Patterson denies mishandling 'reported abuse'

[Revmitchell]

DALLAS (BP) -- In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."

In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."
BP file photo by Adam Covington
Patterson's letter, released to media June 8, also conveyed to Southern Baptists his decision -- announced minutes earlier in a letter to Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines -- not to preach the convention sermon June 13 in Dallas. Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, added, "In a few days, for the first time in 66 years I will not attend the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention."


"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," Patterson wrote, "and others that I am confident I absolutely did not do. I'll just speak to several examples. First, a poor choice of words has occurred, in and out of the pulpit, over decades of ministry. I regret each case in which my heart and message were not clearly presented.



"On the other hand, I take exception to accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served," he wrote. "Indeed, the Southwestern trustees confirmed as much in their public statement of May 23, 2018: 'The board affirmed a motion stating evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse.'"

Patterson denies mishandling 'reported abuse'

 

[Katarina Von Bora]

DALLAS (BP) -- In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."

In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."
BP file photo by Adam Covington
Patterson's letter, released to media June 8, also conveyed to Southern Baptists his decision -- announced minutes earlier in a letter to Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines -- not to preach the convention sermon June 13 in Dallas. Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, added, "In a few days, for the first time in 66 years I will not attend the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention."


"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," Patterson wrote, "and others that I am confident I absolutely did not do. I'll just speak to several examples. First, a poor choice of words has occurred, in and out of the pulpit, over decades of ministry. I regret each case in which my heart and message were not clearly presented.



"On the other hand, I take exception to accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served," he wrote. "Indeed, the Southwestern trustees confirmed as much in their public statement of May 23, 2018: 'The board affirmed a motion stating evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse.'"

Patterson denies mishandling 'reported abuse'

Paige Patterson is simply reaping what he has sowing. I knew there was a problem when he fired Sherry Klouda. In the SBC, there is a good deal of misogyny. Thankfully there are others who can stop this nonsense.

 

[Revmitchell]

It amazes me at this misuse of the word "misogyny". No one hates women and it is slanderous to suggest that Patterson is reaping what he has sown. Slanderous. You all should be ashamed to engage in this slander.

 

[Reynolds]

DALLAS (BP) -- In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."

In a letter to the "Southern Baptist Family," Paige Patterson has defended himself against "accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served."
BP file photo by Adam Covington
Patterson's letter, released to media June 8, also conveyed to Southern Baptists his decision -- announced minutes earlier in a letter to Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines -- not to preach the convention sermon June 13 in Dallas. Patterson, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, added, "In a few days, for the first time in 66 years I will not attend the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention."


"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," Patterson wrote, "and others that I am confident I absolutely did not do. I'll just speak to several examples. First, a poor choice of words has occurred, in and out of the pulpit, over decades of ministry. I regret each case in which my heart and message were not clearly presented.



"On the other hand, I take exception to accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse of women, students, or staff at any institution where I have served," he wrote. "Indeed, the Southwestern trustees confirmed as much in their public statement of May 23, 2018: 'The board affirmed a motion stating evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse.'"

Patterson denies mishandling 'reported abuse'

He got railroaded.

 

[JonC]

When you look at what's going on in the world and you see it repeated in the SBC then it's either political or coincidence. The SBC resolutions with the "rebel flag", the proposals to remove "Southern" from SBC, the publicity around the removal of Dr. Patterson, and the support for Beth Moore as SBC president (regardless of qualification, biblical or otherwise) all follow suit of what is happening or has happened in the world. I am starting to think that if the Convention has grown too big to keep occupied by "kingdom work" then perhaps it has outgrown it's usefulness and needs a bit of restructuring.

 

[atpollard]

[Proverbs 18:17 NIV] 17 In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.

We have really NOT heard all sides, so the truth of the matter remains unknown.

 

[Katarina Von Bora]

It amazes me at this misuse of the word "misogyny". No one hates women and it is slanderous to suggest that Patterson is reaping what he has sown. Slanderous. You all should be ashamed to engage in this slander.

Mysogyny is an accurate description of his behavior. Let me see. By way of evidence I give you Ergun Caner, Daryl Gilyard, etc. Caner's 'mangina' speech. He offends me as a 20 year veteran and as a child of the King. Do I really need to speak about sexual abuse brought by Gilyard? Thank PP for these two being in our midst. Then the firing of Sherri Klouda. A Hebrew expert teaching in the seminary. PP doesn't seem to understand that a seminary isn't a church but a para-church organization.

I don't agree with taking his pension, etc. But, he needed to be removed.

