anyone know anything about the GARB/Cedarville thing?

I believe I recall Cedarville affiliating with the Onio Southern Baptist Convention a year or two ago.

Maybe that doesn't sit well with some GARBers. Why on earth the national body would split over with whom Cedarville associates I can't say.

 

Here are some links regarding the Cedarville/GARBC/SBC thing.

What SBC leaders are saying

Cedarville press release

Cedarville Torch article

 

If NOT supported by the SBC is how one defines a school as SBC, then the only "SBC schools" are the seminaries.

Historically, a college has been considered Southern Baptist when it is supported by the Southern Baptist state convention in that state.

 

Here's another page I found relating more specifically to Cedarville's relationship with the GARBC. I think the GARBC dealt with the issue by no longer "officially" endorsing any of the colleges that it used to partner with. There's no problem with individuals or churches still recommending these colleges, but GARBC's website doesn't mention them any more.

http://www.cedarville.edu/dept/er/garbc/

 

It has always been my understanding that the SBC doesn't own, operate or support four year undergraduate colleges or universities. Various state conventions, which are independent and autonomous bodies only voluntarily affiliated with the SBC, have different levels of operating colleges and universities. Technically speaking, there are no "Southern Baptist" colleges or universities. For example, Baylor University in Texas would not be a "Southern Baptist" school, but would be a "Texas Baptist" school. Semantics perhaps, but that is my understanding of how they operate.

There have been some changes in that level of relationship in recent years. The SBC national body does operate six seminaries. Southeastern, under the leadership of Paige Patterson, has instituted an undergraduate program in Biblical studies and he plans to do the same at Southwestern. In the past, the SBC has declined to do this, but Patterson sort of took the lead in doing it at Southeastern because the enrollment dropped off during the leadership transition and the SBC bases its financial support of the school on dollars per student. The Bachelor's level program and the allowance that wives of students could take one seminary course for free per semester got the numbers up. I suspect the motivation is the same at Southwestern, where enrollment has dropped by about 2,000 students since its peak back in the late 80's.

There are several other schools in various state conventions that are "endorsed" or "recommended" like Cedarville is in Ohio, but which are not actually financially supported by a state convention. I'm not sure if Criswell College in Dallas has been "recommended" or is actually financially supported by the SBCT (the smaller, newer fundamentalist Baptist state convention in Texas).

Some changes in the affiliation status of several Baptist colleges supported by state conventions have occurred in the past decade, mainly as a result of liability issues. When the Baptist Foundation in Arizona went bankrupt, Grand Canyon University, which was owned by the state convention, severed its ties when it discovered that the legalities in its relationship to the convention meant that its assets, including campus and endowment, could be tapped to pay back the foundation's default. It still has a fraternal relationship with the convention, and is still considered a Baptist university, with all trustees required to be born again Christians and 80 percent members of ASBC affiliated churches, but the direct control no longer exists. Several other schools are following this pattern as a result.

 

Where does Boyce College (a school of SBTS) fit into that grid? Is it supported by the SBC as Southeastern College is?

 

Here is another perspective of the Cedarville/GARBC/SBC issue.

http://www.faith.edu/seminary/pulpits/04-1.htm

 

Thanks for linking the article, Greg. Very interesting.