COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE, AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this dissertation is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This dissertation does not include proprietary or classified information. John C. Hardin Certificate of Approval: Wayne Flynt David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Chair Distinguished University Daniel F. Breeden Eminent Scholar Professor Emeritus in the Humanities Emeritus History History Charles A. Israel George T. Flowers Associate Professor Dean History Graduate School COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE, AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY John C. Hardin A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama May 9, 2009 COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE, AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY John C. Hardin Permission is granted to Auburn University to make copies of this dissertation at its discretion, upon request of individuals or institutions and at their expense. The author reserves all publication rights. Signature of Author Date of Graduation iii VITA John Clinton Hardin III was born in 1970 in Decatur, Alabama, to Clinton and Barbara (Akers) Hardin. He grew up in Moulton, Alabama, where he graduated from Lawrence County High School in 1989. He entered Auburn University that year and graduated in 1993 with a degree in history. He later earned masters degrees at Lipscomb University in Biblical studies (1997) and at Auburn University in history (2002). He has worked as a campus minister intern for Auburn Church of Christ, as a graduate teaching and graduate research assistant (with the Alabama Review and the online Encyclopedia of Alabama) for Auburn University, and as an archivist for the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, where he is currently employed in the Public Services Division. He is married to Amie Alexander Hardin, who is originally from Walker County, Alabama, and who works as a registered dietitian. They were married in 1993 and have two daughters, Abbie and Maggie. iv DISSERTATION ABSTRACT COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE, AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY John C. Hardin Doctor of Philosophy, May 9, 2009 (M.A., Auburn University, 2002) (M.A.R., Lipscomb University, 1997) (B.A., Auburn University, 1993) 362 Typed Pages Directed by David Edwin Harrell, Jr. From 1939 to 1977, Benton Cordell Goodpasture (1895-1977) edited the Gospel Advocate. Founded in 1855 and published weekly in Nashville, the paper was a crucial center of influence for Churches of Christ, a loose-knit group of autonomous congregations concentrated in the South. After 1945, Goodpasture, the Advocate, and a network of like- minded preachers, churches, and institutions were at the center of the group’s transition from a marginal position in society. The influential editor nurtured growth and denominational identity by promoting the group’s interests, activities, and institutions, and used his significant informal power to isolate a small minority of churches resisting modernization. The apparent majority consensus that he helped cement in the 1950s came under attack from the left during the 1960s. His leadership role then took on a defensive, caretaker quality, but he remained an important symbol of stability for mainstream Churches of Christ to his death. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Several people deserve my thanks. Mrs. Freddie Goodpasture (now deceased) enriched this study by graciously allowing me access to her husband’s papers before generously donating them to the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Numerous librarians and archivists were of assistance: Erma Jean Loveland, Carisse Berryhill, and Chad Longley at Abilene Christian University; Terence Sheridan and Kay Newman at Southern Christian University; Marie Byers and David Howard at Lipscomb University; Hope Shull and Sherry Jennette at Freed-Hardeman University; Dena Luce at Faulkner University; Timothy Nutt at the University of Arkansas; David McWhirter and Mac Ice at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society; Henry Terrill at Harding University; Don Meredith at Harding University Graduate School of Religion; and Jane Henderson at Auburn Church of Christ. My thanks also go to Terry Gardner, John Allen Chalk, Fletcher Srygley, Don Haymes, and Tom Olbricht. Several friends and colleagues deserve my recognition: David Duer, Tom Steed, Bill Becker, Barclay Key, Heath Willingham, John Wigginton, Mark Wilson, Scott Billingsley, Steve Murray, Ken Barr, Jeff Jakeman, Donna Bohanan, Kathryn Braund, Ken and Nancy Noe, Bill Rogers, and my co-laborers at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Ed Harrell, the director of this piece of work, displayed infinite patience, while committee members Wayne Flynt, Charles Israel, and Richard Penaskovic (as outside reader) provided detailed feedback. I offer my deepest gratitude to all my family, especially my wife, Amie, and my daughters, Abbie and Maggie, who put up with me most of all. vi Style manual used: The Chicago Manual of Style, Fifteenth Edition Computer software used: Corel WordPerfect 12 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: “THE CAUSE WE LOVE” . .1 CHAPTER 2 THE FIRST YEAR: “TO THE TOP” . 