As Dr. Russell Fuller spoke against the promotion of a professor named Matthew J. Hall, Al Mohler seethed. Hall, a darling of progressive evangelicals, was an up-and-coming academic at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). Fuller was a Hebrew professor with two decades of experience at SBTS. Being a full professor, it was Dr. Fuller’s responsibility to speak for or against the promotion of assistant and associate professors. Fuller was against Matthew Hall’s promotion because he believed that Hall espoused Critical Race Theory. When he voiced his concerns with Hall to his fellow faculty members, Al Mohler was not impressed.
“Russell, you’re an idiot,” Mohler screamed.
These were the very public words Al Mohler spoke to a full professor of Hebrew who had been in his employ at SBTS for twenty years. Within the span of roughly one year, Fuller and two other professors who had voiced concerns about Matthew Hall were fired from SBTS. Hall is currently SBTS’ provost and senior vice president for academic administration. Upon his firing, Fuller was offered salary and insurance benefits as severance. All he had to do to receive this severance, after working for SBTS for twenty years, was sign an agreement promising never to disparage SBTS. He didn’t sign it.
For years the blog has been critical of the theological downgrade in the Southern Baptist Convention. Some people won’t even read what we read here because of how harsh we come across. Well, we didn’t fire Russell Fuller and ask him to sign an NDA promising not to say anything bad about us.
Al Mohler did.
Your President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Al Mohler.
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use.
