Columbia Theological Seminary Bulletin, 12, number 3, October 1919

Vol. XII OCTOBER. 1919 No. Ill

BULLETIN

COLUMBIA

THEOLOGICAL

SEMINARY

COLUMBIA, S. C.

Published Quarterly by the Board of Directors of the Theological
Seminary of the Synods of South Carolina. Georgia, Alabama
and Florida of the Presbyterian Church in the United States

Entered as Second-Class Matter July 11, 1908, at the Postoffice at Columb ia
South Carolina. Under the Act of July 16. 1894)

FACULTY

THORNTON WHALING, D. D., LL. D.

PRESIDENT OF THE SEMINARY,
PROFESSOR OF DIDACTIC AND POLEMIC THEOLOGY.

WILLIAM M. McPHEETERS, D. D., LL. D.,
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS.

HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE, Ph. D., D. D., LL. I).,

PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND EXEGESIS.

RICHARD C. REED, D. D., LL. D.,

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND CHURCH

POLITY.

JAMES 0. REAVIS, D. D., LL. D.,

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH BIBLE AND HOMILETICS.

EDGAR D. KERR, A. M., B. D.,

INSTRUCTOR IN HEBREW AND GREEK.

W. H. MILLS, A. B., D. D.,
INSTRUCTOR IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY AND WORK OF COUNTRY

PASTOR.

GEORGE S. FULBRIGHT, A. B.,

INSTRUCTOR IN ELOCUTION.

SMYTH LECTURERS.

A. H. McKiNNEY, D. D., LL. D., 1919-1920.

W. H. Roberts, D. D., LL. D., 192u-1921.

THE COLUMBIA SEMINARY AND THE SOUTH-
WESTERN SYNODS.

The following letter has been addressed to the Synods
of Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee by the President
of the Columbia Theological Seminary, in the interest of
securing the co-operation and support of those Synods in
the ownership and administration of the Columbia Theo-
logical Seminary. The question of the future attitude of
those Synods to the whole matter of theological education
is to be canvassed at their approaching meetings. The
Synod of Tennessee meets at Brownsville on October 14th
and the Synods of Mississippi and Louisiana meet on
November 18th at Columbus and Baton Rouge, respec-
tively.
To the Synods of Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee :

Dear Brethren : By appointment of the Board of
Directors of the Columbia Theological Seminary and with
the approval of all of the controlling Synods now owning
and administering the Columbia Theological Seminary, I
have been appointed as their representative to present to
you an overture to the following effect :

The offer is hereby made to the Synods of Mississippi,
Louisiana and Tennessee to admit them to the same rights
of ownership and control in the Columbia Theological
Seminary as those now enjoyed by the present controlling
Synods, and that each Synod have its representation on
the Board of Directors, determined on the basis of pro-
portionate per capita Church membership. If this over-
ture be accepted, the Board of Directors and the present
controlling Synods offer to secure an amendment to the
Charter and to the Plan of Government, which will give
legal and constitutional authority to this offer, and admit
the Synods overtured to the rights and privileges which
are hereby offered.

Praying for a full and candid consideration of this
overture, I am,

Most cordially yours,

(Signed) Thornton Whaling,
President, Columbia Theological Seminary.

Columbia, S. C.

An argument supporting this proposition was published
in the Columbia Seminary Bulletin for January, 1919, and
republished in July, 1919. The reason for this publica-
tion was the desire that the light of full publicity should
be turned on the whole matter of future relations of these
Synods to theological education. The Synods overtured
ought to have every opportunity to know exactly what is
proposed to them; the ministers and elders should fully
canvass the plan presented and the issues involved, where
they are so momentous in their influence on the entire
future of the Church, as represented by these bodies. It
is the purpose, also, of this publication that the Synods of
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama should be
fully informed of the plans which are in progress. No
one can possibly claim that the fullest information has not
been widely given the Columbia Seminary's overture to
the Southwestern Synods.

The reasons given are reinforced by the fact that the
Alabama Synod has declared itself satisfied with its
present relationship with Columbia Seminary. That
Synod was of the opinion that the relationship which had
existed for nearly a century with the Columbia Seminary
did not need revision and that the Synod's educational
status was already complicated enough, without introduc-
ing additional factors into its complexity. That Synod
not only shares in the ownership and control of Columbia
Seminary, but also of the University at Clarksville, and,
in addition, owns and administers the Presbyterian Col-
lege of Alabama, the Orphanage at Talladega, and owns
The Isbell Female College. That Synod is now engaged
in an earnest effort to place its own schools wnon a stable

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and satisfactory foundation and could not well afford, at
present, to adopt still another school for patronage and
support.

The financial status of the Columbia Seminary is rein-
forced by the fact that the Synod of South Carolina is
about to engage in a million dollar campaign for the
Columbia Seminary, the Presbyterian College of South
Carolina and Chicora College for Women, of which the
Seminary will have a generous share. In addition, the
Synod of Georgia has authorized a raising of a minimum
sum of $35,000 for the endowment of the Goulding Pro-
fessorship and a Field Secretary, whose success in this
kind of work has already been proven, will start in this
work at an early date. Alabama also has authorized the
raising of $150,C00 by campaign, for the Presbyterian
College of Alabama and the Columbia Seminary. So that
the financial resources of the institution are to be enlarged
in the immediate future, making possible still more
effective and progressive work.

