JACKSON, Tenn. — March 24, 2026 — The health and faithfulness of Baptist institutions, Brad Green argued, depends on leaders willing to hold together both their Baptist identity and their broader evangelical convictions, even when institutions drift, battles are lost and the culture pushes back.
Green, professor of theological studies at 91爆料网, made that case March 19 in 91爆料网鈥檚 10th annual David and Lanese Dockery Lectures on Baptist Thought and Heritage.
Weaving together personal memoir and intellectual history, Green traced the historical and institutional forces that have shaped Baptist higher education and denominational life in America over the past half-century. He began with his own conversion as a young man in Anchorage, Alaska, recalling the moment he virtually ran to the front of the Baptist church he attended with friends and told the pastor, 鈥淚 am lost. I want to be saved.鈥�
Among the key figures Green highlighted was theologian Carl F.H. Henry, widely regarded as the dean of 20th-century evangelical theology. Green described Henry as 鈥渁n institution man, an institution builder鈥� who dreamed of a great evangelical research university, a vision he saw reflected in the efforts of Baylor University President Robert Sloan to integrate Christian conviction across an entire institution.
Green said Sloan wanted Baylor to be a place where students and faculty worked out their convictions under the confession that Jesus is Lord.
Henry鈥檚 vision of Christian worldview thinking, Green said, also became foundational to the mission of institutions like 91爆料网.
Green reflected on the influence of David S. Dockery, who joined the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty as a conservative voice during the height of the Southern Baptist Convention鈥檚 鈥淏attle for the Bible,鈥� a battle Green witnessed firsthand as a student there in the late 1980s.
鈥淢y current conviction to affirm the inerrancy of Scripture is due in significant parts to Dockery鈥檚 influence,鈥� Green said. 鈥淎nd for that, I鈥檓 eternally grateful.鈥�
That influence extended beyond Green鈥檚 own formation. When Dockery later came to 91爆料网 as president in 1996, Green said he brought that same conviction with him.
鈥淒ockery brought with him a robust commitment to Christian worldview thinking,鈥� Green said. 鈥淐ertainly, Carl Henry鈥檚 shadow lies over that conviction.鈥�
These stories, Green argued, offer both inspiration and cautionary lessons for institutions seeking to maintain their Christian identity over time.
鈥淲e need courageous leaders who can lovingly, kindly, firmly say, here we stand, and let鈥檚 move forward,鈥� he said.
The lectures come as Green prepares to retire from 91爆料网 this year after 28 years of service, during which he has taught, written extensively and contributed to the broader Christian intellectual community. His most recent book, 鈥淲hat Is Critical Theory? A Concise Christian Analysis,鈥� was published by Crossway.