Christian

history Issue 126 in America LIVE STREAMINg Many Baptists have preferred to be baptized in “living waters” flowing in a river or stream on/ el S

as opposed to a pond or baptistery. n ayne r

a man churching himself,” Smyth wrote about his act. obin “For two men singly are no ; so may two men put upon themselves.” He later rethought the

issue and asked the local Mennonite church to baptize erved

him as a Mennonite. They refused, though some of his re S original diner. © r followers eventually did join the Mennonite Church. pany’ S ll right S IVY-COVERED WALLS OF SEPARATION a re SS .

The first Baptist college, Bristol Baptist College, was p

founded at Bristol, England, in 1679; it still exists today. ity Its graduates helped to found in niver S 1764—the oldest Baptist college in the . u Baptists were often barred from attending other colo- xford nial schools, most of which are members of the Ivy , behind counter of the co M il- a f League today. In fact Harvard College president Henry - hed by o Did you know? Dunster had been fired in 1654 and his house confis- hic K cated because of his . Ironically Brown Baptists “churching theMselves,” would later join the Ivy League. re SS and publi S founding schools, joining the arMy, p

I’M YOuR . NO, I’M NOT. YES, I AM. ident and ceo of c ity and cliMBing trees Elias Keach, the son of a famous Baptist min- niver S

ister, arrived in in 1686 in clerical garb u

SELF-SERVE BAPTISM though he was not licensed, baptized, or even con- cathy pre S Early Baptist founder John Smyth, originally an Angli- verted. (Many colonial Americans tried to pass them- xford can priest, became a Separatist pastor in Holland selves off as , often lying about British credentials, .S.— truett

(“Separatists” wanted to be independent of England’s in pursuit of wealth and social status.) Local Baptist u established Anglican Church). in Amster- immigrants in Pennepack asked Keach to preach for eorgia,

dam convinced him of the need for believer’s baptism, them. But his conscience got the better of him during a g opyright © 2018 by o c

so he baptized himself and his followers in 1609. Smyth sermon; he began weeping and trembling, and admit- . oundation in S f described his group as “Christians Baptized on Pro- ted that he was a fraud. An Irish Baptist led tlanta, an K

fession of Their Faith,” but many shortened that to him to conversion and then baptized him. The Pen- h torical S

“se-Baptist” (self-Baptist). “There is good warrant for nepack Baptists still needed a minister, and so Keach i arry h pr 1, 2001 - a t

became the real pastor of the church in 1688. a apti S b I’LL MAKE A MAN OuT OF YOu S. Kidd and b S Schoolteacher Deborah Sampson joined Third Baptist in a ennepac K ho M Middleborough, Massachusetts, in a 1780 revival. Two ge 93. pictured :

years later minutes from a church meeting recorded: y of p erved “Deborah Sampson, a member of the church who last re S merica by t ourte S Spring was accused of dressing in men’s clothes and hoto p

ied Monday at a

enlisting as a soldier in the army . . . although she was d ll right S a

not convicted, yet was strongly suspected of being athy y Stoc K Baptists in a c

guilty, and for some time before behaved very loose and la M ro M / a f un-Christian like, and at last left our parts in a secret ruett t on : toc K S manner.” The church withdrew fellowship from Samp- WS p e M n a

son, who successfully joined the army as “Robert Shur- ounder ive f

tein bild / granger — l y

tliff.” She served for 17 months, survived a grievous and S -fil- a ater—doc- S battle wound, and was honorably discharged in 1783. la M obert White, line engraving, 1697— c / a hic K arding—ull S “EAT MOR ChIKIN” Baptist layman s. truett cathy h Keach by r

(1921–2014) founded chick-fil-a, which has never apre SS.co M M torie S about K each u lia S opened on sundays. lorence Z S Sept. 8, 2014 - c bapti SM in living W Spurgeon— Wikipedia e f

