William Wallace Finlator was the pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. The service begins with the procession of the faculty accompanied by organ music (00:00-07:19). President Randall Lolley gives a word of prayer, and he welcomes the newcomers to the Southeastern family (07:20-10:22). Morris Ashcraft, Dean of the Faculty, gives the Middler Award for Systematic Theology to Marian Burcky and Loral Link (10:23-11:43). Lolley gives a word of appreciation to Robert Color who endowed the Middler Award, he introduces the Spring 1985 teaching team, he gives a word of thanks to Dr. Fred Sandusky who is up for retirement, he announces the evening classes, and he announces a chapel series on the great texts from the Bible (11:44-16:56). William Wallace Finlator is introduced as the convocation speaker (16:57-18:49). Finlator begins his sermon by giving a good word about Southeastern and the history of his relationship with the seminary (18:50-22:26). Finlator asks the question “can the gospel be preached in America today,” and he quotes Jesus by saying, “What is impossible with man is possible with God (22:27-27:12). He criticizes American society and the government for not caring for the poor, and he gives five methods for sharing the gospel with Americans: the sheep’s clothing method, the future shock method, the more to follow method, the honest slant method, and the extra-curricular method (27:13-51:38). Finlator closes by stating that the gospel can be shared in America hardly by hopefully (51:39-54:51). The service ends with a word of prayer (54:52-55:32).
Dr. Brevard S. Childs was a leading Old Testament scholar during the 20th century and Professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. The service begins with organ music (00:00-06:18). President Randall Lolley welcomes all the guests to the Spring Lectures, he delivers the Scripture reading from Isaiah 45:5-8, and he gives a word of prayer (06:19-08:54). Brevard S. Childs is introduced as the Spring Lecturer (08:55-11:29). The title of Childs’ lecture is "Reading the Old Testament As Religious Literature.” He begins his lecture by addressing the influence of the traditional Protestant and historical-critical approaches in field of biblical studies, and he recognizes the shifting landscape of the field of biblical studies (11:30-21:49). Childs main message is about the evolution of the biblical text as a method of interpretation, and he examines three stories from the Hebrew Scriptures to show that the biblical text should be interpreted canonically in opposition to pagan religious practices (21:50-56:50). Lolley concludes the lecture with a word of prayer (56:51-57:27). The service ends with organ music (57:28-58:53).
Audio quality becomes poor near the end of the recording. Dr. Brevard S. Childs was a leading Old Testament scholar during the 20th century and Professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. The service begins with organ music (00:00-05:05). The speaker gives a word of prayer (05:06-05:45). Brevard S. Childs is introduced as the Spring Lecturer (05:46-09:00). The title of Child’s lecture is the question "Is Biblical Theology Still Possible?" First, Childs addresses the side-lining of biblical theology for historical, philosophical, and dogmatic concerns and evaluation of the Scriptures (09:01-33:54). Second, Childs addresses two new approaches in using the Bible theologically, a sociological model and a philosophical model, and he argues that all these models fail because the Bible shapes the church, not the other way around (33:55-44:44). Finally, Childs admits that Biblical theology is not possible at the present time, but he has hope for the future that Biblical theology can once again be profitable through grassroots faithfulness of the church (44:45-54:55). The speaker gives a benediction at the end of the lecture (54:56-55:35). The service ends with organ music (55:36-59:54).
This collection contains over 3,100 audio recordings of chapel messages and special events related to SEBTS administrators, faculty, and students. These materials date from 1958 to 2008 and were produced by SEBTS. The collection also contains some text files with information related to these events.