Dockery named editor of Southwestern Journal of Theology

David S. Dockery—“a universally respected theologian and Southern Baptist statesman of Christian higher education”—has been named editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology, the academic journal of The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and “one of the premier and historic publications in theological education,” President Adam W. Greenway announced today.

“It is a sign of God’s favor on Southwestern Seminary that I have the honor to announce that David S. Dockery—a universally respected theologian and Southern Baptist statesman of Christian higher education—has accepted my request to serve as the next editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology,” said Greenway, who serves as editor-in-chief of the journal. “SWJT is one of the premier and historic publications in theological education. More specifically, SWJT is the oldest theological journal continually published by a Southern Baptist seminary, with a history dating back to 1917. Dr. Dockery’s winsome and irenic spirit and resolute theological convictions personify key qualities that I believe have and must characterize Southwestern Seminary when we are at our best. I look forward with great anticipation to new heights of theological reflection and research for the cause of Christ and the church under the incomparable editorship that Dr. Dockery will bring to SWJT.”

Dockery, who earned the Master of Divinity at Southwestern Seminary in 1981, joined the seminary faculty in 2019 when he was named distinguished professor of theology and theologian-in-residence for the B.H. Carroll Center for Baptist Heritage and Mission. He also serves as special consultant to the president. After a lengthy career in Christian higher educational leadership at Trinity International University, Union University, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dockery was recently invited to assist with the leadership of the newly formed International Alliance for Christian Education. Also, Dockery led the search committee that recently named Ken Magnuson as the new executive director of the Evangelical Theological Society.

In his first editorial in the forthcoming spring 2020 issue, Dockery writes that the SWJT editorial team “sees the continuation of the publication of this resource as one way of participating in” Greenway’s vision of “renewal and revitalization at Southwestern Seminary” by bringing together “serious scholarship, applied theology, engaging teaching, service to the churches, and a heart for ministry, evangelism, and global missions as partners, as various aspects of ‘One Southwestern’ to reclaim the best of the seminary’s heritage while advancing the distinctive Southwestern mission.”

Dockery notes SWJT was published from 1917 to 1924, with notable Southwestern Seminary scholars Charles Williams, W.T. Connor, and H.E. Dana each serving as editor, and continuously twice a year since 1958, with James Leo Garrett Jr. and a series of other notable SWBTS scholars leading the journal: W.R. Estep Jr., William L. Hendricks, H. Leon McBeth, and F.B. Huey, and more recently by Al Fasol and Malcolm B. Yarnell III. “I am grateful for the efforts of Terry Wilder and Madison Grace in recent years to guide this project,” he said.

A new SWJT Editorial Council will be chaired by Randy L. Stinson, provost and vice president for academic administration, and will include David L. Allen, distinguished professor of preaching; D. Jeffrey Bingham, dean of the School of Theology; Amy Crider, director of the Research Doctoral Center for Writing Excellence; Donald H. Kim, assistant professor of Bible at Scarborough College; Daniel Sanchez, distinguished professor emeritus of missions; Michael S. Wilder, dean of the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries; Gregory A. Wills, research professor of church history and Baptist heritage; and Malcolm B. Yarnell III, research professor of systematic theology.

Joining Dockery as part of the new editorial team will be new assistant editors Katie J. McCoy, assistant professor of theology in women’s studies at Scarborough College, and Andrew Streett, associate professor of biblical studies, as well as consultant editors Sarah C. Spring, associate professor of English and associate dean of Scarborough College, and James A. Smith Sr., director of public relations.

In addition to his extensive background in Christian higher educational leadership, Dockery is a prolific author and editor of more than 35 books. Highlights of his editorial work include serving as the co-founding editor of Criswell Theological Review, first general editor for New American Commentary, general editor for Holman Bible Handbook, general editor for Holman Concise Bible Commentary, co-general editor for Worldview Study Bible, general editor of the 15-volume series Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition, and co-editor of the forthcoming multi-volume theology series, Theology for the People of God, in addition to serving as editor of several individual volumes. Dockery also served as consulting editor for Christianity Today for more than two decades, as well as on the editorial board of several periodicals, and on the Board of Directors for Christianity Today and Touchstone Magazine.

The spring 2020 issue, with the theme “Christian Higher Education in the Baptist Tradition,” is expected to be available in several months, with the fall 2020 issue scheduled for delivery in October, Dockery said.

“We pray that the efforts to re-energize the journal will be used of God to serve the Southwestern Seminary community and its various constituencies to help bring revitalization to the seminary we all love in the days and decades to come,” he said.