SEBTS Says ‘Anonymous Couple’ was Source of Tom Buck Letter Leak, Shuts Down Further Inquiry
How convenient. In a STATEMENTS FROM SOUTHEASTERN ON MATTERS SURROUNDING THE BUCK ESSAY, Danny Akin has shared with the world that his seminary has “concluded a careful investigation into the involvement of any SEBTS faculty and staff (Karen Swallow Prior and Ken Whitfield), in the sharing of an essay written by Jennifer Buck, and with the intention of blackmailing her husband, Tom Buck” and that they surmised that “nothing was discovered to indicate that any staff at SEBTS were involved in the sharing of the essay or in any attempt to blackmail Dr. Buck.”
Ie: they investigated themselves and then exonerated themselves of any wrongdoing.
SEBTS previously agreed to open to a third-party investigation and to waive any attorney/client privilege on the matters at hand, but then as the letter notes “discussions around the scope of the proposed investigation and the firm to conduct the investigation did not reach an agreed-upon conclusion” which is just another way of saying that SEBTS got cold feet and backed out.
Thankfully, a mysterious anonymous couple suddenly appeared only yesterday, falling on their sword, taking all the blame, and then went back to remaining anonymous, absolving SEBTS completely. They write
On June 8, 2022, SEBTS was informed that an anonymous couple had reached out to Rachael Denhollander to take responsibility for the attempted use of the Buck’s article draft as retaliation for Pastor Buck’s raising concerns related to an individual at Willy Rice’s church. This couple provided corroborating information to validate that they were the original actors and that they acted alone. They affirmed that the individual they contacted at Southeastern, Keith Whitfield, informed them that Dr. Prior would not corroborate the article, and that they both urged them not to publish it. Further, the couple confirmed that no one else was aware of or assisted them in these efforts. They have expressed deep grief at the harm they have caused.
With the emergence of this new couple, whose identity, SEBTS is officially out, washing their hands of any further responsibility to discuss the matter or partake in any further investigation.
“Based on this information and the efforts that SEBTS has undergone in reviewing and attempting to retrieve any helpful information related to this matter, we believe it is no longer necessary to participate in an independent inquiry….While some may still have “but what about” questions, we believe the investigation and new evidence is sufficient to bring this matter to a close regarding SEBTS’ involvement.”
Of course, some questions remain. While we’re all in the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, why isn’t either SEBTS or Rachel Denhollander telling Tom Buck who attempted to blackmail him? Is this what mishandling an abuse allegation looks like? Also, how did the couple know that only KSP could corroborate the draft? Were they contacted by text, or by phone? Why didn’t they warn Tom, a fellow SBC pastor? Why did they lie to him for so long? Etc.
We’re not saying it didn’t happen, only that these fresh new revelations make things sound even squirrellier than before. Tom Buck seems deeply unhappy and skeptical of the statement, calling it a joke and blasting Akin for the “grossly inaccurate statement.”
The saga continues.
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What about this? Have not the Bucks consistently denied giving KSP permission to give the article to anyone for publishing? Yet Akins statement says that: “We did confirm that Dr. Prior had in 2018 sent the article to one outlet for publication, with permission from the Bucks.” Even that very basic information in the matter is contradictory.
The SEBTS folks say that when contacted by the publisher for verification of the article, they refused to confirm its existence because they didn’t believe it should be published without permission from the Bucks.
Where did they say that? I do not recall seeing that statement.
Several places and times. Go to page 17 of this website. A letter containing it is posted in an article titled “SEBTS and Danny Akin Keeps Digging”. In that letter is a quote from Keith Whitfield where he describes the discussion with KSP: “I relayed the question to Karen, and she and I both believed it would be wrong to publish the essay without permission from the author”
Thank you. I reread that article and do remember now reading that earlier. There is too much to keep it all straight in my mind at times.
No problem. You’re certainly correct about the existence of contradictions. My inclination is to consider which party has a tendency to ignore the parts of the Bible they don’t like. It’s a safe assumption the same would also tend to gloss over the 9th Commandment. It’s not concrete proof in any given case, but we know if they’re not faithful in that which is least, they will not be faithful in much (Luke 16:10).
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