After a two-year battle with cancer, L. Russ Bush III, noted philosopher, apologist, author, professor, pastor and friend of Southern Baptists, died Jan. 23.
Russ BushBush, who was born in 1944, spent his life serving the church, the Southern Baptist Convention and the greater evangelical community in a number of capacities. He served most recently at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., as the director of the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture and as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Religion.
His time at Southeastern marked a turning point in the leadership of the institution. When he first began at Southeastern, during the presidency of Lewis Drummond, Bush was one of the few conservative voices at the institution.
In 1980, at the beginning of the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention, Bush and (fellow professor at the time) Tom Nettles wrote “Baptists and the Bible,” a book which called for the return to Biblical inerrancy as a core belief of the denomination.
“Russ Bush was a champion and faithful warrior for the cause of Christ and the gospel,” said Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern. “His work, ‘Baptists and the Bible,’ – was a landmark in the battle for the Bible that engulfed our denomination. Its impact is still being felt today.”
At the time of Bush’s appointment as academic vice president and dean of the faculty at Southeastern, Paige Patterson, current president of Southwestern Baptist Seminary, said Southeastern “was undergoing a metamorphosis as it returned to the faith of its fathers.”
“Bush accepted the responsibility – even though the entire faculty voted against the appointment,” Patterson said. “It was one of the most incredibly difficult times anyone could have ever gone through. He was cursed – and accosted – . By the time I arrived at Southeastern some years later, I discovered that he had won over the hearts even of those who were his most bitter enemies.”
In more recent times, Bush’s guidance was instrumental in developing the Center for Faith and Culture, an initiative to connect culture and the church by being an example of a redeemed community. The center was named for Bush during its creation in 2006, because he “embodies the vision of, and models the ministry of, this center.”
“He was a giant among Southern Baptists in this generation, as he trained literally thousands of students through his teaching and writing to think well about the gospel and its implications for all of life,” said David Nelson, who succeeded Bush as dean of the faculty at Southeastern. “Russ Bush gave his life to the service of his Lord and the kingdom of Christ. – We are truly grieved at his passing, because he was a kind, gracious friend and leader, but, of course, because of his faith in Christ, ours is a hopeful grief as we know he is in the presence of the Lord he loved.”