Creed, Confession, and Cooperation
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 67, No. 2 - Spring 2025
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
2025 is a most significant year of anniversaries both for Christians more broadly, for Baptists generally, and for Southern Baptists in particular. In 325, the universal faith of all true Christians was recognized and defended against heresy and error with the adoption of the Nicene Creed. In 825, the Muslim persecution of Christians became so severe in the Middle East that large numbers of believers began fleeing into other lands. In 1225, Thomas Aquinas, the greatest scholastic theologian of the Middle Ages was born in the Italian town of Aquino. His works are today treasured not only by Roman Catholics but by serious Protestants. In 1525, William Tyndale first brought into print a fragment of the New Testament in the English language. Tyndale’s translations of the whole New Testament and of a large portion of the Old Testament became the basis upon which the Authorized Version of King James and of all subsequent English-language Bibles depend. Also in 1525, the first covenantal free church recovery of the baptism of believers occurred in the Swiss city of Zurich. After George Blaurock baptized Conrad Grebel in the house of Felix Manz, they inspired many to examine the validity of their own baptism.
Among Baptists, the year 1625 was significant, for it marked the end of the reign of King James I, who had severely persecuted the first English Baptists. During his reign, Baptist pastors like Thomas Helwys, Thomas Murton, and Leonard Busher wrote passionately for universal religious liberty. Both the Baptist movement and English democracy gathered steam in the following years as the desire for political freedom to follow Jesus as Lord became overwhelming. In 1725, John Wesley, having been ordained to the Christian ministry, began to take the matter of his own personal conversion to Christ seriously. The Evangelical Awakenings that the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, alongside George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, helped to spark brought significant growth among the Baptists. By 1825, the modern mission movement, which began among English Baptists, also became the heart passion of American Baptists. In that year, Adoniram Judson helped bring about the appointment of the first full-time missionary to the Karen people of Burma, who converted in large numbers to the Christian faith.
Among Southern Baptists, 1925 is a particularly significant year. In the first place, three important leaders affiliated with the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—Lee Rutland Scarborough, James Bruton Gambrell, and George Washington Truett—realized the culmination of their herculean fund-raising efforts to convince Southern Baptists to work together in adopting the Cooperative Program. In the second place, the Baptist Faith and Message, upon whose drafting committee Scarborough also served, was adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention. Our Seminary became the first Southern Baptist entity to adopt the new confession. That document has been revised several times, but the framework for, and basic content of, our common Southern Baptist confession of faith was established in 1925. In the third place, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which was created by Baptists in Texas in 1908 and moved to Fort Worth in 1910, became a common endeavor for all Southern Baptists in 1925. In other words, 2025 marks the centennial of the common confessional and cooperative endeavors that have shaped both the Southern Baptist Convention and Southwestern Seminary.
This second issue of the 67th volume of the Southwestern Journal of Theology, published in 2025, is entitled “Creed, Confession, and Cooperation” as a way of honoring such significant centennials in Christian life, Evangelical life, Baptist life, and Southern Baptist life. The first essay, preached by our President, David S. Dockery, during our Spring 2025 Convocation, sets the stage for the subsequent essays, all of which were commissioned to stress a truth emphasized in that important address. The second essay, written by Malcolm B. Yarnell III, Research Professor of Theology, focuses on the universal Christian faith defined by the Nicene tradition as it has been received and affirmed by Baptists generally and by Southern Baptist theologians of the Southwest more particularly. The third essay, written by Michael D. Wilkinson, Professor of Theology and Director of Professional Doctoral Studies, considers our Baptist convictions. Leading Baptists have courageously maintained these common convictions at great personal cost.
The fourth essay, written by D. Jeffrey Bingham, Research Professor of Historical Theology and Jesse Handley Chair of Biblical Theology, considers what “Evangelicalism” means as a movement that treasures the divine Word with the divine Spirit. Engaging Martin Luther and his context, Bingham’s essay reminds us of the multivalent meanings attached to the term, “Evangelical,” alongside its core commitments to Scripture and its central place in Southern Baptist theology. The fifth essay, written by W. Madison Grace, who serves us as Provost and Vice President for Academic Administration as well as Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Theology, demonstrates why cooperation is not merely a matter of convenience but an essential element of Baptist ecclesiology. Finally, Ashley L. Allen serves our Seminary as Assistant Professor of Women’s Ministries, Assistant to the President, and Managing Editor of Seminary Hill Press. Dr. Allen’s essay on “collaboration” demonstrates its biblical basis and rightly argues that we work better when we work together. Several helpful book reviews conclude this historically significant issue. We pray it will bless many pastors, students, and other scholars in the generations to come.
