Russell H. Dilday: Difference between revisions

| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|9|30}}

| birth_place = [[Amarillo, Texas]], United StatesU.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|6|21|1930|9|30}}

| death_place = [[Dallas, Texas]], U.S.

'''Russell H.Hooper Dilday''' (September 30, 1930 – June 21, 2023) was aan American pastor, educator, former seminary president, and chancellor of the [[B.H. Carroll Theological Institute]].<ref name="dead">[https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/texas/russell-dilday-baptist-statesman-dead-at-92/ Russell Dilday, Baptist statesman, dead at 92]</ref> He iswas best known for his tenure as Presidentpresident of [[Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] until his abrupt dismissal in 1994 during the [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]].

HeDilday served as Presidentpresident of [[Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] starting in 1978. During his sixteen-year tenure, the seminary annual enrollment exceeded 5000 students, making it the largest in American theological education history. In 1990, [[Christianity Today]] released a poll of its readers ranking the effectiveness of American seminaries. Southwestern Seminary was ranked number one among the top 33 graduate theological schools in the nation. <ref>''Columns: Glimpses of a Seminary Under Assault'' pp.6, 99</ref>

HeDilday was fired in March 1994 by what had become a majority conservative-leaning board of trustees in a 26-7 vote during the [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence]].<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_n10_v111/ai_14977844 "SBC seminary president fired - Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Russell H. Dilday"], ''[[Christian Century]]'', March 23, 1994. Accessed January 16, 2009.</ref> Dilday described the resurgence as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being "far more serious than a controversy".<ref>Dilday, Russell. ''Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth and Helwys, 2007. {{ISBNsfn|1-57312-469-9Dilday|2007}}.</ref> Dilday described it as being "a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics".

SinceFrom 1979, Southern Baptists had becomebecame polarized into two major groups: moderates and conservatives. Dilday has beenwas labeled a moderate, but preferred the term "constructive conservative."<ref>Dilday, Russell. ''Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth and Helwys, 2007. {{ISBNsfn|1-57312-469-9Dilday|2007}}.</ref> Reflecting the hyper-conservative majority votes of delegates at the 1979 annual meeting of the SBC, the new national organization officers and committees replaced all leaders of Southern Baptist agencies with presumably more conservative people (often dubbed "fundamentalists" by dissenters) who would carry out the takeover agenda.<ref name="WayWeWere">Humphreys, Fisher. ''The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All''. Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2002. {{ISBN|1-57312-376-5}}. The era of conservative resurgence was accompanied by erosion of more traditional Baptist members (see, ''e.g.'', [[G. Avery Lee]]).</ref>

In August 1994, Dilday was hired by [[Baylor University]] to serve as a professor of [[homiletics]] at the [[George W. Truett Theological Seminary]] and to be a special assistant to Baylor President [[Herbert H. Reynolds|Herbert Reynolds]]. He also served as Actingacting Deandean of [[George W. Truett Theological Seminary|Truett Seminary]].<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AD&p_theme=ad&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4779EB20AD6BA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Russell Dilday joins faculty at Baylor University"], ''[[The Advocate (Baton Rouge)]]'', August 6, 1994. Accessed January 17, 2009.</ref>

HeDilday served as interim Presidentpresident of [[Howard Payne University]] from 2002–32002 to 2003.<ref>[http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ST&s_site=dfw&p_multi=ST&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F576D39BA568693&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Dilday filling in at Howard Payne"], ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]'', August 16, 2002. Accessed January 17, 2009.</ref>

HeDilday was pastor of Texas Baptist churches including First Church in [[Antelope, Texas]], a rural congregation, [http://www.fbcclifton.com/ First Church in Clifton]; and he led Tallowood Church in Houston "from a mission to one of the strongest missions churches in Texas Baptist life." His only non-Texas pastorate was at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, a large urban congregation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jesse Fletcher |title=Russell Dilday; 10 most influential Texas Baptists during the 20th century | work = The [[Baptist Standard]] |date=November 24, 1999

''* {{cite book | last=Dilday | first=Russell H. | author-mask=1 | date=1977 | title=You Can Overcome Discouragement'', 1977}}

*[[Southern Baptist Convention Conservativeconservative Resurgenceresurgence]]: "Dr. Russell H. Dilday, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994, has analogized what he calls "the…"

* [http://www.tallowood.org/preacher/russell-dilday/ July 29, 2012 Sermon at Tallowood Baptist Church, Houston, TX]

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[[Category:Living2023 peopledeaths]]