THE STANDARDIZATION OF THE THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARIES.

The Faculty and the Board of Directors of the Columbia
Theological Seminary have taken the initiative in a
earnest desire to secure the standardization of oui
Theological Seminaries in reference to their curriculum,
their entrance requirements, the powers of administration
possessed by the Faculty, the rights of Presbyteries in
determining the courses of study, and, in fact, the whole
relation of the Theological Seminaries to the life of the
Church. The most important factor, perhaps, in eccle-
siastical work today is the Theological Seminaries, and
yet they have no recognized status in the constitution of
the Church. It is believed that the other Theological
Seminaries will be glad to share in this movement,
inspired by the same reasons and virtually the same expe-
riences that have led the Columbia Theological Seminary
authorities to inaugurate this effort. The overture is as
follows :

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"The Faculty and Board of Directors of the Columbia
Theological Seminary hereby respectfully overtures the
General Assembly, in session at New Orleans, La., May
15th, 1919, requesting that the Assembly be pleased to
appoint an Ad-interim Committee, consisting of one pro-
fessor and one director from each of our Theological Sem-
inaries, to consider and report to the succeeding General
Assembly, meeting in May, 1920 :

"First As to the propriety of inserting a new chapter
in the Book of Church Order, defining the ecclesiastical
status of the Theological Seminaries, with the full state-
ment of the power of control possessed by the General
Assembly, the curriculum which ought to be taught, the
degree of control possessed by the Seminary over the
candidates, and all other questions which may seem to the
General Assembly and to the life of the Church, and to
prepare such chapter, if in its judgment there be suffi-
cient need for it, reporting to the next succeeding
Assembly.

"Second To consider the question of appointing a Per-
manent Committee on Theological Education, whose duty
it should be to supervise the interest of the Church in this
great field, seeking to develop Theological Scholarship
and to promote, in a wise and efficient way, the produc-
tion of books of Theological and Biblical Scholarship,
meeting the needs and issues of our own day in a satis-
factory and conclusive way.

"Third To consider and report to the General Assem-
bly upon any other questions relative to Theological Semi-
naries and Theological Education, and the interest of the
Church therein, which it may seem wise to this Ad-interim
Committee to incorporate in its report.

"W. J. McKay,
President of Board of Directors.
"Hugh R. Murchison,

Secretary."

The Assembly very wisely, in view of the momentous
issues involved, put this overture on the docket for one
year, and next referred it to the other Theological Semi-

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naries for their information and also for such action as
each Seminary may think wise in the premises. The
Assembly's action was as follows :

"We recommend that this overture be placed on the
docket for consideration by the General Assembly for
1920, and that copies of said overture be sent by the
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to the Faculty and
Board of Trustees of each of our Theological Seminaries,
to wit: Austin, Columbia, Louisville and Union, for their
information."

The policy of the Columbia Theological Seminary is
doubtless that of all of the other Seminaries, and may be
stated somewhat as follows:

First This Seminary desires to uphold the highest
standards of ministerial preparation and training and
seeks to have its students graduates from some reputable
college with the Bachelor's degree. In order to reinforce
this policy, the Seminary declines to confer the degree of
Bachelor of Divinity upon any one who has not taken the
preceding academic degree. In some instances, men have
completed well the entire Seminary curriculum, but as
they did not have a collegiate degree, they were declined
the diploma carrying the B. D. degree with it.

Second In every case, a student entering the Seminary
is required to have the permission of Presbytery to attend
the Seminary and its approval of the courses of study pur-
sued by him. In some instances the Presbytery follows
the provision of the Constitution as to "extraordinary
cases," having approved of their candidates studying in
special courses in English, leading to diploma without
degree. Such students have been admitted to all of the
Theological Seminaries during the entire history of our
Church.

Third All of the Seminaries, by special arrangements
with the Southwestern Presbyterian University, agreed
to admit students of said institution to the same status in
the Theological Seminaries that they had at that Univer-
sity. This was done upon the ground that the Divinity
School had been closed and the students could not carry
out the plans formed, for a joint academic and theological

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study. The several Theological Seminaries had arranged
with adjacent colleges and universities, which made this
arrangement possible: Union Seminary with Richmond
College, Kentucky Seminary with the University of Louis-
ville, and the Columbia Seminary with the University of
South Carolina. But these students, of course, were
required to have the approval of Presbytery before enter-
ing upon the study at the Seminary under this arrange-
ment.

FourthIn no case has a student from a denomina-
tional college been allowed to enter the Columbia Theo-
logical Seminary before graduation, except with the
approval of the college from which he comes and the
Presbytery under which he is a candidate. This has been
done in only three or four instances and it is not encour-
aged. This does not apply to students from the South-
western University, where there is a special arrangement,
entered into by all of the Theological Seminaries.

