Houston Baptist University to launch theological seminary

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

Amusing that they offer their MDiv through the "Houston Baptist Seminary School of Christian Thought. Usually a School of Thought isn't the sort of thing that can offer degrees.

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: Hauro Have you looked at the University of Houston's Web site for their use of "School of Christian Thought" ?


Seems to me they are simply identifying their Seminary as "A school, based on and dedicated to Christian Thought".

[Haruo]

I am pretty sure you're right, Ed. But the page I was looking at didn't make it clear, and rather looked like one was subsidiary to the other, like University of Wherever School of Medicine. And as a student of the vagaries and intricacies of the English language, I found this construction amusing.

[Sandy]

Houston is a large metropolitan area that population growth over the past 50 years has changed from a sultry, Southern backwater into a cosmopolitan rival to Los Angeles and Chicago. It's quite an ethnically diverse city and metro area, with its traditional minorities of African Americans and Latinos actually outgrowing the Caucasian population especially in the city but even in much of the surrounding metro area as well. Texas Baptists have focused their resources and the headquarters of their ministries in the smaller towns and rural areas where the population is aging and declining. Houston Baptist University was started back in the 60's simply because of sheer need in an association that is larger than many state conventions. In recent years, they've more or less ignored the traditional place in which they were put by the BGCT and set out to develop relationships with some of the Houston area mega-churches. They're the only Christian institution of higher education in the greater Houston area and they've expanded their campus and programs as they saw the need to go beyond being just a suburban commuter college with a Baptist identity.

The satellite campus of Southwestern Seminary started on the HBU campus and had potential to become a booming center of theological education in an area with 6 million people and half a million Baptists in partnership with the University but the short-sightedness of SBC leadership in distancing itself from the BGCT led them to move the Southwestern center to a disbanded church that turned their building over to them for a dollar. It was in a bad location, bad neighborhood and eventually maintenance on the building and the financial disaster that has happened at Southwestern pushed it to close and sell the facility and move into leased facilities at a conservative megachurch on the southeast side of Houston, still not well located. HBU is booming, has expanded its campus, has state of the art facilities and has expanded its business school and Biblical studies programs to include graduate level courses, hence the seminary. I believe their seminary enrollment is about double that of Southwestern's Houston campus. It's needed.

[Haruo]

Very interesting in a nimber of respects, Sandy. Thanks!

[Tim Bonney]

[Tim Bonney]

I'm not really familiar with HBU. how would you describe their theological orientation?