The Role Of The Conservative Resurgence In The Southern Baptist Convention

The Conservative Resurgence was a struggle for power in the Southern Baptist Convention over the grounds of theological differences. The first controversy that propelled the Conservative Resurgence was the Elliott Controversy. This issue centered around the interpretation of Scripture and an individual is to approach interpreting Scripture. Ralph H. Elliott published a book, known as The Message of Genesis in 1961, where he approached interpreting Scripture through a historical-critical method, which separated the message of the Bible from the literal history it is from. Elliot also defined revelation to be “God disclosing himself in mighty acts of salvation” (Sutton 2000, 7). Elliott justified illiteracy and poor grammar of someone who presents
In the Genesis and Exodus volume of the commentary, an issue of hermeneutics was presented. One of the focal points was the interpretation of Genesis 22. G. Henton Davies, the author of the Genesis commentary, wrote that God did not order Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Davies’s analysis of Genesis 22 was concluded to be psychoanalytical eisegesis (Sutton 2000, 12). Under the scrutiny of the Southern Baptists, his ability to argue for his case despite Scripture blatantly stating that God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac prove to be difficult for him. Following this issue, a group of Southern Baptist pastors assembled together in Denver to discuss the affirmation of the Bible. Through this convention, doctrinal positions were taken for central truths of Scripture in defense against rising liberalism. Gwin Turner halted the distribution of the Genesis-Exodus commentary, demanding that it be rewritten from a conservative standpoint. Along with this motion, another motion was made that all seminaries have faculty sign a statement that stated God’s Word to be infallible, inerrant, and
In this paper Patterson cited seven writers addressing several issues. Patterson for cited Temp Sparkman on the issue of teaching universalism and the unethical act of signing a statement of faith despite not believing in it. Patterson also quoted C. W. Christian from his book Shaping Your Faith. Patterson quoted Christian on his theology not being held to the standard of a classic Baptist view. Christian believed that no believer is bound to the Bible and that the theology believers held to was a biblical theology. The third example Patterson used was Glenn Hinson. Patterson quoted how Hinson did not believe any of the Gospel as factual. Patterson also used Fisher Humphreys, a professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Humphreys did not believe in the necessity of the cross and Christ being our substitute for death. It is also interesting to note that Patterson and Humphreys were “close friends” (Sutton 2000, 20). The fifth example Patterson used was the Convention Uniform Series Young Adult Sunday School. In this citation Patterson brought up the concern of the authority of Scripture. The author stated that Daniel did not write the book of Daniel. Patterson’s sixth example was from the Review and Expositor, which was a journal published by Southern Seminary. Patterson quoted Frank E. Eakin Jr.’s article which brought questions on the “authenticity of the plagues in the