I support The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood financially. CBMW – The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Finally from Wade Burleson:

It's time for Dr. Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to step down from leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention, which would include an immediate resignation from his position as President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Dr. Paige Patterson has created a firestorm in the media this past weekend over his public comments that an abused wife should stay in a physically abusive marriage. He said that a woman "who is undergoing genuine physical abuse from her husband, and her husband says she should submit" should do so. And he went on to say that the abused woman should:

"Pray at night beside her bed, quietly, for God to intervene."

Don't call the police. Don't file for divorce. Don't leave the abusive home. Pray. And if the abuse continues, "be happy" because God will hear her prayers and reach her husband through them and her quiet submission.

Twitter is ablaze with fury over what Dr. Patterson said.

Ironically, ten years ago I called out Dr. Patterson for these very remarks.

Nobody seemed to be paying attention then.

But in the days of #metoo and #churchtoo, people are much more keen to the issue of abuse. I'm not unfamiliar with the Southern Baptist Convention waiting ten years before correcting an error.

I like Dr. Paige Patterson. I have enjoyed dinner at his home. I have been the recipient of floral arrangements sent by Dr. and Mrs. Patterson (twice). I harbor no personal animosity toward Dr. Patterson or his family.

However, it's time for Dr. Patterson to step down from his leadership positions in the Southern Baptist Convention. He is scheduled to give the Convention Sermon at the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas. He serves as President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

It's time for Dr. Paige Patterson to step down from every leadership position he holds in the SBC.

Listen carefully Southern Baptists. Please, do not be tone deaf on this issue. If Dr. Paige Patterson is allowed to continue in leadership within the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists will lose any remaining credibility we possess as we share the Good News with the world at large.

Dr. Patterson must step down. He must resign. If he does not, he must be removed.

Here are the top ten reasons Paige Patterson should resign immediately - or be removed by others - from his positions of leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention:

1. Paige Patterson has counseled physically abused wives to stay in their marriages.

2. Paige Patterson fired the finest Hebrew professor in the SBC because she was a woman.

3. Paige Patterson rescinded a seminary job offer to a popular SWBTS vocalist because Patterson discovered the vocalist was married to a divorced woman who had left an abusive marriage.

4. Paige Patterson is currently a party in a sexual abuse lawsuit, along with Judge Paul Pressler, a lawsuit that will soon be going to trial in Texas.

5. Paige Patterson protected a sexual predator by refusing to report him to authorities.

6. During a public sermon in 2016, Paige Patterson made suggestive comments about a 16-year-old girl being "built."

7. It is possible that the Hebrew parchments purchased by the Pattersons for an unknown sum (e.g. in the millions of dollars) during a time of insitutional financial crisis, fragments that are now on display at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, may actually be fakes.

8. Violating the school charter and admission policies, Paige Patterson admitted a practicing Muslim into Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, displaying the belief that he is above accountablity and oversight.

My Southern Baptist roots in Texas go back to Rufus Columbus Burleson, the first President of Baylor University after it moved to Waco, Texas. The name Burleson is engraved at the top of the Texas State Fair Park alongside Lubbock, Austin, Houston, Travis, and others. I only give this background to let the reader know this recommendation Dr. Patterson resign does not come from someone outside the Southern Baptist Convention.

I am a Southern Baptist.

There have been times the Southern Baptist Convention has been an embarrassment to me.

Nevertheless, Southern Baptists are family to me.

I call on Dr. Paige Patterson to step down from leadership within the Southern Baptist Convention before the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas for the sake of the family.
Quote snipped.

Istoria Ministries Blog: It Is Now Time for Dr. Paige Patterson to Step Down

 

[Revmitchell]

Mysogyny is an accurate description of his behavior.

It is not even close and you can't know his heart anyway.

 

[Katarina Von Bora]

It is not even close and you can't know his heart anyway.

Yes I do. His actions tell me everything I need to know about him.

He is the epitome of the 'folksy preacher', while his heart was plotting against anyone who dares to disagree with him. Mysogynist is an accurate assessment. He made it clear that Calvinists should become Presbyterians. I cannot believe that he didn't know about the two confessions that Calvinists adhere to. I hold to the LBCF and others hold to the Westminster. The man is a theologian, he should act like one. After all, Baptist have spent their money to elevate him to Stained Glass.

I couldn't help but notice that Peter Lumpkins was silent.

We are all grateful for the CR.

 

[TCassidy]

He is the epitome of the 'folksy preacher', while his heart was plotting against anyone who dares to disagree with him.

We don't, and can't, know he "was plotting against anyone who dares to disagree with him." We can neither know his heart nor read his mind.

Mysogynist is an accurate assessment.

No, it isn't. He does not hate women. He has been happily married to one for decades!.

He made it clear that Calvinists should become Presbyterians.

