Former Ethics Professor Makes Amazing Confession

                                                                                                                          Vol. XI, No. 7, August 1998

Henlee Barnette, professor emeritus of Christian ethics at Southern Seminary, admitted in the December 16, 1997 edition of the Western Recorder that he signed the Abstract of Principles in order to teach at Southern Seminary, even though he did not believe all of the articles which it contains. He states, "Before I joined the faculty in 1951, I informed the administration that I could not accept some of the theological statements in the Abstract. For example, I could not in good conscience accept the article on election." This crisis of conscience did not, however, keep him from signing the document in order to secure a faculty position.

Barnette takes exception to those who find fault with seminary professors who sign documents which they do not believe. He declares, "Some have implied that those of us who signed [the Abstract] before the seminary was taken over by the fundamentalists but did not accept all the principles in toto were hypocritical. This is a false charge."

The charter of the seminary requires that every professor will teach "in accordance with and not contrary to" the Abstract. Every professor in the history of the school has signed his or her name to that statement. Citing examples of other teachers whom he claims also signed the Abstract without believing it (including that late champion of final apostasy, Dale Moody), Barnette tries to justify his duplicity by revealing that former seminary administrations encouraged such practice.

"The acting president of the seminary assured me," Barnette states, "that the Abstract of Principles was: 1. an abstract and not a complete theological statement; 2. a statement of principles and not a set of rules; and 3. the result of a compromise by those who put it together." As an example of such compromise, he contends that some founders of the seminary insisted that the term "authoritative" be used instead of "infallible" as a description of Scripture.

Evidently, this assurance was taken as a license by Barnette and some of his colleagues to sign a document which they did not fully believe. The ethics professor sees no moral dilemma in his actions. On the contrary, he proudly declares that the result of his actions was "a fruitful teaching ministry for more than a quarter of a century."

The current administration of Southern Seminary grants no such indulgences. Faculty members are now required to sign the Abstract of Principles and mean it. [Reprinted from The Founders Journal, Spring 1998, pp 34-5.]

[Editorial Comment: Barnette’s refutation of the label “hypocrite” seems to be based upon the fact that Dr. Dale Moody was no more truthful than he, and that the acting seminary president was adroit at redefining words. Two wrongs do not make a right, and three hypocrites do not make an honest man. TCP]