Louisville, Ky. | Southern Baptist Theological Seminary formally installed Andrew T. Walker as dean of the School of Theology during a chapel service Sept. 15 in Alumni Chapel.
Walker, who assumed his duties Aug. 1, is the school’s 12th dean. He succeeds Hershael W. York, dean since 2018, who continues on the faculty as the Victor and Louise Lester Professor of Christian Preaching. The School of Theology traces its origins to the seminary’s founding faculty in 1859 and is charged with the seminary’s central mission: training pastors and leaders for the Southern Baptist Convention and local churches around the world. SBTS President R. Albert Mohler, Jr., joined on the platform by Provost Paul M. Akin, led the ceremony and presented Walker with his certificate of appointment.
Addressing faculty, students and guests, Mohler spoke to the significance of the office.
“This is a special day in the life of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College,” Mohler said. “The role of serving as Dean of the School of Theology at this institution is of such stature that it’s a historic moment, and it needs to be marked with a certain formality.”
Mohler noted the School of Theology’s place at the center of the seminary’s history and mission.
“In the deanship of the School of Theology, that’s the deanship of the school that is the longest continuing part of this institution and at the very center of our mission,” Mohler said. “When the time came for Dr. York to retire from that role, the question was, who shall take his place? And it became apparent to me and to others that the man who God had prepared for this role at this time is Dr. Andrew T. Walker.”
Walker holds a B.A. in religious studies from Southwest Baptist University and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary. In addition to serving as dean, he is professor of Christian ethics and public theology and director of the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. He is also a fellow in Christian political thought at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and managing editor of WORLD Opinions. He lives in Louisville with his wife, Christian, and their three daughters: Caroline, Catherine and Charlotte. Walker grew up in Jacksonville, IL.
Reflecting on his journey from a student arriving on campus in 2008 to dean, Walker called the appointment surreal and humbling.
“The most urgent task of this office is to steward and fortify the theological inheritance of the school,” Walker said. “It is to amplify the work of its remarkable faculty, and to put before the Southern Baptist Convention the best-trained pastors and leaders that we can provide to it.”
Akin offered a prayer of installation for Walker, asking the Lord to grant him wisdom humility, and unwavering faithfulness to God’s Word as he leads the faculty. Following the installation and a congregational hymn, Walker delivered his installation sermon from Romans 8:31-39 on what he termed “God’s loving guardianship.”
Speaking to what he described as cultural anxiety over rapidly advancing technology, Walker urged listeners to rest in God’s sovereignty and love.
“Romans 8:31-39 carries us through the fears of apocalypse,” Walker said. “It’s going to carry us through the fears of our sufferings.”
Turning to the passage’s declaration that God is “for us,” Walker described the cost of God’s redemptive love in Christ.
“Against a God who has taken our side, hostility remains real, but hostility is ultimately impotent,” he said. “Calvary did not strain God’s budget. Calvary shows the expense that God pays to redeem his children.”