Southern Seminary
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has been an innovator in theological education since its founding in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina as the first seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention. The school's pioneering legacy began in the visionary mind of James Petigru Boyce, the school's first president. Boyce dreamed of a school that would accept all God-called individuals for study regardless of their educational background.
Though disrupted briefly by the Civil War, Southern Seminary has continued to pursue Boyce's initial vision for nearly 150 years. Southern was one of the first seminaries in the nation to offer a Ph.D. Our department of missions is one of the oldest in the world. We were the first in the nation to offer courses in religious education. And in 1994, Southern Seminary opened the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth, the first program in the Southern Baptist Convention dedicated solely to training missionaries and evangelists.
While we look to the future with great expectation, you can rest assured that we will never forget the legacy of our storied past or our commitment to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Our Mission Statement
Under the lordship of Jesus Christ, the mission of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is to be totally committed to the Bible as the Word of God and to be a servant of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention by training, educating, and preparing ministers of the gospel for more faithful service.