Comments on: Book Review: Duke McCall – An Oral History

By: Trevin Wax

Trevin Wax — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:50:11 +0000

Thanks, Adam.

I haven’t read the Ellis book. I’ll be picking that up!

By: Adam Winters

Adam Winters — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:39:26 +0000

That is a pretty telling statement concerning McCall’s lack of reference to theology in his own biography. I’ll have to look for that (or the absence of that as the case may be) whenever I get around to reading this. You are astute to point out the influence of the Mullins administration in pushing the presidency towards a more administrative role apart from the faculty, even though he took responsibility for the theology classes. I think Sampey probably swung it back the other direction; He was a teacher until his dying day. Although Mullins helped popularize some negative theological trends, no one can make the argument that Mullins neglected theology per se. Interesting stuff. What’s next on your SBTS history list? I saw you picked up Mrs. Mullins’ biography of her husband. I also recommend William Ellis’ biography of Mullins, “A Man of Books and a Man of the People.”

By: Trevin Wax

Trevin Wax — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:08:20 +0000

That was probably the moment when it became clear that the president was President with a capital T. Although you could say that the direction had been set for this development from E.Y. Mullins on.

It’s a fascinating era of SBTS history that I had no knowledge of before reading McCall’s book.

By: Adam Winters

Adam Winters — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:56:00 +0000

This is one I haven’t read. I hope to get around to this one eventually. The ’58 controversy sure is an interesting moment in the seminary history. In your reading on SBTS history, do you think it was that moment when it became clear that the Seminary president no longer functioned as simply the chairman of the faculty?