21 CHAPTER 3 THE FORTIES: “SAFE IN YOUR HANDS” . 62 CHAPTER 4 THE FIFTIES: “ON THE MARCH” . 118 CHAPTER 5 THE SIXTIES: “FORCES OF LIBERALISM” . 182 CHAPTER 6 THE SEVENTIES: “THE ANCHOR THAT HOLDS” . 251 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION: “A TOWERING OAK”. 303 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 332 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: “THE CAUSE WE LOVE” Although they were born some twenty years apart, N. B. Hardeman and B. C. Goodpasture had much in common. Both men preached among Churches of Christ for decades, and both served that body in influential leadership positions–as educator and editor, respectively. The eldest, Hardeman, lived from 1874 to 1965. He was co-founder and longtime president of Freed-Hardeman College, a Henderson, Tennessee, school started in 1908 and supported by members of Churches of Christ.1 A legendary orator, Hardeman solidified his reputation as a preacher during a series of five acclaimed “Tabernacle meetings” sponsored by Nashville churches between 1922 and 1942. He became a household name among Churches of Christ as a result of the first meeting, delivering thirty- nine sermons to a total of 160,000 people in Ryman Auditorium.2 The sermons were published, and “at least two generations of Church of Christ preachers cut their theological teeth on those lectures.”3 The younger Goodpasture, born in 1895, did not come to prominence until 1939, when he was named editor of the Gospel Advocate. Published in Nashville, the weekly paper was the oldest institution among Churches of Christ, a fellowship of loose-knit, autonomous congregations with its greatest strength in the South, especially Tennessee and Texas.4 Goodpasture was a relatively little-known Atlanta preacher and Advocate staff 1 writer when he ascended to the editor’s chair. Although he was already known and admired by Hardeman, in his new position he would win the elder statesman’s complete confidence and earn his highest esteem.5 Hardeman would come to think of Goodpasture as “the standard bearer for the Church,” and would often tell him as much.6 “I love and appreciate what you have done and are yet doing for the Cause we love,” he informed Goodpasture in 1963. “Men of your ability and devotion to duty are mighty scarce.”7 Hardeman was not alone in his opinion of Goodpasture, who would remain in charge of the Gospel Advocate until his death in 1977. Church leaders and lay members alike looked to the editor for leadership. But the record of the Hardeman-Goodpasture relationship yields more than evidence of Goodpasture’s personal influence. It also sheds light on the root and base of his influence, namely the central place of the Advocate among Churches of Christ. An illuminating example is contained in a letter from Hardeman to Goodpasture in 1953. Now 79, Hardeman’s long tenure as president of Freed-Hardeman had ended in 1950. Still a household name, he asked the editor to announce to Advocate readers that he was continuing to preach and was “not retired by a long sight.” Stressing that he was in good health, he suggested that Goodpasture “make mention of the fact that brethren everywhere speak of my sermons as better than usual.” Although he was already scheduled for several speaking engagements over the next two years, Hardeman clearly wanted to make sure that churches did not forget about him.8 Like thousands of preachers since 1855, Hardeman knew to turn to the Gospel Advocate when he needed to get a message out to the churches. Preachers knew also to turn to Goodpasture when they needed his influence to help them secure permanent employment. In March 1959, Memphis preacher J. M. Powell, brother-in-law to Goodpasture and 2 Hardeman’s biographer, contacted the editor to ask a favor himself: “Will you probe the possibility of me going to the Harding Road church in Nashville? I hear they are looking for a preacher.” He would be interested in any church that Goodpasture recommended, but his “preference” was the Nashville congregation.9 These requests of Goodpasture give evidence of de facto organization in a self-proclaimed undenominational tradition, and they raise a host of questions about Goodpasture, the Gospel Advocate, and Churches of Christ in mid- twentieth-century America. The Restoration Movement and Churches of Christ Originating in the first decade of the nineteenth century, the American restoration movement, often called the Stone-Campbell movement, began to blossom in the 1820s and 1830s, and so did its papers and editors.10 Alexander Campbell’s Christian Baptist (1823- 1830) and Millennial Harbinger (1830-1870), Barton Stone’s Christian Messenger (1826- 1845), and Walter Scott’s Evangelist (1832-1842) defined the movement in its first generation.