looking for how to invest their lives with the demise of the seminary.
Third, I grieve for the present and former students. Those who are current students will have to finish their degrees elsewhere, and that will not be the same for them. I realize that arrangements have been made with two Richmond area schools that have shared in a theological consortium with BTSR to accept students and transfer most credits, but many of the students are people working full-time in other fields, and schedules may not be as easy to adapt. Along with these, I grieve for the 750 graduates of the seminary who feel a sense of lostness as their "mother" school will soon cease to exist in its present form. My son is in this group, and I know the school provided for him a quality education.
Fourth, I grieve for churches who are about to lose one of their best sources for quality young ministers who could help churches fulfill their missions. I have been close to some of the graduates, have served in an association with several of them, have had a graduate serve as my associate, and have seen the value that the school provided to the kingdom of God. To me, this is simply a sad day.
I graduated in the day when there was not a BTSR, but it has felt like my spiritual home. As I hugged the current president today and felt the drip of her tears, I know the pain of this day in so many ways. Lord, be near in this moment of unexpected change.