Here is, I believe, the real issue. As most here know I am a Particular Baptist but even I can see that the primary reason for wanting him removed was his stand on soteriology and his too often and too public attacks on his Particular brothers and sisters in Christ. In other words, SBC politics as usual.

 

[Revmitchell]

Here is, I believe, the real issue. As most here know I am a Particular Baptist but even I can see that the primary reason for wanting him removed was his stand on soteriology and his too often and too public attacks on his Particular brothers and sisters in Christ. In other words, SBC politics as usual.

Yep, watching to see the soteriology of the one who replaces him. That will likely reveal the motives of why they were willing to 1.) ignore evidence and clarifying statements, 2.) being in a rush to find him guilty.

And it is not just about that one school. Its about changing direction of the entire SBC. As it is now we will be taking a vote today to keep our CP funds in state only. We cannot support the current direction of the National convention.

 

[church mouse guy]

It's Greear who is a poor theologian if his master's dissertation is any indication. He should release it on the internet so that I could read it but it may be too sophomoric to be released.

 

[Jerome]

It's Greear who is a poor theologian if his master's dissertation is any indication. He should release it on the internet so that I could read it but it may be too sophomoric to be released.

Yeah, Patterson was still at Southeastern when Greear got his PhD in Christian and Islamic theology there. Greear especially thanked Patterson in the acknowledgments section of his dissertation:

This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of Dr. Paige Patterson...

Recall that Patterson had to apologize several years ago to SBC messengers at the annual meeting, when it was revealed that he had violated school policy and admitted a Muslim student at Southwestern:

Baptist Press (2014) - Policy violation may stir bylaw change, SWBTS trustees say


Greear's 2003 dissertation under Patterson at SEBTS was "Theosis and Muslim evangelism: How the recovery of a patristic understanding of salvation can aid evangelical missionaries in the evangelization of Islamic peoples"

Recapitulation theory of atonement - Wikipedia

"Irenaeus is considered to be the first to clearly express a recapitulation view of the atonement....For Irenaeus, the ultimate goal of Christ's work of solidarity with humankind is to make humankind divine. Of Jesus he says, he 'became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself'. This idea has been most influential in the Christian East, particularly within the Orthodox Church, having been taken on by many other Church Fathers, such as Ss. Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor. This Eastern Orthodox theological development out of the recapitulation view of the atonement is called theosis ("deification").

 

[Jordan Kurecki]

Where in the Bible is physical abuse listed as a legitimate reason for divorce?

 

[church mouse guy]

Yeah, Patterson was still at Southeastern when Greear got his PhD in Christian and Islamic theology there. Greear especially thanked Patterson in the acknowledgments section of his dissertation:



Recall that Patterson had to apologize several years ago to SBC messengers at the annual meeting, when it was revealed that he had violated school policy and admitted a Muslim student at Southwestern:

Baptist Press (2014) - Policy violation may stir bylaw change, SWBTS trustees say


Greear's 2003 dissertation under Patterson at SEBTS was "Theosis and Muslim evangelism: How the recovery of a patristic understanding of salvation can aid evangelical missionaries in the evangelization of Islamic peoples"

Recapitulation theory of atonement - Wikipedia

"Irenaeus is considered to be the first to clearly express a recapitulation view of the atonement....For Irenaeus, the ultimate goal of Christ's work of solidarity with humankind is to make humankind divine. Of Jesus he says, he 'became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself'. This idea has been most influential in the Christian East, particularly within the Orthodox Church, having been taken on by many other Church Fathers, such as Ss. Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor. This Eastern Orthodox theological development out of the recapitulation view of the atonement is called theosis ("deification").

His gratitude was short-lived. Did Patterson rubber stamp that thing or is it better than it sounds? Or is the SBC in a tailspin?

 

[Revmitchell]

Recall that Patterson had to apologize several years ago to SBC messengers at the annual meeting, when it was revealed that he had violated school policy and admitted a Muslim student at Southwestern:

So what?

 

[church mouse guy]

So what?

Yeah, that dealt with someone in prison taking a correspondence course. It was a red-tape thing. It didn't amount to a hill of beans.

 

[Jerome]

Yeah, that dealt with someone in prison taking a correspondence course.

The Sunni Muslim Patterson admitted to the seminary was a regular student; he was not an inmate.

 

[Katarina Von Bora]

Where in the Bible is physical abuse listed as a legitimate reason for divorce?

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Christ never beat His bride.


Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Physical abuse qualifies as harsh.

 

[Jordan Kurecki]

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Christ never beat His bride.


Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

Physical abuse qualifies as harsh.

And where does it say that if the husband does not love his wife then she can divorce him? Because I don’t see that in either of those verses.