{"id":7498,"date":"2021-03-11T12:30:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T17:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?p=7498"},"modified":"2021-03-11T12:30:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T17:30:33","slug":"congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!<\/p>\n

\"Beth<\/p>\n

According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay theologian Beth Moore, one of the most successful and widely influential Christian women in America, has finally, publicly broken ties with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This was probably an agonizing decision for her, but I applaud her for making it. The SBC has many problems and among them is a certain (ahem) inhospitality toward female speakers\u2014unless they totally toe the line with regard to the SBC\u2019s complementarian stance. Finally Moore became so uncomfortable with that stance and its affects on herself and women in general that she broke off her relationship with America\u2019s largest Protestant denomination and its publishing arm Lifeway.<\/p>\n

In spite of what I am told my Wikipedia articles says, I have never been a Southern Baptist and I am proud of that. I boast of it to my students\u2014many of who grew up in SBC churches. People wrongly assume that the institution where I have taught theology for twenty-two years is SBC-related; it isn\u2019t. It is the world\u2019s largest Baptist institution of higher education, but it broke ties with the SBC years ago and is now fraternally related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) which has about five thousand churches in several states and is an independent, free-standing denomination not related to the SBC.<\/p>\n

As I have said here many times, I grew up in the \u201cthick\u201d of American evangelicalism. We were confused about the SBC. It seemed to be evangelical and yet, back then (1950s through 1970s), it would not join the National Association of Evangelicals and in most places kept itself apart and aloof from evangelical and even other Baptist churches.<\/p>\n

Here is a typical true story that illustrates my experience of the SBC and many of its churches.<\/p>\n

Some years ago I visited what I was assured was a typical SBC church deep in the heart of Texas. The Sunday morning worship service was focused on SBC \u201chome missions\u201d and they showed a video of a new SBC church \u201cplant\u201d in Manhattan, Kanasas, the \u201cLittle Apple.\u201d The video, made by the SBC Home Mission Board, strongly implied that this new SBC church would be the first and only Baptist church in Manhattan, Kansas. It portrayed Manhattan, Kansas as a \u201cmission field.\u201d I knew that there were already several Baptist churches in that Kansas town and that there were also many non-Baptist evangelical churches there.<\/p>\n

During his sermon the guest preacher told the young people \u201cBe ready to go wherever God calls you. He might even call you to Manhattan, Kansas. Or he might call you to the Dakotas where people have a head knowledge of Jesus but don\u2019t have him living in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the benediction I approached the guest preacher and said \u201cI\u2019m a Baptist from South Dakota and I even graduated from a Baptist seminary in South Dakota.\u201d He said \u201cBut they\u2019re mostly Lutherans there.\u201d I replied \u201cWell, I know many good Lutheran Christians.\u201d He replied \u201cThat\u2019s not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only time I attempted to join a SBC church was in Munich, Germany. I was studying theology there. There were only two English-speaking churches in Munich at that time and my wife and daughter did not understand or speak German as I did. So we asked to join the Southern Baptist Church. (The other one was Episcopalian.) The deacons and the pastor said my wife could join because she was baptized as a believer by immersion in a Baptist church. It was a \u201cConservative Baptist Church\u201d (CBA) in Minnesota but they said they would make an exception and accept her baptism. But I was baptized as a believer, upon confession of faith, by immersion in a Pentecostal<\/a> church. They informed me that constitutes \u201calien immersion\u201d and I would have to be \u201cre-baptized\u201d to join that church. I declined.<\/p>\n

Although I have never been SBC, I have observed it from afar and close up. My observation is that the SBC is by-and-large, with many exceptions, sectarian<\/em> in its ethos\u2014virtually ignoring other Christians and holding an attitude of being spiritually superior\u2014even to other evangelical Baptist denominations and churches. And, during the last twenty-five to thirty years, the SBC has gone through a radical transformation toward fundamentalism.<\/p>\n

I have been told many times (and read) that \u201cliberals\u201d taught at SBC-related seminaries in the 1940s through the 1980s and that was why those faculties needed to be purged. I have always asked people who said that to name even one<\/em> truly theologically liberal professor who taught at any SBC seminary. Not one of them has ever given me a specific name. One such person, dean of a Baptist seminary (not one of the six SBC seminaries), who had taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, told me that he knew of a theology professor at SBTS who denied the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. I asked him to tell me that professor\u2019s name and he declined.<\/p>\n

The two issues that seem to have become obsessions with SBC conservatives, who took over the denomination in the 1970s through the 1990s, are biblical inerrancy<\/em>, the definition of which even they cannot agree about, and women in ministry<\/em>, the details of which even they cannot agree about. SBC seminary professors who would not espouse biblical inerrancy and who believed in women in ministry were purged from those seminaries.<\/p>\n

The SBC was founded in the 1840s by Baptist slave owners and defenders of slavery in the South. To be sure, the SBC later (over a century later) publicly apologized for that, but now the presidents of the SBC seminaries have publicly denounced critical race theory<\/em> without consulting their own African-American mega-church pastors at least two of which (in Texas) are publicly leaving the SBC over this.<\/p>\n

I am proud to say I have never been a Southern Baptist. And when I search for a new church to attend after retirement, after I move to a major American metropolitan area, I do not even consider one of the many SBC churches there.<\/p>\n

So to Beth Moore I say \u201cCongratulations!\u201d and \u201cWelcome\u201d to the non-SBC evangelical world. You are better off without the SBC.<\/p>\n

*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay theologian Beth Moore, one of the most successful and widely influential Christian women in America, has finally, publicly broken ties with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This was probably an agonizing decision for her, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCongratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.gr-assets.com\/authors\/1576708088p8\/10418.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/\",\"name\":\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\"},\"description\":\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roger E. Olson\"},\"description\":\"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!","description":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!","og_description":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/","og_site_name":"Roger E. Olson","article_published_time":"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/images.gr-assets.com\/authors\/1576708088p8\/10418.jpg"}],"author":"Roger E. Olson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roger E. Olson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/","name":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-11T17:30:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca"},"description":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention! According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/03\/congratulations-to-beth-moore-on-leaving-the-southern-baptist-convention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Congratulations to Beth Moore on Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/","name":"Roger E. Olson","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca","name":"Roger E. Olson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Roger E. Olson"},"description":"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}