Christian History Spurgeon—Wikipedia eliaS Keach by robert White, line engraving, 1697—courteSy of pennepacK baptiSt hiStorical foundation florence harding—ullStein bild / granger—all rightS reServed Issue 126 ers burnedhisbooksbecauseofantislaveryviews. preaching intheu preacher FIx not was aman Carroll, Harvey founder, Benajah again.” comes SWBTS’s home until permanent it “found had that to move its to Ft. Worth, announcing school the convince for helped anew home,ing Norris 1908 it look was that in Baylor announced University at Seminary Theological Baptist Southwestern When Q Ft. Temple Worth and simultaneously Detroit in Baptist in Baptist First pastored and out amissionary, as Birch Convention, John Baptist send helped Southern the broke with down twice, burn church father, his had alcoholic an up with grew but he also murder charge, a on acquittal probably was part his eventful most The life. eventful an had preachers, Baptist famous most century’s early twentieth of one the Norris, J. Frank F 1982 acoup. in during He assassinated was World black Baptist president of the first Alliance. the Tolbert elected was president William later, Liberian ahalf and Acentury to . first the slave, aformer and Baptist was Carey,Lott aVirginia T B of theus’sfourBaptistpresidents. the tieofherhusband,Warreng impostor influential earlyBaptistchurchinp FAKE h u u u RNINg E NDAMENTALIST FREQu g uP INg OTABLE Qu

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lias Keach. Right: Q harles u ESTION Below: LIBERIAN OTES f nited lorence s purgeon (1834-1892) considered WhenfamousBritishBaptist t s he founding pastor of the most he foundingpastorofthemost tates in1859,somes h arding straightens arding straightens CONNECTION ENT-FLYER MILES . h arding, one arding, one ennsylvania was ennsylvania was outhern- - .

Carroll wrote, “you will be out be wrote, “you of your hole.”Carroll will atree?” in “I’m up ahole help aman in ahole. aman in How can help men me?” donor responded, your fine The and donor, to one he wrote school, “I’m you Can up atree. new for the funds to raise Star-Telegram trying . When Worth at for Ft. words aloss either, to the according . America in Hankins,Baptists Barry and S. Kidd Thomas from Keach and Sampson of stories the allowing for to Press us reprint to University Oxford Thanks “When you come up the tree to help me down,” you tree come up“When the C H

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It’s worth reminding our readers from time to time of our eaten Easter morning. The local mission statement: “CHI is aligned with no particular ladies brought lovely Easter bas- denomination, but adheres to the Apostles’ Creed and seeks to kets filled with Potica (walnut present the history of the global church and to see the best in roll-up bread), ham, sausage, each Christian tradition.” Though many saints do appear in and homemade egg cheese. our pages, not everyone we discuss has demonstrated a living The traditional Slovak faith, even those who sometimes claimed it. We trust our read- Christmas Eve dinner con- ers to separate the wheat from the chaff and discern the hand of sisted of Oplatky (Christmas God at work even in the unlikeliest of circumstances. wafers), honey, wine, Pagach, Bobalky, Rozky, and nut and yoU tHanK Us for oUr MaGaZIne . . . poppy seed rolls. Most of the Thank you so much for providing your magazine. I pass foods were prepared with it on to other inmates after I have thoroughly devoured home-grown crops. These foods were it. Your research and insight are a gift from our Father part of my childhood along with faith, in heaven.—Charles Jenkins, Burlington, CO family, and now happy memories.—Nancy Pallo Hennis, Jourdanton, TX I have distributed your resources to my study group urging them to receive Christian History so we can use a crowd of readers it in our discussions. Thank you for a quality quarterly! I was elated to see my name in the last issue. In prison —Joseph Boutwell, Halifax, VA most offenders don’t receive mail or acknowledgments from anyone. And usually the mail we receive, like mag- . . . we tHanK yoU for yoUr sUPPort azines, we share with everyone else. Well, your maga- I have every issue from #1 to the present. Thank you zine is shared by not only myself but apparently several for this truly great resource. May God richly bless other offenders here on Eastham, because I have had a your efforts to educate so many for such a nominal fee. ton of people come up and tell me they saw my name in I wish I could give more. Keep up the great work. the “Letters to the Editor” section. So please know that —Robert Canino, Auburn, NY your magazine is read by more than just those on your subscription list. I believe that I have all of CH from the first issue and Also, have you ever thought of doing an issue on am now investing in the slipcovers to keep them nice. Christian higher education and the history behind it? I thoroughly enjoyed issue 124. I especially liked how I attend the Therapon Theological Seminary and Bible you interwove modern day interviews with the histori- College here on the unit. . . . Again, thank you for all you cal articles. I hope you will consider doing that more do and we’ll keep praying for you and ask you to do the often. . . . I thoroughly enjoyed the Feasting and Fast- same for us.— Johnny Wooten, Lovelady, TX ing issue. It helps so much to see these topics in their historical context, especially concerning the celebration Thanks, Johnny, for that wonderful testimony. We are in fact of the . As always, Lord Bless and keep up the seriously discussing doing an issue on Christian involvement good work!—Tom Edmunds, Washington, NJ in primary, secondary, and higher education.

