Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007300094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOUISVILLE, KY. LENGTH: Medium
About half the seminary's full-time teachers got together Saturday to discuss their options, said Bill Leonard, professor of church history and president of Southern's Faculty Association.
He said the teachers talked about the possibility of leaving if the conservatives who control the seminary's board of trustees threaten the seminary's academic freedom.
One option has been promoted by Glenn Hinson, a professor of church history. He proposes that moderate Southern Baptists consider creating a new seminary on the vacant campus of Tift College in Forsyth, Ga., about 65 miles south of Atlanta.
Hinson and several other professors declined to comment about discussions at the retreat, saying they had agreed to let any statements come through Leonard.
Faculty fears were heightened this spring when a new conservative majority asserted itself on the board of trustees and took action against Hinson and Paul Simmons, professor of Christian ethics.
The board passed a resolution criticizing Hinson for statements critical of the denomination's conservative leaders. Simmons came under fire for his public stance favoring abortion rights. The trustees approved a resolution that said Simmons could be fired for any future abortion-rights activities.
Leonard said the tensions at Southern mirror those of the Southern Baptist Convention. The 14.9-million member denomination has been dominated since 1979 by conservatives who believe the Bible is "inerrant" - entirely accurate historically as well as theologically.
by CNB