This semester a couple recent M.Div. graduates from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary entered Trinity’s Ph.D. historical theology program: Owen Strachan (blog) and Mark Rogers (blog). Jenni and I have enjoyed getting to know them and their families, and I’ve already learned a bit more about Southern Seminary. This week I learned that a history of Southern Seminary is available online at Southern’s “Archives and Special Collections.”

“The History of the SBTS“ efficiently organizes over 100 pages worth of fresh, concise, readable, popular, official, fascinating history.

Owen Strachan, who wrote nearly all of the site’s content, worked on this project nonstop for a year and a half, reading books, articles, and dissertations on Southern’s history (cf. the project staff).

“The History of the SBTS” is divided into seven parts:

1. story: This traces Southern’s history from its founding (1859–78) to its conservative resurgence (1993–present).
2. presidents: Nine presidents have served at Southern since 1859: Boyce, Broadus, Whitsitt, Mullins, Sampey, Fuller, McCall, Honeycutt, and Mohler.
3. professors: Influential professors include Robertson, Beasley-Murray, George, and Dockery.
4. beliefs: Southern’s faculty teaches in accordance with two confessions: The Abstract of Principles and The Baptist Faith and Message.
5. buildings: Southern’s campus is historic and stately. Its current campus is beautiful, especially with the combination of classy, red-brick buildings, large trees, green grass, and a sunny, blue sky. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed spending a couple days on campus for our third anniversary last July! Here’s a picture we took of the library:
   
   
6. lore: Interesting “facts and curiosities” contribute to Southern’s body of tradition.
7. sources: A couple bibliographies are helpful for further study: books & dissertations and articles & other stuff.