The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest is owned and operated by the Southern Baptist Convention for the purpose of providing religious education and professional training for ministers. At its annual meeting in Chicago in May 1950, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a recommendation that a new seminary be organized and located in North Carolina. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary officially opened in September 1951, becoming the fourth seminary operated by the Southern Baptist Convention. Its first president was Sydnor L. Stealey, who had previously served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Raleigh and as professor of church history at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The new school was at first housed in the Music-Religion Building of Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University) in Wake Forest.
The impetus for the establishment of a new seminary was the tremendous growth of the Southern Baptist Convention during the middle of the twentieth century. Many ministers from the southeastern region of the United States found it difficult to relocate to the cities where the three existing seminaries were located. Furthermore, those three schools were experiencing record growth in enrollment.
Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. Previously, in 1950, the Southern Baptist Convention had voted to purchase the campus for the sum of $1.6 million. Following the move of Wake Forest College, the seminary undertook an extensive renovation of the campus to improve facilities for growing enrollment, which by 1986 had reached 1,200. Stealey retired and was succeeded by Olin T. Binkley, who ran the school from 1963 until his retirement in 1974. W. Randall Lolley followed Blinkley, and was elected in 1974, and served until 1987.
The seminary experienced a major change in 1987 as a result of the so-called “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention. During this time, self-described conservatives sought to counter what they perceived to be the liberalization of theology within the denomination’s entities. By the 1980s, theological conservatives had long viewed Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as out of step with the evangelical orthodoxy. Once they had secured a majority on the board of trustees, conservative activists came into conflict with the administration and faculty, leading to the resignation of Randall Lolley. Under Lolley’s successor, Lewis Drummond, continuing conflict between the faculty and trustees caused sharp divisions and led to a decline in student enrollment.
During Drummond’s tenure, the seminary affirmed its commitment to conservative evangelical principles (described by detractors as fundamentalist) and established new faculty guidelines. Overall, the shift in policy caused dramatic turnover at the seminary. By the end of the 1988-89 academic year, more than one third of faculty had departed. The disruptions also threatened the seminary’s accreditation, with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placing the school on probation in December 1991.
In 1992, L. Paige Patterson (a prominent figure within the Southern Baptist conservative movement) succeeded Drummond. Patterson stabilized the school’s enrollment and hired theological conservatives to the faculty. Under Patterson, the seminary also expanded its focus on international evangelism and created a women’s studies program geared toward pastors’ wives. The curriculum promoted what was described as a complementarian theology in which God is understood to have given men and women distinct spiritual and social roles. In 1994, the trustees established Southeastern Baptist Theological College, later Southeastern College at Wake Forest, for classes leading to a bachelor's degree. This was renamed Judson College in 2024, honoring Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson.
Patterson stepped down in 2003 to become president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He was succeeded by Daniel L. (Danny) Akin, who still serves in the role.
In 2022, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary had a total enrollment of 2,764 students (including both undergraduates and graduates), of which 1,267 attended full-time.