Baptist Factions at Odds Over New Seminary Leader

As expected, a theological conservative has been elected president of divided Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and said he will hire as faculty members only those who accept the Bible as the literal truth.

A moderate on the seminary’s board of trustees warned that “there will be no peace” at the 1,009-student school if President-elect Lewis A. Drummond makes good on his commitment to carry out the agenda of the board’s conservative majority.

Drummond, 61, currently a professor of evangelism at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky., takes office April 1 at Southeastern, the fourth largest of six Southern Baptist seminaries. It was founded in 1950.

Billy Graham Associate

Drummond, an associate of evangelist Billy Graham, pledged to seek peace among the school’s factions and said he will preserve academic quality and freedom of inquiry at the seminary.

However, he also said he will implement the agenda of the conservatives, including hiring as faculty members only those scholars who hold the “inerrancy” view that the Bible is literally true, even in matters of science and history.

Theological moderates believe that the Scriptures were divinely inspired but may contain errors made by their human authors. The issue is at the heart of a clash that has divided the nation’s largest Protestant denomination for several years. There are 14.6 million Southern Baptists.

Drummond will succeed Randall Lolley, a moderate who announced his resignation in the fall after 14 years in the position. Faced with a new fundamentalist majority among the trustees, Lolley said he could not carry out what he called their plan to “create a fundamentalist seminary.” Four administrators also resigned.

Prays for Spiritual Renewal

“It will be my prayer . . ,” Drummond said, “that a fresh wind of spiritual renewal could sweep the campus, fostering a spirit of love, harmony and reconciliation and commitment to all that God would accomplish in and through the institution.”

Despite his conservative orientation, Drummond had been described as perhaps the only candidate acceptable to conservatives and moderates because of his academic credentials and what colleagues describe as a tolerant attitude and agreeable personality.

The board voted 21 to 6 with one abstention to hire Drummond after nearly 90 minutes of debate.

“Dr. Drummond’s view of the Bible is one I cannot accept,” said the Rev. Mark Caldwell, a moderate trustee from Washington.

Caldwell read a statement on behalf of other moderates that accused the conservatives of trying to “shift radically the theological foundation of the school toward fundamentalism. . . . We will not endorse such an erosion of the school’s historic character.”

Caldwell said a faculty panel that met with Drummond gave Drummond a less than 50% confidence rating. The faculty raised concerns about his his understanding of the moderate-conservative rift, his appreciation of the “broad Baptist constituency” and his leadership skills, Caldwell said.

The Rev. Robert D. Crowley, the conservative trustee chairman and a Rockville, Md., minister, said Drummond “brings to this new job impeccable credentials, an enviable track record and every qualification we could have wanted for a new president.”

Richard L. Hester, president of the seminary chapter of the American Assn. of University Professors, which has fought the conservatives, said the faculty will give Drummond a chance to demonstrate his commitment to academic freedom and excellence.

‘There Will Be No Peace’

“But we want to make fully clear that if his dream is the same dream as the trustee majority, there will be no peace here,” Hester said.

Drummond has been administrative director of the Billy Graham Center since 1981 and Billy Graham professor of evangelism at Southern Seminary since 1973. He also has taught at Spurgeon’s Theological College in London, England.

At a news conference, Crowley read from Graham’s letter of recommendation in which he described Drummond as “an ideal president at Southeastern Seminary.”