The firing of legendary Southern Baptist conservative icon Paige Patterson as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on May 30 created a whirlwind of opinions, controversies and speculations leading up to this year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas.

Charges asserting that Patterson failed to deal forthrightly with an alleged rape of a female student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003 and of another female student at Southwestern Seminary in 2015, along with a recording of a sermon he preached years ago where he purportedly counseled a wife to stay in an abusive marriage, were key components in the charges leveled against him.

The 75-year-old Patterson denied the charges brought against him in a letter to the Southern Baptist family, stating: “Recently, I have been accused, publicly and privately, of a number of things — none of which I acknowledge as having done in the way portrayed, and others that I am confident I absolutely did not do.”

In a meeting that began on May 22 and ended in the early morning hours of May 23, after a 13-hour executive session of the Southwestern board of trustees, Patterson was relieved of his duties as president and given the title of president emeritus and theologian in residence. He was given compensation and lodging at the new Heritage House Center on Southwestern’s campus.

Seven days later, the executive committee of the board met and stripped Patterson of the titles and benefits bestowed in the May 23 agreement. According to board chairman Kevin Ueckert in a June 1 statement, the 2015 alleged rape at Southwestern involved Patterson sending an email to campus security in which he “discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could ‘break her down.’” Ueckert indicated that this was, at least, part of new information regarding Patterson that was not previously known to the executive committee.

Marshall Blalock, president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, stated, “I deeply regret the circumstances and timing of this, but I trust the board leadership was acting in the best interest of the seminary. I am certain these leaders took no joy in what they felt they had to do. In the end, I am hopeful the seminary will be stronger after this transition.”

Wayne Dickard, former SCBC president and a current trustee at Southwestern, said, “It is my personal opinion that Dr. Patterson is a good and honorable man. It is my regret that the full board was not involved in the final decision. The executive committee [of the board] made the decision. Please pray for the school, its students, faculty, and trustees during these difficult days.”

Patterson was scheduled to preach the convention sermon in Dallas but informed SBC president Steve Gaines he would not do so in the interest of helping create unity. Patterson stated that this year’s convention was the first annual meeting he would miss in the last 66 years.

During the closing business session of the annual meeting June 13, a motion was debated that asked messengers to remove the executive committee of the Southwestern board of trustees. Dickard and others spoke in favor of the motion, while former SBC president Ronnie Floyd and others spoke against it. The motion overwhelmingly failed.

For continuing developments, visit BaptistCourier.com and bpnews.net.