Amsterdam — A Scottish Baptist educator and former pastor has been named rector of the International Baptist Theological Study Centre in Amsterdam, a school owned by the European Baptist Federation in the process of relocating from the Czech Republic.
The International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS) board of trustees voted unanimously to hire Stuart Blythe, currently interim principal of the Scottish Baptist College. Blythe, a 1989 graduate of the seminary then located in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, will be the first IBTS alum to lead the school established in 1949 to rebuild and unify European Baptists following World War II.
In 2012, trustees responded to declining revenues and costs associated with maintaining an aging campus by voting to establish a Baptist house, embedded in VU University of Amsterdam, to concentrate on doctor of philosophy study in Baptist/Anabaptist studies and mission and practical theology.
The shift also recognizes that local seminaries have sprung up to offer undergraduate and master’s degrees, but there is a continuing need for doctoral studies.
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