James Parker III, Longtime Southern Seminary Apologetics Professor, Dies at 77
Parker taught Christian philosophy and worldview in Louisville for 20 years and founded the Trinity Institute study center in Tehuacana, Texas; his funeral is Nov. 7.
See where this is ›FORT WORTH, Texas —
James Parker III, who taught Christian philosophy and apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., from 1999 until he retired in 2019, died Oct. 23 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 77, according to a report by Jacob Percy of the seminary published Oct. 27 by Kentucky Today.
See where this is ›A native of Abilene, Texas, Parker attended Baylor University and earned a master's degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, master of divinity and master of theology degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in New Testament from the University of Basel. He did postdoctoral study at Johns Hopkins University and taught at McMurry College, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dallas Baptist University and Criswell College.
Southern Seminary hired him in 1999 as professor of worldview and culture and associate dean of the School of Theology's new Worldview and Culture division. He taught introductory courses in Christian philosophy and apologetics to master's and doctoral students.
In 1991 Parker founded the Trinity Institute in Tehuacana, Texas, a residential study center meant to help believers understand and explain a Christian worldview. He kept leading it after moving to Louisville, teaching at the seminary during the school year and holding summer seminars in Texas.
“Jim Parker loved ideas, and he taught a generation of students to love ideas,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary. “He was greatly loved by students.”
Parker held that defending the faith is every believer's work. “Everyone engages in apologetics as a Christian,” he once said. “It's not a question of whether they're going to, it's a question of whether they're going to do it competently.” He often called theologian Carl F. H. Henry his hero.
The funeral will be held Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. Central time at First Baptist Church of Tehuacana, with visitation beginning at noon. Burial will follow in Tehuacana Cemetery.