If you want slipcases to keep your collection in good shape like too corny? Tom’s, they are available at our website, www.christianhisto- On page 8 of issue 125, there is a mention of corn. Didn’t ryinstitute.org. Europe and the rest of the “Eastern World” not have this grain until explorers brought it back from the New easter eGGs and cHrIstMas Meals World? I’m aware it’s translated as corn in the Bible. Thank you so much for the Food and Faith issue. Since Please set me straight. I’m married to a Navajo so this is my husband’s mother was Italian, I learned to make a pet peeve of ours!—Suzanne via email Easter Bread. It was amazing to discover that the raw- in-shell colored Easter eggs woven into the bread baked “Corn” means “grain” in British English, the dialect of that like hard-boiled eggs. article’s author (and incidentally of the editor’s British hus- istory # 124 history #125 h I grew up in Sugar Creek, MO. Much of the town band, which is probably why I read right past it). American was of Slovak descent. On Holy Saturday the Catholic corn, which was indeed unknown in the Old World until the hristian C Christian Church blessed the various food items that were to be age of exploration, is called “maize” in the UK.

Issue 126 3 Editor’s note

As I wAs prepArIng thIs Issue, marveling at the famous statement about a “wall of separation between twists and turns of the Baptist tale in the United States, church and state” came from a letter he sent to a group I wondered how to begin this editor’s letter. With Roger of . . . you guessed it . . . Baptists. Williams, leading dissenters from established colonial The Judsons and Moon were forerunners of the churches to worship in freedom in Rhode Island? With broader nineteenth-century missionary movement, and John Leland, urging a consideration for spanning the globe with the story of Christ’s love as religious liberty as the new nation took shape? well as the march of Western cultural habits, for better Or perhaps with Adoniram and Ann Judson, set- or for worse. Recent Baptist splits bring us to the bat- ting out for as Congregationalist tle between fundamentalism and modernism, a battle and becoming convinced of Baptist beliefs on the way? that burst the bounds of churches to change American (I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the culture and politics forever. And all along Baptists Congregationalist missions board heard the news.) With have been committed in their message, congrega- , the first single woman missionary ever tional in their polity, and concerned for the freedom of sent out by Baptists, who spent four decades in China? the individual in matters of worship and conscience. With twentieth-century controversies and splits that pit- And I started thinking: if Baptist religion isn’t ted Baptist against Baptist, each group with differing American religion, it’s got to be pretty close. True, the visions of how to be faithful to the Kingdom of God? Baptist movement was birthed in England (a story Then died. we told in one of our earliest issues, #6). But in the Baptist journey, we see the struggles and triumphs something bigger of the United States, and of the Christian faith in the When speaking of “America’s pastor” Graham— American context, as we do in the journey of almost no as with another famous twentieth-century Baptist, other group. (Given that I am descended from a people King Jr.—the first thing that comes to who grew up singing “I’m a Methodist till I die,” this mind is something other than Baptists. Graham’s cru- is a significant statement.) sades and King’s struggles are seen as bigger than So no matter what your denominational ties, any one denomination: something that belongs to let Baptist history illuminate American church Americans as part of our history, not just Baptist his- history for you in this issue. We’ve intentionally tory or even Christian history. invited many different kinds of Baptists to contrib- The more I thought about it, the more I thought ute. And may all those whose stories we tell in these that a lot of Baptist stories are like that. When we think pages—including Williams, Backus, about Williams, it quickly leads us into the importance Leland, the Judsons, Moon, King, of Rhode Island (and later Pennsylvania) as a place for and Graham—rest in peace and rise obin Heller obin Heller all sorts of people who wanted to worship in peace. The in glory. C H stories of Backus and Leland soon give way to those of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson and the debates Jennifer Woodruff Tait oto that consumed our country at its founding. Jefferson’s Managing editor, Christian History

