Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

==History==

===19th century to early 20th century (1835–1950)===

[[Basil Manly Sr.]] first issued a call for a new seminary for Baptists in the south in 1835. Over the next two decades, he was the driving force in a movement to establish the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In 1856, South Carolina Baptists gathered together and met in [[Greenville, South Carolina]] with [[James P. Boyce]] to discuss the need to finance a seminary. In that meeting, Southern Baptists agreed to pledge $100,000 in the establishment of a theological school. In 1857, Boyce convinced members of the convention in [[Louisville, KY]] to approve a motion to establish The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In the fall of 1859, Southern began its first academic year with 26 students. The seminary continued to grow until it temporarily closed from 1861 to 1865 due to [[American Civil War]]. After the war, the seminary had to recover at a different location. The Board of Trustees along with Boyce decided the new location would be the seminary's current location of [[Louisville, Kentucky]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Founding: 1859–1878 |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/founding-1859-1878/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref>

[[File:US-KY(1891) p290 LOUISVILLE, SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINAR.jpg|thumb|left|Southern in 1891]]
In 1889, John A. Broadus became the seminary's second President. Attendance and enrollment continued to grow and the [[Master of Divinity]] (M.Div.) and [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.) began to be offered as graduate degrees starting in the early 1890s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Calm: 1889–1895 |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/calm-1889-1895/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref> After Broadus, William Whitsitt became the third President of Southern in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Conflict: 1895–1899 |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/conflict-1895-1899/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref> After a difficult tenure along with controversy dealing with [[Landmarkism]] amongst Baptists during that period, Whitsitt was succeeded by E.Y. Mullins (Boyce's College main dormitory is named after him) as president. Under Mullins, the seminary reached an endowment of an estimated 1.8 million dollars. It was during the early 1900s when women were beginning to be admitted to the classes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Progressivism: 1899–1919 |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/progressivism-1899-1919/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref>

===Modern history (1950s–present)===
In 1951, Duke McCall became the President of Southern. Under McCall's leadership. the School of Religious Education was established to prepare students for Christian education. Three academic schools were organized: School of Religious Education, School of Theology, and the School of Music. A chair in evangelism was dedicated to the American evangelist [[Billy Graham]] in 1966. Southern began to offer the [[Doctor of Ministry]] (D.Min.) program in 1970. Enrollment under McCall reached an estimated 1,500 students. [[Boyce College]] (known as Boyce Bible College at the time) was established as an adult education program in 1974. McCall retired in 1981 and his legacy has drawn praise and controversy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Tension: 1950–1981 |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/tension-1950-1981/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref>

Roy Honeycutt succeeded McCall as the 8th President of Southern in 1981. Under his leadership, the seminary opened the Carver School of Church Social Work and reached an all-time peak in enrollment of students in 1986. Honeycutt also oversaw the leadership of the seminary during a tumultuous time within the Southern Baptist Convention, now known as the [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]]. After the election of [[Adrian Rogers]] as the President of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], the school began to slowly return to its traditional theological positions such as the inerrancy of Scripture. Honeycutt retired in 1992.

The seminary Board of Trustee's then elected [[Albert Mohler|R. Albert Mohler]] as the 9th President of Southern in 1993. Under Mohler's leadership, every member of the faculty was required to sign the confession of the seminary known as the "Abstract of Principles" and the "Baptist Faith and Message". They were also required to believe that the Bible is without any error. Boyce Bible College, then an adult education program, was reorganized and established as an undergraduate college.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SBTS – Resurgence: 1993–Present |url=https://archives.sbts.edu/the-history-of-the-sbts/our-story/resurgence-1993-present/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=archives.sbts.edu}}</ref> In 2017, the seminary experienced the largest enrollment of students ever in the school's history with over 5,000 students enrolled.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2016–2017 President's Report – The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |url=https://www.sbts.edu/president/2016-2017-presidents-report/ |access-date=2020-06-16 |website=SBTS |language=en-US}}</ref>

For the year 2021–2022, it had 4,448 students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Student Population and Demographics |url=https://www.univstats.com/colleges/the-southern-baptist-theological-seminary/student-population/ |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=Univstats |language=en-US}}</ref>