Fifth It is the settled desire and policy of the Faculty
and Board of Directors of the Columbia Theological Sem-
inary, to reduce the number of extraordinary cases as far
as possible, and to require the full curriculum, including
Greek and Hebrew and all other studies of students
attending the institution ; and it is the hope that through
this overture to have the General Assembly stamp its
approval in its organic law by legislation which will
accomplish this end, and secure from the Presbyteries
more careful and thoroughly considerate action before
approving special courses of study for its candidates. It
is believed that all of the other Seminaries are heartily in
sympathy with this plan and, therefore, there is a most
earnest hope that something practical and effective will
result from this overture.

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IN MEMORIAM.

Robert Alexander Webb.

One of the most honored alumni of the Columbia Theo-
logical Seminary was the distinguished Robert Alexander
Webb, D. D., LL. D., who graduated at this institution in
1880. He was an honored and successful pastor in South
Carolina of the famous Bethel Church in York county,
which gives name to Bethel Presbytery, and of the West-
minster Church at Charleston, S. C. He then entered
upon his life work as professor of Systematic Theology,
first at the Southwestern University for sixteen years,
from 1892-1908, and then in the Kentucky Presbyterian
Theological Seminary at Louisville, from 1908-1919.
Thus for twenty-seven years Dr. Webb was the accom-
plished, inspiring and effective teacher of the greatest of
all the sciences in two of our Theological Seminaries.
His name and memory are cherished with great affection
in this Seminary, where for three years he was a student
and in which he served as Smyth Lecturer in 1914-15.
The subject of his lectures was, "The Doctrine of Chris-
tian Hope," and it was a distinct contribution to the litera-
ture of theology in this field, and deserves more adequate
publicity and wider circulation. His book entitled,
"Theology of Infant Salvation," covers a wide field in a
most able and convincing manner. It is unfortunate
that the title conceals the value of its contents from the
general reader, for the book deserves to be a theological
and religious classic.

As a man, Dr. Webb was possessed of a brilliant intel-
lect, which combined in rare degree rational and imagina-
tive factors. His most thoroughly logical and philosoph-
ical discussions were lighted up with the blaze of facile
and ever-active imagination and fancy, and if he had
written poetry or indulged in rapsodies, the numbers
would have moved under the impulse of linked argumen-
tation. His emotions were dynamic and easily aroused
and the current of profound feeling ran like the Missis-
sippi through all of his living and thinking. He was

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moral and conscientious by nature and dictates of obliga-
tion were to him final. The play of humor radiated in
his countenance and enlivened most delightfully his inter-
course with others.

As a friend, Dr. Webb was tender, forbearing, frank,
genial and delightfully communicative. There was, how-
ever, a beautiful reserve, which kept him from becoming
effusive. He loved his friends with an intense devotion
and his loyalty to them was ready to bear almost any
strain, even telling them frankly of their mistakes and
foibles. His students were attached to him with an
admiration and affection, which was based in large
measure on great love which he cherished for them. No
one who ever sat in faculty with him could forget how
earnest he was as to the real interest of his students ; how
forbearing and long-suffering he was with their foibles
and failures and how skillfully he could plead for even the
most hardened offender to have another chance.

As a Christian, Dr. Webb was singularly consecrated.
While incapable of cant or pretense, the super-natural
had become ingrained into the very texture of his mental
habitudes, so that by inner impulse he lived "in the
"Heavenlies." If any man in our day walked with God
like Enoch, Dr. Webb was the man. He had profound
experience of sin and of grace and all forms of Pharisa-
isms was entirely foreign to his religious convictions. An
undisguised humility and modesty, a beautiful meekliness
and lowliness of spirit adorned his character with a charm
that made every sensitive soul love and admire him.

As a theologian, Dr. Webb was orthodox, Biblical, con-
fessional, and thoroughly rational in the true sense of the
word. He w T as a sound and convinced Calvinist, upon the
basis of Scriptures and reason alike. It is a great pity
that he did not publish more and it is hoped that his lec-
tures to theological students have been left in such shape
that a System of Theology can be digested from them.
After twenty-seven years of teaching no man in the his-
tory of the Church was better prepared to publish such
volumes. When requested by his friends and brethren
to publish his lectures, his reply exhibited his real humil-

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ity ; he said if he were to publish such a book that nobody
would read it, but he was much mistaken in this estimate.

As an ecclesiastic, Dr. Webb was gifted and influential,
but for some years, for various reasons, he had retired
from active effort to influence the ecclesiastical life of the
Church, but he was a thorough believer in the distinctive
mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States,
and an advocate of its continued separate existence. He
made no effort to conceal his views from those who had
the right to know them.

The Seminary which he attended, the Synod of which
he was a member, the Church of which he was minister, is
bereaved in his transfer from the services of the Church
below to the higher services of the Church Triumphant
and Heavenly.

His memory and services are cherished with deep affec-
tion at this Seminary, to whose interests he was so devoted
and loyal.

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