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4 Christian History 16 28 32

Baptists in America 6 From outlaws to patriots 29 Multiplying by dividing (again) The early story of Baptists in America Baptists wrestle with fundamentalism and liberalism Thomas S. Kidd and Barry Hankins Bill J. Leonard 12 Which Baptist are you again? 32 “That’s where I used to go to church” Elizabeth Flowers Black Baptists and white Baptists shared a penchant for splitting 13 The wall of separation Barry Hankins The Baptist battle for religious liberty Curtis W. Freeman 36 Preachers, organizers, trailblazers Some passionate men and women who carried forward 16 March to freedom the Baptist tradition in the United States ss African American Baptists forged a strong identity Mandy E. McMichael ongr E in the face of oppression Adam L. Bond 39 Baptist presidents and vice presidents Jennifer Woodruff Tait ibrary of c 19 “For the public worship of almighty God and also for holding 41 “America’s pastor” incoln— l l Commencement” Grant Wacker ort

ss Baptists founded schools early and often Amy Whitfield Also: ongr E • Did you know?, inside front cover • Letters, p.3 ros, 1857) b nfantry, at f i 24 Attempting great things for God • Editor’s note, p.4 • Timeline, p.22 ason

ibrary of c Baptists spread the Good News around the world • A trumpet call for China, p. 26 • All for Burma, p. 28 m olor ED ns ( c Melody Maxwell • Recommended resources, p.42 . s . , 1963— l ric A Founder Executive Editor Print Coordinator ©2018 Christian History Institute. Cover: Baptism—The Annie F. Lee Art nt Am E A. K. Curtis Bill Curtis Deb Landis Foundation 501C3 (AFL35) www.afl35.org. Christian History is published by

Emin E Senior Editor Contributing Editor Proofreaders Christian History Institute, P.O. Box 540, Worcester, PA, 19490 and is indexed ompany E, 4th u Chris R. Armstrong Edwin Woodruff Tait Meg Moss c in Christian Periodical Index. ISSN 0891-9666 Subscriptions are available on a Kaylena Radcliff donation basis. Letters to the editor may be sent to Jennifer Woodruff Tait

ossing, Managing Editor Art Director Jennifer Woodruff Tait Doug Johnson Circulation and permissions requests to Dawn Moore. Credits: We make every effort to olumbia. Sara Campbell son— l Advisory Editor CH 126 Image Researcher obtain proper permission to reproduce images. If you have information about Elizabeth Flowers Matthew Rosebrock Layout an image source that is not credited, please let us know. . Ju D h Dan Graves Editorial Coordinator Publisher nn E a civil rights march on Washington, D c District of c Dawn Moore Christian History Institute www.ChristianHistoryMagazine.org • 1-800-468-0458.

