1961-1986
The Ralph Elliott Controversy Collection is located at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. The collection addresses the controversy that arose following the publication of Elliott’s work, The Message of Genesis (1961), by Broadman Press. Included in the collection are articles, clippings, correspondence, editorials, press releases, and resolutions from the Board of Trustees and the Student Protest Committee. The correspondence is primarily from former students to Dr. Millard Berquist, then-President of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, about the controversy.
Ralph H. Elliott served as the head of the Old Testament and Hebrew Department at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1958-1962. During his tenure at Midwestern, a controversy arose concerning his work, The Message of Genesis (1961), published by Broadman Press. Critics charged that the work denied the historicity of Genesis’s first eleven chapters with a symbolic interpretation. Despite initial support from the seminary’s Board of Trustees and the Baptist Sunday School Board, the “Genesis Controversy” did not diminish. Instead, a campaign expanded as pastors in Missouri, Kansas, and other states began to push for the work’s withdrawal. The campaign reached its peak at the 1962 Southern Baptist Convention, in San Francisco, where Dr. Elliott’s opponents secured supportive appointments to Midwestern’s Board of Trustees. Following Dr. Elliott’s voluntary refusal to prevent the republication of the book, the new Board voted to dismiss him on October 25, 1962.
Ralph H. Elliott was born March 2, 1925, in Swansonville, Virginia. After graduating from George Washington High School in Danville, Virginia, he attended Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, from 1946-1949. Dr. Elliott continued his education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he received his Bachelor of Divinity and Doctor of Theology degrees. Following his work at Midwestern, he served as pastor of several American Baptist churches, including First Baptist Church, Rochester, New York. He was also the Vice President for Academic Life and Dean of the Faculty at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School until his retirement in 1991. In 2006, Dr. Elliott received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Carson-Newman College.
