“Liberalism, pure and simple“

                                                                                                          Vol. VII, No. 5, June 1994

Below are the words of Dr. K. Owen White, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church, Houston, and president of the SBC in 1964. He spoke these words in 1964 after having quoted three passages from The Message of Genesis written by Dr. Ralph Elliott who was then a professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO. The quotations from Elliott's book are reprinted [in the “Anti-Heritage” topic for June 1994]. And now, Dr. White's words:

"The book from which I have quoted is liberalism, pure and simple! ... Several great denominations in the last generation have drifted from the faith of our fathers, have lost their convictions that the Bible is authoritative and dependable, and now have little evangelistic witness. The drift came from liberalism in their seminaries and their literature.

"If the appeal is made for ‘academic freedom,' let it be said that we gladly grant any man the right to believe what he wants to – but, we do not grant him the right to believe and express views in conflict with our historic position concerning the Bible as the word of God while he is teaching in one of our schools, built and supported by Baptist funds."

Interestingly, this same Dr. Ralph Elliott was presented an award for courage at the general assembly of the "Cooperative Baptist Fellowship" in Greensboro, NC, on Friday, 6 May 1994. Elliott was fired from Midwestern Seminary for insisting on reprinting his book. Since 1962 he has served as pastor of several American Baptist churches and, before his 1991 retirement, as Vice President for Academic life and Dean of Faculty at Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/ Crozer Theological Seminary.