James Leo Garrett Jr. (November 25, 1925 – February 5, 2020) was an American theologian. He held the position of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theology at

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and in 2005 was one of the largest seminaries in the wor ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Personal

Garrett was born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

to James Leo Garrett Sr., a business teacher at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

and his wife, Grace Hasseltine Jenkins Garrett. He was converted in 1935 and was baptized into membership at the Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco. He was licensed and ordained to the gospel ministry by the First Baptist Church of Waco. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Baylor University in 1945, a Bachelor of Divinity from

in 1948, a Master's of Theology from

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

in 1949, a Doctor of Theology from

in 1954, and a Doctor of Philosophy from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1966. He carried out additional studies at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

, in

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, St. John's University, and

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is the divinity school of Trinity International University, an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois. The divinity school was founded in 1897. In April 2025, Trinit ...

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, Lake and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A northern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, Deerfield is located on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore, ...

. He died in February 2020 at the age of 94.James Leo Garrett Jr., leading Baptist theologian, dies at 94
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Career

In his long academic career, he has taught at Southwestern Baptist Seminary (1949–1959, 1979–),

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

(1959–1973) and Baylor University in Waco, Texas (1973–1979). He has also been a visiting professor at the

Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary The Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute located in Hong Kong, China. It is affiliated with the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong. History The school was founded in 1951 by the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong ...

. He has also been a guest lecturer in the countries of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, the

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and at several schools in the United States. In 1965, he attended the final session of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

, as a guest of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity; he later wrote his Harvard PhD dissertation on American Protestants’ writings on Roman Catholicism between the two Vatican councils. While a student at Southwestern, he pastored three small Baptist churches, and has served as an interim pastor for several Baptist churches. He has authored several volumes, including ''Baptist Church Discipline'' in 1962, ''Baptists and Roman Catholicism'' published in 1965 by

Broadman Press Lifeway Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Christian media publishing and distribution division of the Southern Baptist Convention and provider of church business services. Until the end of its physical retail presence ...

and ''We Baptists'' in 1999. He is best known for his two volume ''Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical''. He has contributed articles to twenty-one other books and authored hundreds of journal articles, encyclopedia articles, and book reviews.

Family

He married Myrta Ann, a librarian, and they had three children.

Sources

* Basden, Paul A. "James Leo Garrett" in ''Baptist Theology and Theologians'' (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2001)

Selected Readings

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, James Leo, Jr. 1925 births 2020 deaths People from Waco, Texas American Baptist theologians Baptists from Texas Baylor University alumni Catholic University of America alumni Harvard University alumni Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty Systematic theologians