In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music.

For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE (full-time equivalent) enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.

In 1857, Boyce convinced members of the convention in Louisville, Kentucky, to approve a motion to establish The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Under his leadership, the seminary opened the Carver School of Church Social Work and reached an all-time peak in enrollment of students in 1986.

After the election of Adrian Rogers as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the school began to slowly return to its traditional theological positions such as the inerrancy of Scripture.

Under Mohler's leadership, every member of the faculty was required to sign the confession of the seminary known as the "Abstract of Principles" and the "Baptist Faith and Message".

In 1926, during the administration of Southern president Edgar Y. Mullins, the seminary occupied "The Beeches", a 100-acre (0.40 km2) suburban campus east of the city center[17] designed by the Frederick Law Olmsted firm.

The campus now contains 10 academic and residential buildings in Georgian architecture and three housing villages for married students.

In 1951, President Duke Kimbrough McCall integrated the campus, in defiance of Kentucky state laws that established segregation at public facilities.

[19] As a result, many donors withheld their gifts to Southern, and some demanded McCall's resignation for letting King speak in the seminary chapel.

Controversy regarding this subject was circulated and interracial ministers coalition requested The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to financially support nearby black colleges as a result.

As a response to the request, President R. Albert Mohler Jr. and board Chair F.Matthew Schmucker released the following statement:“We agree with the policy of the Southern Baptist Convention in this regard, and we do not believe that financial reparations are the appropriate response,” There are claims stating that the founders owned more than 50 slaves.

[24] It decided that secular social work was inappropriate for a seminary, and replaced the program with a school for training evangelists, missionaries and church-growth specialists.

They offer a joint library catalog, cross-registration of any student in any member institution, and faculty and cultural exchanges.

In 1970, Southern helped create the Theological Education Association of Mid-America (TEAM-A), one of the United States' first seminary "clusters," a consortium of five schools related to the Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Roman Catholic and Baptist traditions.

It receives almost one-third of its $31 million annual budget from the SBC Cooperative Program, the unified financial support system that distributes gifts from the congregations to the agencies and institutions of the denomination.

"[31] Speakers have included conservative scholars William A. Dembski, Marvin Olasky, Gregory Alan Thornbury, and Alvin Plantinga.

[33] Mohler, following these instructions, required that current professors affirm, without any spoken or unspoken reservations, the Abstract of Principles.

[34] In the wake of the subsequent dismissal or resignation of a large percentage of the faculty, Southern has replaced them with new professors who agree to adhere to the BF&M in addition to the seminary's Abstract of Principles.