Issue 126 5 d E ER v RE s hts G i pRE ss. All R uN iv ER sity d R o F x

From outlaws to patriots d by o The early STory of BapTiSTS in america AN d publish E pRE ss Thomas S. Kidd and Barry Hankins d E ER v

On September 5, 1651, Obadiah Holmes was a Kansas BaptisM Baptists began as a small and RE s uN iv ER sity hts taken from his cell in ’s prison to receive 30 despised sect, but had spread throughout the US by the d R G i o

time this scene was painted in 1928. F

lashes with a three-corded whip. Holmes had been x alone in prison for weeks; that day an unusual calm came over him. His captors tried to keep him from a recovery of ancient Christian tradition. Hints of a speaking, but he would not be silent. “I am now come Baptist movement existed in sixteenth-century Eng- ht © 2018 by o G to be baptized in afflictions by your hands,” he said, land, mostly among English Separatists, radical Puri- i opy R

“that so I may have further fellowship with my Lord, tans who believed that the was c d s. E and am not ashamed of his sufferings, for by his corrupt beyond redemption. By the early seventeenth N d ER v

stripes am I healed.” century, some Separatists concluded that complete E hANK i RR y, 1928. GRANGER / GRANGER. All R RE s ER v Holmes was tied to a post; an officer took up church purity demanded a rejection of . u c hts RE s bARR y G

the whip and began flailing with all his might. Yet Many of them also adopted views similar to Men- i AR t u hts E G t

Holmes felt God’s presence more strongly than at any nonites on issues such as separation of church and i s other time in his life; the pain floated away. When state, and experienced similar persecution by political . Kidd AN d s

the captors untied him, Holmes stood up and smiled. and church authorities. Fleeing such persecution, Sep- s s by Joh N A

“You have struck me as with roses,” he advised them. aratist pastor John Smyth (c. 1570–1612), originally an hom A AN v

What had Holmes done to provoke the wrath of Anglican priest, escaped to in 1608. Taking AGE s / GRANGER; All R c m i

colonial Massachusetts? He had preached the his rejection of church tradition to the furthest extreme, N il o N o of the Baptists. And that was against the law. Smyth decided to baptize himself by affusion (pouring merica by t — GRANGER / GRANGER; All R ms— sAR i water over his head) and subsequently baptized the s in a Baptist Beginnings in england rest of his congregation. Then he developed doubts and is T Bap T

Baptists argued that their defining practice—the bap- approached local Mennonites to baptize him (for what ism in Kansas . om R Bloudy Tenen T Ro GER Willi A Bap T tism of Christian believers by immersion—represented would have been the third time). They refused. F

6 Christian History for cause of conscience Above: a 19th-c. art- ist imagines ’s meeting in exile with the narragansett tribe. Williams’s Bloudy Tenent (left) argues for religious liberty rather than “bloody belief” in persecution.

In 1636 Williams fled to southern New England and helped establish the town of Providence and the Smyth soon died of tuberculosis, and his fol- colony of Rhode Island, soon filled with Separatists. lowers split. Some joined the Mennonites, some Meanwhile the mercurial Williams repudiated his followed ’s English Separatists (the infant baptism and in 1638 joined with a small group “Pilgrims” on the Mayflower in 1620), and a small of followers to establish America’s first Baptist church faction, nicknamed “se-Baptists” (self-Baptists), fol- in Providence. One of Williams’s followers, Ezekiel lowed lawyer (c. 1550–c. 1616). They Holliman, baptized him, and then Williams baptized returned to England in 1611 or 1612, where Helwys Holliman and the rest of the group. Like John Smyth, gained notoriety with his Short Declaration of the though, Williams began to question his new baptism. Mystery of Iniquity (1612). From that point forward, he preached to anyone who Short Declaration, personally inscribed for King would listen, but he refused to join a church. James I with a remarkable tirade against state authority Persecution of Baptists soon intensified. Provocative in spiritual matters, landed Helwys in London’s infa- behavior by some Baptists was partially responsible. mous Newgate Prison, where he died. Despite their William Witter was brought before the court of Salem, untimely ends, Smyth and Helwys had permanently Massachusetts, in 1643 for saying that infant bap- d

E established the Baptist movement in England. tism was “a badge of the whore” and three years later d ER v

