Al Mohler bio

My friend at monergism.com gave me permission to post these on my blog site. They are very interesting.

Biographical Sketch

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (born 1960) is an Southern Baptist, evangelical Calvinist. He presently serves as the ninth President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has been a member of the board of James Dobson's Focus on the Family since August 31, 2004.[1] He is married to the former Mary Kahler. They have two children named Katie and Christopher.

Early Life and Education
Mohler is a native of Lakeland in central Florida. As a child he attended Lake Yale, a Florida Baptist campground. During his Lakeland years he attended Southside Baptist Church.

Mohler attended college at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Florida as a Faculty Scholar. He then received a B. A. from Samford University, a private, coeducational Baptist-affiliated college in Birmingham, Alabama. His graduate degrees, a Master of Divinity and Ph.D. in "Systematic and Historical Theology," were conferred by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, also known as Southern Seminary.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Southern Seminary)
Mohler joined the staff of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky in 1983 as Coordinator of Foundation Support. In 1987 he became Director of Capital Funding, a post he held until 1989. While still a student he served as assistant to then-President Roy Honeycutt.

In February 1993, Mohler was appointed President of the Seminary by conservatives on that institution's board of trustees, succeeding Roy Honeycutt. The seminary soon saw a wholesale shift towards conservative theology (characterised by Mohler as a move toward "confessional fidelity") and a rapid exodus (both voluntary and compulsory) of more than 60 percent of the faculty. Diana Garland the dean of a unit of the Seminary, the Carver School of Church Social Work, was fired over a conflict with Mohler. The Carver School was eventually dissolved as the new administration judged social work to be out of keeping with biblical doctrine. In 1999, nearly a million dollars of its endowment were returned to the Women's Missionary Union in accordance with the terms of an undisclosed settlement.

One departing faculty member, G. Wade Rowatt, referred to the new regime as "a Baptist version of the Taliban." (Mohler shakes up Southern Baptists)

Other, more conservative Baptist leaders were elated: Paige Patterson, another Southern Baptist Convention seminary president, said Mohler's leadership “will mean that they recover their evangelical emphasis there” and that Mohler's Presidency meant that “the worst of the problems” were over: “Al Mohler has the brains of Erasmus and the courage of Luther.”

The move to conservativism also proved much more appealing to those in the Southern Baptist Convention as enrollment has multiplied several times over since Mohler took office. The seminary is now one of the most endowed and largest seminaries world-wide.

The "Conservative Resurgence"
Mohler was also instrumental in the mid-1990's restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention, which saw the Convention shift from a mixture of moderate and conservative voices to a solidly conservative base.
He was involved in the drafting of the controversial 2000 revision of the Baptist Faith and Message, which added an exhortation to wives to "submit graciously" to their husbands, and removed a clause referring to Jesus Christ as the standard by which the Bible is to be interpreted.

A deadline was set for foreign missionaries to confirm their allegiance to the Baptist Faith and Message in written form. Those who did not were dismissed or resigned. Although adherance to and respect for the creed had been a matter of course historically, this marked the first time that a signed written statement of fealty was mandated in the form of an ultimatum.

Media and Editorial Work
Mohler served as editor of The Christian Index the biweekly newsletter of the Georgia Baptist Convention. From 1985 to 1993 he was Associate Editor of the bi-monthly Preaching Magazine.

Mohler served on the Advisory Council for the 2001 English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV.)

Starting July 29, 2003 and continuing to the present (November 2005), Mohler blogged on CrossWalk.com, a web site maintained by Salem Web Network of Chesterfield, VA.

He presently is heard on a nationally syndicated radio talk show, The Albert Mohler Program, and also maintains a web site, www.albertmohler.com.

Professed Theology
Some references state that Mohler was initially liberal in his theology, particularly during his years as a seminarian, prior to the rise of the conservative movement within the Southern Baptist denomination. One source states that Mohler experienced a conservative epiphany growing from conversations with Carl F. H. Henry, whose essays Mohler later edited. (Realms of Faith: Christian Authors Database at propadeutic.com)

Shortly after his term as President began, Mohler drafted a policy (which was ratified by the trustees) that the Seminary would only hire professors who believed that the Bible prohibits the ordination of women as preachers. Some women already in teaching positions at the Seminary, or who served outside the Seminary in a missionary capacity, were stripped of their posts.

Theologically, Mohler respresents conservative fundamentalist Christianity. He opposes the role of women in preaching roles, opposes abortion, and believes that homosexual acts are sinful.

Mohler's Views on Other Religions
Mohler is on record as rejecting the notion that any other means of salvation exists besides conversion to Christianity, and his soteriology, or theory of salvation, is Calvinistic in the sense that Mohler states that he believes that human salvation is a gift from God, and cannot be earned by human action. He has publicly advanced this position with respect to Judaism, Islam, and Catholicism.

Islam
In the months after the events of September 11, 2001, when broad sectors of the religious community were organizing interfaith prayer services in an effort to improve Christian-Islamic relations, Mohler derided Islam in a sermon delivered to seminary students on October 17, 2001, using phrases such as "kills the soul," "lies about God," and "presents a false gospel."

I'm no specialist in Islamic theology. I'll let those who are debate whether or not there is that kind of militancy and warrior culture within Islamic theology. But I want to say as a Christian theologian, the biggest problem with Islamic theology is that it kills the soul.

The bigger problem with Islam is not that there are those who will kill the body in its name, but that it lies about God [and] presents a false gospel, an un-gospel...These are difficult things to say. This is not polite.

Catholicism
"I believe that the Roman church is a false church and it teaches a false gospel...and indeed, I believe that the pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office."-- (R. Albert Mohler, Jr., on Larry King Live, March 2000)

Mohler has made strongly anti-Catholic statements, but at the same time maintains that much of Catholic doctrine is compatible with his views. In spite of his public criticism of the Catholic Church, Mohler claims in his official biography to have studied at St. Meinrad School of Theology [10] (a few hours drive from the Seminary of which he is President.)


Media Appearances
Mohler appeared on MSNBC's Donahue on August 20, 2002. The subject was Christian evangelization of Jews. The show's host along with members of both Catholic and Jewish clergy squared off against Mohler's insistance that salvation lies exclusively in the acceptance of Christ.

On April 15, 2003, Mohler granted an interview published in Time Magazine. The subject was the issue of evangelization of Iraqi Muslims in the form of proselytizing Christian aid groups.

On December 18, 2004, Mohler debated retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong on Faith Under Fire, a program hosted by Lee Strobel and appearing on PAX, a Christian television network. The subject was the historicity and truthfulness of the Bible.

Criticism of Pat Robertson
Responding to Pat Robertson's remarks advocating the assassination of Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, Mohler said:

With unmistakable clarity and an apparent lack of self-consciousness, [Mr.] Robertson simply called for an assassination, presumably to be undertaken by U.S. military forces in violation of U.S. law," the reverend doctor said. "In so doing he gave the Venezuelan leader a propaganda gold mine, embarrassed the Bush administration, and left millions of viewers perplexed and troubled. More importantly, he brought shame to the cause of Christ. This is the kind of outrageous statement that makes evangelism all the more difficult. Missing from the entire context is the Christian understanding that violence can never be blessed as a good, but may only be employed under circumstances that would justify the limited use of lethal force in order to prevent even greater violence.

Quotes
"An institution has to decide, and it’s not just an option, it’s a responsibility, how much diversity can be tolerated."

"When a denomination begins to consider doctrine divisive, theology troublesome, and convictions inconvenient, consider that denomination on its way to a well-deserved death." (Southern Baptist Convention meeting, July 1995)