Paige Patterson is one of the most significant leaders in the Southern Baptist Church in recent history. He played a central role in the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence, which resulted in the more conservative orientation of the Southern Baptist church that we see today. Up until recently, he was the president of two seminaries, and in the past he served two terms as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention itself.
Yet despite his huge amount of influence and power in the Southern Baptist church, on June 1st, 2018, the leaders of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) released a bombshell statement. They were firing Paige Patterson. This came after he got caught up in controversy surrounding his history of misogynistic comments objectifying women's bodies, telling women to submit to their abusers, along with his mishandling of sexual abuse allegations.
In order to understand how influential Paige Patterson has been in the Southern Baptist community, and thus how ground shaking his current fall from leadership truly is, one must understand his role in supporting the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence, and how this affected the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, a denomination with about 15 million members.
The Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence was a movement that began in 1979. Patterson joined with Judge Paul Pressler of Houston Texas to carry out a plan that included exposing the theology taught by the SBC institutions as "liberal theologies." Patterson won the support of hundreds of like-minded churches at the grassroots level in an effort to push the church in a more conservative direction. Patterson's influence was felt at all levels of Southern Baptist life.
During the Conservative Resurgence, conservative leaders were put in charge of the SBC, and moderate and liberal leaders were voted out of office. This resulted in a reversal in many mainstream Southern Baptist positions that were previously more moderate or liberal. A key example is the reversal on the Southern Baptist position on abortion. The original Southern Baptist position on abortion was supporting it in cases of rape, incest and clear evidence of severe fetal deformity (SBC 1971). This position changed however in 1980 when the SBC passed a resolution condemning the practice, making an exception only to save the mother's life (SBC 1980).
So with how crucial Paige Patterson is to the current conservative culture of Southern Baptists, his firing is a huge bombshell indeed.
The current controversy surrounding Patterson’s misogynistic comments was ignited when a site called the Baptist Blogger posted a video of Patterson’s sermon from 2000 in which he told a story about a woman who told him she was being abused by her husband. He told her to pray, and she came back with two black eyes. “She said: ‘I hope you’re happy,’ ” Patterson said in his sermon. “And I said, ‘Yes . . . I’m very happy,’ ” because her husband had heard her prayers and come to church for the first time the next day. (Paige Patterson audio on spousal abuse).
His comments on abuse highlighted divisions among Southern Baptists over when divorce is considered biblically appropriate. Patterson, who has stated in the past that he would not recommend divorce, did not apologize for his advice to the woman in his sermon to go back to her abusive husband. He does not recommend divorce in most cases of abuse. He typically recommends that women pray and submit to their abusers, as mentioned in the audio above.
The Washington Post also reported on May 22, 2018, that a woman who was a student at Southern Baptist seminary came to Patterson with rape allegations against her then boyfriend. Patterson encouraged her not to go to the police, and instead to forgive the man who assaulted her. (Washington Post)
Patterson’s controversial comments about abuse and women’s physical looks prompted thousands of Southern Baptist women to sign an online petition calling for him to lose his job.
Southern Baptist Women launch petition against Paige Patterson. Open Letter to SWBTS Calling for Paige Patterson's Resignation.
When the SWBTS eventually did decide to fire Paige Patterson, Kevin Ueckert, the chair of Southwestern’s board, claimed it was based on Paige Patterson's job performance, and not the massive online campaign that Southern Baptist women waged against him. Yet if that's really the case, the timing is highly coincidental (Washington Post).
OFFICIAL STATEMENTS
Official Statement From Southern Baptist Seminary For Firing Their President, Paige Patterson (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary)
SOUTHERN BAPTIST WOMEN LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST PAIGE PATTERSON
Southern Baptist Women launch petition against Paige Patterson (Christianity Today)
Open Letter to SWBTS Calling for Paige Patterson's Resignation.
MORE ON PAIGE PATTERSON
Evangelical leader Paige Patterson was ousted for sexism. Now he’s teaching an ethics class (Vox, 10-8-18)
Disgraced Baptist leader Paige Patterson body-shames a woman in his return to the pulpit (The Washington Post, 9-14-18)
Southern Baptist Seminary Drops Bombshell: Why Paige Patterson Was Fired (The Washington Post, 6-1-18)
Paige Patterson Fired by Southwestern, Stripped of Retirement Benefits (Christianity Today, 5-30-18)
Southern Baptist leader apologizes for sermon example about teenage girl’s physical appearance (The Washington Post, 5-10-18)
Paige Patterson and Doing the Right Thing for the SBC, Again (Christianity Today, 4-30-18)