Academic convocations are meant to feel consequential. Marked pageantry, like academic regalia and faculty processionals, typify these services in which the institution’s president often delivers words of vision and challenge. The formalities of convocation and the stateliness of Southern Seminary’s Alumni Chapel proved a grand stage for Roy Honeycutt to deliver one of the most memorable—and controversial—sermons in the history of the SBC.
On August 28, 1984 Southern Seminary president Roy Honeycutt preached “To Your Tents O Israel,” a sermon that landed in the SBC like a bombshell, sending shockwaves throughout the entire denomination. Dubbed the “Holy War Sermon,” Honeycutt called the seminary community—and the broader, moderate SBC faction—to arms against Southern Baptist “fundamentalists.”
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