Is Calvinism outside of the Baptist Faith and Message? Clearly, it is not. The Baptist Faith and Message comes from a line of Calvinist confessions, rooted in the Second London Baptist Confession and the Westminster Confession of Faith. This is our theological history as Southern Baptists. Our confession has been modified over the years to allow views that don’t fit strictly within the Reformed tradition, but it was certainly never modified to exclude Calvinists.

Dr. Kevin McFadden has been an  Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek at Louisiana College. He is one of the professors whose contract was not renewed – the action that sent Louisiana College into the headlines. You can read his biography here. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

I appreciate both the wisdom and the spirit of this article. 

How should Southern Baptists approach disagreements in theology? What should we do when we disagree about what the Bible says about God? My goal in this article is to help Southern Baptists think productively about the Calvinism controversy and other theological controversies in the Southern Baptist Convention. Full disclosure: I am one of three professors who were recently told that their contracts would not be renewed at Louisiana College next year. None of us were given reasons for our non-renewals, but our non-renewals coincided with several public statements against Calvinism from the president of the college. Almost everyone, including the local paper, has connected the dots.

I think this Calvinism controversy was handled poorly by the leadership of Louisiana College and the leadership of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. But my goal is not to dwell on the past. My goal is to help Baptists think about how these things should be handled in the future. And I’m not just talking about Calvinism, because Calvinism will not be the last theological controversy that Southern Baptists face. How then should we approach our theological differences?

First, we need to recognize that some doctrines are more important than other doctrines. All Christians recognize this to some extent. For example, the doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ, the second coming, is much more important than the question of whether Christ will return before or after the tribulation. If you deny the second coming of Christ, it calls into question whether you are a Christian. But Christians have always disagreed about the exact timing of Christ’s return. So which doctrines are more important and which are less important?

One way to think about this issue is to distinguish between three levels of doctrines. First level doctrines include those a person has to believe in order to be a Christian. These include things like the inspiration of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the humanity of Christ, the sacrificial death of Christ for our sins, and his bodily resurrection. Now I am not saying that every Christian understands these doctrines fully. But if a person rejects these doctrines, can they really be a Christian in any historic sense?

Second level doctrines include those which are important because they promote the health of the church. These doctrines include those which separate denominations, like believer’s baptism or congregational church government. One does not need to be a Baptist to be a Christian, but these doctrines are important enough to the health of the church that Protestants have been willing to divide over them.

Third level doctrines include those which are matters of indifference. These include doctrines like the pre-tribulational rapture of the church, or the question of whether Sunday has become the new Sabbath. Christians simply disagree about many matters of indifference in the Bible.

Now my distinction between three levels of doctrine will not solve all of our disagreements. But it will at least help us think productively about our disagreements. Not every disagreement over doctrine is important. Some are more important than others.

Second, we need to hold to our confession, the Baptist Faith and Message. The Baptist Faith and Message was crafted in part to help us deal with our disagreements. It is an umbrella document under which many different people can work together to cooperate in supporting missions and education. It explains which doctrines are important for us to agree upon, but it allows disagreement on other doctrines that are not as important….

Third, we need to be people of integrity. The Baptist Faith and Message is not enough. It is important. But for our confession to work, we need people of integrity to uphold it. This means that professors in colleges and seminaries should only sign a confession if they believe it and plan to teach in accordance with it. It also means that administrators in colleges and seminaries should enforce policies that are in line with the confession they claim to uphold….

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