E “for saying that they who stayed while a child is bap- RE s ER v “the se-baptist at amsterdam” tized, do worship the devil.” Massachusetts authorities hts RE s G

i Most early American colonists were at least nominally banned Baptists in 1645, calling them “the incendiaries hts G i Christian; almost all practiced infant baptism, viewing of commonwealths and the infectors of persons in main its rejection as a dangerous affront to the traditions of matters of religion, and the troublers of churches in all family, church, and society. In the Puritan-founded col- places.” The ban covered anyone who questioned infant ony of Massachusetts, Roger Williams was one of the baptism, proclaimed , or denied the

AGE s / GRANGER; All R first to run afoul of these strictures. state’s authority to police religious convictions. m i

N Arriving in Massachusetts in 1631 as a Separatist In 1654, though, the Baptists nabbed their most pastor, Williams’s continual dissent took him from Bos- prominent colonial convert: Harvard president Henry — GRANGER / GRANGER; All R

ms— sAR i ton to Plymouth to Salem. In Plymouth a ruling elder Dunster. His public rejection of infant baptism alarmed feared Williams “would run the same course of rigid Massachusetts authorities, but they had to handle the separation and anabaptistry, which Mr. John Smith, the case delicately; the president of Harvard could not be Bloudy Tenen T Ro GER Willi A se-[self] baptist at Amsterdam had done.” hastily tried or summarily whipped.

Issue 126 7 AGE s m i AN / bR id GE m

A group of Puritan ministers met with Dunster, but fierY sKY Above: fireworks in london mark the corona- ctio N he made compelling arguments for believer’s baptism. tion of William and mary, who gave Baptists and other oll E “All instituted gospel worship hath some express word dissenters freedom of worship. c of Scripture,” he said. “But paedobaptism hath none.” fierY preacher Left: was an Harvard removed him from the presidency. After his anglican priest, but his effect on Baptists was profound.

dismissal Dunster largely remained quiet, but he pre- lEARN / El GAR AN d sented a formidable challenge to the Massachusetts

establishment, simply because he had once belonged to their meetings, even nailing the door shut. But continu- oo K

it. It seemed anyone could be led astray by the Baptists. ing pressure from London for religious toleration broke / © l Boston’s resistance, and in 1681 the General Court gave ctio N Baptists in Boston official approval for them to meet publicly. oll E c

Meanwhile Boston farmer and wagon maker Thomas In 1689 new English monarchs William III and E t Goold (1607-1675) had become intrigued by Baptist beliefs. Mary II championed the Act of Toleration, which pro- When the family had a daughter in 1655, he refused to tected for all Protestants, including present her for the customary baptism. Eight years later Baptists. Baptists could now worship in relative peace ER ) / pR iv A he objected when his church adopted the Halfway Cov- and quiet, but they still had to pay taxes to support the enant, a Puritan agreement to allow baptized nonmem- established state churches. bers to have their children baptized despite lack of a con- By the early eighteenth century, Baptist churches

vincing testimony of conversion by the parents. proliferated across America. In Kittery, Maine, a small cARR (1822–88) ( AF t

Goold and others began holding private meet- church developed under the leadership of the merchant vius

ings at his home; they solidified their Baptist convic- William Screven (c. 1629–1713); hoping for relief from ct A o

tions in May 1665 when Goold and eight others were persecution, Screven and a number of church members lix d E

immersed. Massachusetts authorities would normally relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, and by 1696 y, F E E ER v have crushed Goold, but ongoing controversy related to established the first Baptist congregation in the South. RE s dAR l d the Halfway Covenant, as well as the English govern- Quaker-founded Pennsylvania afforded religious hts E G ment’s pressure to temper persecution in the wake of freedom to all, but this actually worked against i ER v

recent Quaker hangings, muted their reaction. Baptists: they struggled to get a foothold amid so many RE s ENGRA vi NG ), ( ll ER y Goold was excommunicated and tried twice but churches and sects while troubled by internal feuds. To hts G not successfully convicted; then the government chal- alleviate these problems, the Association i ilgrims p RA it G A

lenged Baptists to an unprecedented public debate of Baptists was founded in 1707. The association could t R he T o AGE s / GRANGER; All R p y m

in 1668. When the debate ended without changing not dictate policy or to individual congrega- i B

