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, to the Great Commission as our mandate, 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.

Truth never changes. Southern Seminary is about the business of proclaiming the truth of God’s Word, that great body of Christian theology which Jude calls “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” For more than 150 years, Southern Seminary has braved the winds of theological and intellectual change by standing firmly upon the confessional vision articulated by the founding faculty and summarized by our venerable Abstract of Principles.

Southern Seminary has been an innovator in theological education since its founding in 1859 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. Southern Seminary’s legacy of theological education is a result of our faculty and administration’s commitment to raising up students who will proclaim God’s Word to the nations.

We exist to equip those who are serious about the gospel: marked by conviction for the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” wisdom in the knowledge of Christ and a commitment to make disciples of all nations. We believe we are living in serious times and we’re looking for students who are serious about growing in their understanding and application of the gospel of Jesus Christ.