A History of the Perkins School of Theology - Hardcover

Grimes, Lewis Howard; Loyd, Roger

9780870743467: A History of the Perkins School of Theology

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0870743465 ISBN 13: 9780870743467

Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press,U.S., 1993

Since its founding in 1915, Southern Methodist University has had a school of theology. As a seminary in a university, the school has existed in a creative tension between academy and church; Grimes narrates the school's history from his point of view as one committed both to church and to academy, having been a leader in the field of Christian education in both.
Grimes ponders the role of the theological faculty in leading - or not leading - the university during its times of crisis and change. Thus, the history of the school of theology is set within the larger history of the university's challenges and changes. Though a history of SMU's early years exists, the present volume provides a narrative of that history not available elsewhere in the same detail.
The school of theology's history falls into two main periods: before and after its being named the Perkins School of Theology in 1945 following a generous benefaction by the J. J. Perkins family of Wichita Falls, Texas, which made possible the construction of its splendid quadrangle of buildings. Further dividing the school's history into the periods of service of the seven deans (Edwin Mouzon, Hoyt Dobbs, Paul B. Kern, Eugene B. Hawk, Merrimon Cuninggim, Joseph D. Quillian, James E. Kirby) and the long-term acting dean (James Kilgore), Grimes traces the development of the faculty, the library, and the curricula and describes the important social and ecclesiastical issues the school faced over the years. Notable issues explored in some depth include the enrollment of the first African-American students in the B.D. degree program, the controversies over the teaching of higher criticism of the Bible, the coming to the faculty of Albert C. Outler in 1951 from Yale and the rebuilding of the faculty by Cuninggim, and (more recently) the development of the intern program and the increasing presence of women and ethnic minorities among the faculty and student body.

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