Wade Burleson on Patterson admitting a Muslim

[Matt Richard]

I must admit this all confuses me...

http://www.wadeburleson.org/2014/05/sou ... c.html?m=1

[Ed Pettibone]

[Matt Richard]

SWBTS admitting a Muslim and Patterson trying to cover it up. It makes me wonder if there is more to the story. If there is some unknown motive. It may be typical Patterson to rule in this manner, but this specific behavior is not consistent with him and (I would think) most SWBTS constituency.

[William Thornton]

Interesting.

SWBTS, among our six Cooperative Program seminaries, is experiencing the most consistent decline in enrollment. I doubt this will help, though additional details will doubtlessly surface that may ameliorate the matter.

If there was good reason to admit a professing Muslim student, and that contrary to established trustee policy, Patterson should have taken the matter to his trustee board, explained why this would be appropriate, and let them approve it, rather than do it and, as is alleged, threaten those who knew with firing.

At some point unlimited power is harmful, but I cannot say we didn't grant a few such.

[Jerry_B]

Oh my, this is just out of this world hilarious. Paige may have really stepped in it this time, but not to worry, he wears boots.

[William Thornton]

[Haruo]

"both Israelis and Muslims"

hmm

[Sandy]

I don't have any reason not to trust what Wade says. He always gets his facts right.

If this is the case, and Patterson didn't get trustee approval for this, it's a huge problem. I doubt that the trustees will take any action, though. That's a board that he hand picked.

[William Thornton]

It's not a huge problem if the trustees acquiesce.

[Haruo]

If SWBTS is a church, as I gather Dr. Patterson has argued, and if he is therefore Christ's Vicar in that church, then Wade is spot on. He (Patterson) should run the place by fiat as he wishes, and the SBC should stop funding the outfit. "Cooperating with Mormons and other Great Commission Christians" indeed! Funny.

[Dave Roberts]

I'm glad none of what I am able to give reaches SWBTS for many reasons. Patterson is chief among them.

[Sandy]

Southwestern was Patterson's fief from the beginning of the conservative resurgence. Even while he was at Southeastern, he was laying the groundwork, via trustee board choices, for getting the presidency of SWBTS. I think his leadership of the two schools shows the results of two different styles of leadership. At Southeastern, he didn't have a hand picked trustee board, and ran the school administratively within the parameters that policy required. He essentially brought leadership to the school that resulted in its highest enrollment (even without the BA programs) and brought financial stability that it had never known. At Southwestern, where he had a hand picked board when he arrived, he got a school where the enrollment and financial situation was healthy, and attempted to rule by fiat. It hasn't had good results.

This is a problem. A theological seminary isn't an evangelistic ministry, and it's a violation of the wishes of Southern Baptist to hand out grad degrees to Muslims.

[Big Daddy Weaver]

I don't know what one does with a Ph.D. in Archaeology from a seminary, but I hope this brouhaha doesn't result in the school booting the Muslim student. That would be absolutely cruel.

[Sandy]

Southwestern does not offer a doctorate in Archaeology. It offers a Master of Arts in Archaeology and Biblical Studies, so somewhere in the information that has been shared about the Muslim student, there's an error. There's a consortium of schools involved in the archaeology project at Tel Gezer in Israel and some of them may offer it, but this student is enrolled in Southwestern, from what is being said. To be admitted to Southwestern, under its written policy, you must provide a written testimony of your personal salvation experience and your call to Christian ministry, and have that verified by submitting a recommendation that your church has provided, voted on at a business meeting. So if a Muslim is enrolled, someone had to bypass the written, stated policy of admission approved by the trustees. I would guess that it would require trustee approval to make an exception.

When I was admitted to Southwestern, I had an interview with the director of Admissions which was quite specific regarding my calling to ministry, and what I planned to do in vocational ministry. That is still a requirement. I was told that the reason for the strictness and detail of the interview was because about 80% of the cost of my education at Southwestern was subsidized by the Cooperative Program, and the Southern Baptists who were investing in it were entitled to know that those who were being given this opportunity were genuinely called to ministry service. The percentage of subsidy from the CP per student today is still around 70% of the total cost. So I can't imagine that the trustees would grant some kind of exception to that.

It would be unfortunate for the Muslim student, who has been enrolled in the program, to have his degree program terminated, though I think other arrangements could be made for him to finish his degree. A degree from Southwestern says that the person who earned it has committed to a minimum of five years of Christian vocational or missions ministry. To allow a Muslim to earn one, and use it later on, violates the integrity of what it stands for. As a Southwestern graduate, I am completely opposed to allowing a Muslim to receive a degree, regardless of what field of study it is in.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

Southwestern's admission practices and policies were in effect long before the conservatives became the majority on the trustee boards. Southwestern would not have admitted a Muslim when I was there, and Russell Dilday and the moderates controlled the board. Those rules and policies go back at least to the 1960's, maybe further. So, Timothy, your criticism doesn't hold water.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Stephen Fox]

Words have meaning and we must be honest about the word Fundamentalist.

The Southern Baptist Convention is a FUNDAMENTALIST denomination.

That was the whole purpose of the Takeover to make sure everybody believed the first eleven chapters of Genesis are History and SCIENCE. That was Pressler's mantra.

All the Creeds and Resolutions are Fundy.

So let's don't change definitions in the middle of the Game.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[Lou]

[Tim Bonney]

Here is a question I've not heard an answer to. Why the policy in the first place? What possible had could there be in a Muslim studying at a Baptist seminary? No one is going to mistake him for a Southern Baptist. Why the rule?