Celebrating Christian Centenaries
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 68, No. 1 - Fall 2025
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
In the previous issue published this calendar year we noted, “2025 is a most significant year of anniversaries for Christians more broadly, for Baptists generally, and for Southern Baptists in particular.” The significance of this year of anniversaries continues to dwell upon our minds and hearts. We thus collected seven essays under the issue title “Celebrating Christian Centenaries.”
On the 17th centenary, or 1,700th anniversary, of the Council of Nicaea, which proffered the orthodox doctrines of Trinity and Christology in response to the challenges of the deceptive heresies taught by Arius (and Marcellus, Apollinaris, Nestorius, and Eunomius), we offer yet two more essays. The first, delivered during Southwestern Seminary’s chapel celebration of that important council, exegetes a single verse from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church of Colossae to demonstrate how the New Testament compelled the early church toward Nicene conclusions. The final essay of this issue borrows a passage from a new popular-level book on the first ecumenical council, which was co-written by one of our Texas College faculty, Coleman M. Ford. Beginning and ending this issue with Nicaea is an intentional reminder that orthodox doctrines about God and Christ are sine qua non in the tradition of this Seminary.
Next, three essays celebrate the 500th anniversary, or fifth centenary, of two significant events that occurred during the Protestant Reformation. In the first place, Benjamin Hawkins, a PhD graduate of Southwestern Seminary and the Editor of the official news journal of the Missouri Baptist Convention, reminds us of an important contribution by William Tyndale. In 1525, Tyndale penned the prologue to his New Testament, a book that fundamentally transformed the English-speaking world by making the Word of God available to the common person in his or her own language. Hawkins explains the translation philosophy of the martyr in his context and concludes that Tyndale’s principles still hold for us today.
In the second place, the year 1525 witnessed the advent of the Anabaptist movement on the European continent. Michael Wilkinson, a PhD graduate of as well as an academic administrator for and a systematic and historical theologian at Southwestern Seminary, explores the biblical and orthodox Christology of one leading Evangelical Anabaptist theologian, Pilgram Marpeck. Next, Mac Brunson, a PhD graduate of Southwestern Seminary and the Pastor of Valleydale Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, outlines the biblical hermeneutical principles of the Anabaptist tradition by focusing on the work of Balthasar Hübmaier. Drs. Wilkinson and Brunson manifest an appreciation for the Anabaptists that has continually characterized Southwestern Seminary from its earliest years.
Two other essays celebrate the first centenary of the confession and cooperation of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1925, as we saw in the previous issue, Southwestern Seminary helped craft the Baptist Faith and Message and helped establish the Cooperative Program that has been an important component in fueling the missionary and educational efforts of the Southern Baptist churches. In this issue, we make available for the first time the Presidential Inaugural Address of Robert E. Naylor, as introduced by our Provost and the Dean of the School of Theology, W. Madison Grace II. While Naylor became President in 1958, he clearly saw his efforts as building on the foundation laid by Benajah Harvey Carroll and Lee Rutland Scarborough, even as he reminds us of the immortality of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We also publish herein an appreciation by Anthony Wolfe for the seminal contribution to the Cooperative Program of Scarborough, the second and longest-serving President of Southwestern Seminary. Dr. Wolfe, Executive Director-Treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, argues persuasively with Scarborough that cooperation between congregations is based on a theological obligation that provides a spiritual impulse toward working with others. The editors add their voices to this chorus for cooperation sung by Scarborough and Wolfe.
Finally, this issue includes book reviews from the disciplines of biblical studies to theological studies and concludes with the Southwestern Journal of Theology Book of the Year Awards. These awards were chosen by the Faculty of our Seminary, who again congratulate the various authors for their excellent efforts to glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with their writings.
