New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Motto	Prepare here. Serve anywhere.
Type	Southern Baptist seminary
Established	1917
Religious affiliation	Southern Baptist Convention
Endowment	$47 million
President	James K. Dew
Provost	Norris C. Grubbs
Academic staff	70 full-time; 100+ adjunct
Students	2,004 (2021-2022)
Undergraduates	792
Postgraduates	1,212
Doctoral students	480
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Campus	70+ acres - 70 buildings
Colors	Purple & Gold;
Nickname	NOBTS, School of Providence and Prayer
Website	www.nobts.edu

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary.

NOBTS offers doctoral, master, bachelor, and associate degrees. The seminary has 13 graduate centers in 5 states, 11 undergraduate centers in 5 states, and 13 on-campus research centers.^[2] The main campus is situated on over 70 acres with more than 70 buildings.^[3]

History

The Southern Baptist Convention founded the institution as the Baptist Bible Institute during the 1917 convention meeting in New Orleans.^[4] New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, or NOBTS for short, was the first institution created as a direct act of the Southern Baptist Convention. The institutes's purpose was centered on missionary work, and initially established as gateway to Central America. The Seminary started as the Baptist Bible Institute in the Garden District and later relocated to the current location in the heart of Gentilly.

On May 17, 1946, the SBC revised the institutes' charter to enable it to become a seminary, and the name was changed to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.^[5] Missions and evangelism have remained the core focus of the seminary.

In 1953, it relocated from Washington Avenue in the Garden District to a more spacious campus in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.^[6] The school purchased a 75-acre (300,000 m²) pecan orchard and transformed it into what is now a bustling campus over 100 buildings, including academic buildings, faculty and staff housing, and student housing. The new campus was designed by noted Louisiana architect A. Hays Town.

In 1995, a campus was established at the Louisiana State Penitentiary following an invitation from the prison warden, Burl Cain.^[7] The school has contributed to a significant reduction in the rate of violence in the prison.^[8]

By 2022, it had opened six campuses in prisons in different states.^[9]

For the year 2021-2022, it had 2,004 students.^[10]

Presidents

NOBTS has had nine presidents since its founding:

President	Years of Service
Byron H. Dement	1917-1928
William W. Hamilton Sr.	1928-1942
Duke Kimbrough McCall	1943-1946
Roland Q. Leavell	1946-1958
H. Leo Eddleman	1959-1970
Grady C. Cothen	1970-1974
Landrum P. Leavell II^[11]	1975-1995
Charles S. Kelley	1996–2019
James K. Dew	2019–present

Academics

Accreditation

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.^[12] The graduate programs are also accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. NOBTS is also an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music and has authorization to operate in the State of Florida.^[13]

Extension centers and hubs

Graduate Centers	Undergraduate Centers
Shreveport, Louisiana	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Clinton, Mississippi	Lafayette, Louisiana
Birmingham, Alabama	Shreveport, Louisiana
Atlanta, Georgia (Hub)	Jackson, Mississippi
Albany, Georgia	Parchman, Mississippi
Graceville, Florida	Birmingham, Alabama
Jacksonville, Florida	Albany, Georgia
Orlando, Florida (Hub)	Atlanta, Georgia
Pensacola, Florida	Buford, Georgia
Miami, Florida	Miami, Florida
Blue Mountain, Mississippi	Tampa, Florida
Montgomery, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama

Archaeology

Timnah

Between 1977 and 1979, George L. Kelm was serving as professor of Biblical Backgrounds and Archaeology at NOBTS when he and Amihai Mazar uncovered biblical Timnah,^[14] Tel Batash in the Sorek Valley of Israel.^[15]

Gezer

In 2010 a team from NOBTS launched an effort to clear a Canaanite Water Shaft at Tel Gezer in Israel in cooperation with the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority and the Israeli Antiquities Authority.^[16] Gezer was first explored by R.A. Stewart Macalister over a hundred years earlier, but he did not complete a study of the water system because a freak storm refilled the system with debris and Macalister abandoned the effort.^[17]

