A Leftward Shift at SEBTS? No!, says Akin

Story put out today by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina's Biblical Recorder

"March 4 at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C., Danny Akin [of]...Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary...addressed rumors of an alleged leftward shift...during the Wednesday night gathering"

"Steve Scoggins, president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and pastor of First Baptist Hendersonville, told the Biblical Recorder that [there are] online 'rumors and false statements' about SEBTS....Scoggins said attendees who participated in the Q&A session with Akin came away 'certain that things are strong and conservative in the Southern Baptist Convention and in our seminaries'."

"Akin talked about his decision to hire Karen Swallow Prior, an English professor currently teaching at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Prior has faced criticism for an article she wrote in 2015 that discouraged 'inflammatory rhetoric' in discussions about abortion....Akin said Prior’s comments had been intentionally taken out of context by many of her critics. 'People who do things like that are liars.' he said."

"Akin said the push for more diversity is part of an effort to 'build a seminary on earth that looks like the church in heaven'....[he] closed with a sermon from Revelation 5. He said that...Christians can sum up the future with the simple Sunday School song: 'He’s got the whole world in His hands'."