Former Union University president David S. Dockery was installed Aug. 22 as the 10th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Beginning his 40th year of service in Christian higher education, David S. Dockery was officially installed as the 10th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during an investiture ceremony that was part of the school’s Aug. 22 convocation service.
Dockery, a 1981 master of divinity graduate of Southwestern, was the 2002 recipient of the seminary’s distinguished alumni award. He has served at Southwestern since 2019. A distinguished Baptist theologian and author, Dockery is the president emeritus of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, where he served as president from 1996 to 2014.
In the presence of faculty, staff, students, trustee officers and new trustees, and guests, Board of Trustees Chairman Jonathan Richard exhorted Dockery to “continue the best of the Southwestern heritage to reflect the convictions of our founder, B.H. Carroll, regarding doctrinal fidelity, Gospel faithfulness, and a commitment to Christian unity and cooperation.”
Dockery, who was elected president by the seminary’s board of trustees in April, committed to “serve faithfully in accordance” with the charge presented by Richard on behalf of the board of trustees.
In his convocation address following the ceremony, Dockery spoke about “the basics of theological education with particular reference to our work here at Southwestern.”
“I believe our focus today needs to be on the renewal of our understanding of and commitment to our primary mission of providing theological education, which encourages the Great Commandment and the fulfillment of the Great Commission,” he said.
Dockery noted theology is at the “heart of theological education” at Southwestern. While the statement might be “tautological” or “obvious,” he explained some might think theology is “abstract” because it “has been the path down which some have traveled to open the door to liberalism, heterodoxy or other wrongheaded thinking or practice.” B&R