N Baptist minds, the Massachusetts General Court ban- tions, but it helped regularize Baptist life in the Middle h tio NA l sAR i

ished Goold and two others. Despite their best efforts, Colonies—solving congregational disputes, testing — lymou T p

signs of Baptist activity began to appear all over eastern ministerial candidates, and sponsoring new churches ld—N A E

Massachusetts. In 1674 Goold and his followers slipped and missionary journeys. volutio N us—GRANGER / GRANGER; All R into Boston and began meeting at a private home. The largely uneducated leaders of the seventeenth K bA c ious R E RGE Whit EF i

Though Goold died in 1675, his church grew to 80 century were gradually replaced by highly educated lic Worship a T o B AA c E u s Glo R G p members by 1680. Officials tried repeatedly to stop in the eighteenth. In 1718 Elisha Callender i

8 Christian History GEoRGE WhitEFiEld—NAtioNAl poRtRAit GAllERy GloRious REvolutioN—sARiN imAGEs / GRANGER; All RiGhts REsERvEd

puBlic Worship aT plymouTh By The pilgrims (ENGRAviNG), dARlEy, FElix octAvius cARR (1822–88) (AFtER) / pRivAtE collEctioN / © looK ANd lEARN / ElGAR collEctioN / bRidGEmAN imAGEs isAAc bAcKus—GRANGER / GRANGER; All RiGhts REsERvEd Issue 126 Backus, stopped attending and began holding private holding began and attending stopped Backus, By mid-1745, church. Norwich 13 including members, late 1741: August in came breakthrough His same. to do son her the urged and faith her renewed Backus’s came, revival the mother When Connecticut. Norwich, in family farming aCongregationalist from Backus, Isaac Great was Awakening the from to emerge revivals. support not sufficiently did churches existing because usually formed, churches Baptist and of new “Separate” Congregationalist over hundreds as all repeated was story This critics. to his and Whitefield to both aplatform giving , of the cist Pennsylvania Franklin’s Ben in complaints went his public with Kinnersley over disgusted edge. The the him Rowland John pushed revivalist by Presbyterian church Baptist at the preached sermon zied afren and extremes, emotional revivals’ the with uncomfortable increasingly grew Jones. Kinnersley to assistant Kinnersley, an Ebenezer was revivals the vehemently opposed authority.” with and feelingly speaks who Philadelphia, of in Iknow that “the preacher only him called Jesus” and it in as is “the Jones preach truth tor Jenkin pas Baptist heard Whitefield Philadelphia, a1740 crowds. During large stop in drew preaching fiery whose Whitefield, George unlikely source: popular Anglican revivalist an from came for Baptists big next break The Great a ordination. his in even participated Mather Cotton as such stalwarts Congregationalist tor of Boston’s Church. Baptist First pas Harvard-educated first the became and he became the colonies’ most influential publi influential most colonies’ the he became and the Baptists’mostfamous18th-c.leaders. Below: “the libertY p tory ilgrims mighthaveworshipedatp which fully satisfies the law that I had broken I had law that the satisfies fully which righteousness glorious of that adiscovery such with my into heart shined out of darkness, shine to light the who moment caused God critical that rebel aguilty such condemning in Backus became increasingly dissatisfied with his his with dissatisfied increasingly became Backus my before eyes clear so shined of God justice The convert Baptist New England influential most The who most But Baptists of one the Franklin knew a good news story when he saw news one, story agood knew Franklin textbook pictures for readers how the textbook picturesforreadershowthe

G c ospel is not preached here” here” preached not is ospel onvert of worship of waK

i eninG saac Backus became one of saac Backusbecameoneof s Right: a 19th-c.his- - lymouth. And just in in just . And - -

