A charge that Southern Baptist Theological Seminary here harbors "modernist" faculty members who "question the word of God" was emphatically denied today by Dr. W. O. Carver, professor emeritus of the institution.

      The Rev. Oscar Gibson, Louisville, pastor of the 18th Street Baptist Church, made the accusation before the Southern Baptist Convention, which is now meeting in Oklahoma City.

      Mr. Gibson did not appear at an advertised night session of the convention to "expose five modernists."

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      Dr. Carver said Mr. Gibson "wanted notoriety" to be gained from making such a statement.

      "Modernism is a blanket term similar to Communionism," Dr. Carver said. "You use such an epithet against someone you don't like."

      Dr. Ellis A. Fuller, president of the seminary, and many others of its faculty are attending the convention. The senior active professor in Louisville, Dr. J. B. Weatherspooon, declined to comment on Mr. Gibson's charge.

      "There is no faculty member at the seminary who questions the word of God," Dr. Carver declared. "There was an instructor who - according to some students' reports - said he didn't believe in the virgin birth of Christ. But he denied that he said an such thing. That is the only possible thing I know of that Mr. Gibson might have based his remarks on.

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      "There are no modernists on the seminary faculty."

      Dr. Carver pointed out that the institution is controlled by a board of trustees, and professors are responsible to them, and not "directly to a mass convention."

      He added: "Such mass conventions are not competent to control the details of an institution. If anyone thinks that a professor is violating his contract, the proper course is to prefer charges before the board of trustees."

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      Meanwhile, a committee on theological education at the Oklahoma City gathering recommended establishment of two new seminaries - one in the East and one in the West. Location of them would be left to discretion of a new committee.

      Opening address of the 92nd annual meeting was by Dr. Joseph H. Dawson, Washington, who blasted the "Catholic hierarchy" as a "vast totalitarian power attempting to control our education, politics and our foreign policy."

      Attendance at the convention was estimated at about 8,000.

===================== [The Louisville Times, May 19, 1949, p. 1. Transcribed by Jim Duvall. Document provided by Ben Stratton.]

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