The NOBTS excavation has been chronicled in multiple sources including the Biblical Archaeology Review^[18] and the Baptist Press.^[19] In 2011 Dennis Cole, Dan Warner and Jim Parker from NOBTS led another team in an attempt to finish the effort.^[17]

Notable alumni

William Leon Clark, deputy chief of chaplains of the United States Air Force 1966-1968.
Grady C. Cothen, author, university and seminary president, pastor, state convention executive secretary-director of the Southern Baptist Convention
Raleigh Kirby Godsey, president of Mercer University (1979–2006)
G. Earl Guinn (1912-2004), president Louisiana College from 1951 to 1975^[20]
Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte, North Carolina
Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
J. Randall O'Brien, president of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee
Paige Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
David Platt, president of the International Mission Board (2014-); pastor-teacher of McLean Bible Church (2017-); pastor of The Church at Brook Hills (2006-2014); author of Radical
Adrian Rogers, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988); pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church (1972-2005); founder of Love Worth Finding
Anis Shorrosh (1933–2018), Palestinian Evangelical Christian author, speaker, and pastor
Argile Smith (born 1955), former J. D. Grey professor of preaching at NOBTS
Jerry Vines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1989–1990); pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville (1982-2006).

Politics

Doug Collins, member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia, chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Mike Keown, member of the Georgia House of Representatives
Stacey Pickering (born 1968), former state auditor of Mississippi
David A. Sampson, former United States deputy secretary of commerce; president and CEO of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
Laurie Schlegel, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Jeremy Lee Yancey, former Mississippi state senator and unsuccessful candidate for state treasurer of Mississippi.

Notable faculty

John T. Christian, a Baptist preacher, author and educator
Benjamin Harlan, internationally-known arranger and composer of choral and keyboard works
George L. Kelm - discovered and excavated ancient Timnah between 1977 and 1979 while at NOBTS
Clark Pinnock, Christian theologian, apologist and author. He was Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at McMaster Divinity College.
Frank Stagg, theologian

References

^ ^a ^b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-03. Retrieved 2015-01-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Online Community - Member Services". Archived from the original on 2011-08-12. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
^ NOBTS Graduate Catalog 2010-2011.
^ James Leo Garrett, Baptist Theology: A Four-century Study, Mercer University Press, USA, 2009, p. 436
^ William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 300
^ Gary D. Myers, New Orleans Seminary Celebrates One Hundred Years, baptistpress.com, USA, April 20, 2018
^ Erik Eckholm, Bible College Helps Some at Louisiana Prison Find Peace, nytimes.com, USA, October 5, 2013
^ Michael Hallett, Joshua Hays, Byron R. Johnson, Sung Joon Jang, Grant Duwe, The Angola Prison Seminary: Effects of Faith-Based Ministry on Identity Transformation, Desistance, and Rehabilitation, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2016, p. 234
^ Prison Seminaries Foundation, Find a Prison Ministry, prisonseminaries.org, USA, retrieved February 20, 2023
^ Univstats, NOBTS Student Population, univstats.com, USA, retrieved February 20, 2023
^ "NOBTS - Seminary mourns passing of President Emeritus Dr. Landrum P. Leavell II". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
^ COC Accredited Colleges & Universities Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools website
^ "Graduate Catalogue 2007-08" (PDF).
^ "Home - Tandy Institute". www.tandyinstitute.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
^ [1] ^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "רשות הטבע והגנים - Homepage". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
^ ^a ^b [2] ^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "It's Finally Being Done". The BAS Library. August 24, 2015.
^ "Baptist Press - Abraham-era water tunnel is target of dig - News with a Christian Perspective". Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2015-01-02.
^ "Early Baptists in Louisiana: G. Earl Guinn, September 27, 2007". baptistmessage.com. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.