Gazette . . - meetings; they argued that the church did not make not did make church the that argued they meetings; congregation was formed on the Ashley River north River north Ashley the on formed was congregation low country. Apivotal Carolina the spread through had ment of Baptists Charleston’s Church, Baptist First 1690s the Following establish South. the in Baptists zeal. Baptist But increased itEngland. also New in growth Baptist hindered undoubtedly cution perse unofficial and Official for life. him scarred that face his on agash received severely and beaten was He street. the into of steps, and down aflight service, out of arevival hair by the dragged he was occasion one mobs. On angry and officials government both from harassment and Joshua beatings Morse, repeated faced physical violence. suffered Some offense. 1752 in for this were imprisoned brother and mother Backus’s churches; own established the to support taxes to pay refusal for their usually New England, in tion persecu severe experienced Baptists and Separates pastor. Baptist avisiting from believer’s of baptism receiving step final he the took pastor. as August In him removing to discuss some led conversion a condition of membership and that “the that and conversion of membership acondition gospel is not preached here.” not preached is gospel Whitefield Whitefield Connecticut, provocative in One preacher Baptist and illegal, was churches unauthorized Starting 1747 he felt moved by to Titicut, visit Massachusetts, a but during training, ministerial or formal tion announced this conclusion to his church, which which church, to his conclusion this announced that baptism was for believers, not infants. He He for was not believers, infants. baptism that The 23-year-old Backus had no college educa no college had Backus 23-year-old The the to a ministerial calling. His com His calling. Holythe to aministerial Spirit relevant to baptism and definitively concluded concluded definitively and to baptism relevant fasting and prayer Bible and every verse to consult fasting his life. In July aday 1751 In apart for life. set Backus his mitment to that calling would last the rest of of rest would the last calling to that mitment also brought revival and turmoil to turmoil and brought revival - - - - - 9 tea overboard This 1773 engraving is the earliest-known american depiction of the Boston Tea party.

love feasts, laying on of hands at baptism, foot washing, anointing the sick with oil, the right hand of fellowship, the kiss of charity, and devoting infant children, a substitute for infant baptism. Elders governed Sandy Creek churches; cared for congregational needs. Remarkably women commonly served in both offices. Eldresses, as they were called, primarily worked with women but occasionally taught mixed audiences. Unlike many Anglicans, evangelized slaves and sometimes gave blacks positions of leadership as exhort- ers, deacons, and even elders in mixed-race congregations. Separates in the North, though, were growing in sophistication and in similar- ity to the more established Philadelphia of Charleston, where English Baptist Isaac Chanler Association. The 1764 founding of Brown University in became minister in the 1730s. Rhode Island and the organization of a New England group of Baptists called the Warren Association in 1767 “a public bath” further enhanced the move toward the mainstream. In July 1740 Whitefield began preaching at Ashley But full religious liberty still tarried. In Ashfield, River, describing Chanler as a “gracious Baptist min- Massachusetts, in 1770, authorities seized hun- ister.” Whitefield had become so disgusted with the dreds of acres from Baptists who did not support the Anglicans of Charleston that he “went to the Baptist and . The Warren Association Independent meetinghouses, where Jesus Christ was appealed directly to King George III, who sided with preached” and privately served Communion to sympa- the Baptists. Ashfield’s Baptist minister called the Sons thetic Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Baptists. (Later an of Liberty, who led the resistance against Britain, unde- unsympathetic Anglican priest, Charles Woodmason, serving of their name: they only wanted “liberty from would criticize revivalism and Baptist public , oppression that they might have liberty to oppress!” “to which lascivious persons of both sexes resort, as to One of the most influential Baptist Patriot resis- a public bath.”) tors was also one of the most unlikely. In 1772 English The key figure in exporting the Separate Baptist Baptist pastor John Allen arrived in Boston from ipedia K

movement to the South was (1706–1771) London (where he had just lost his job) and became i of Connecticut. Converted by Whitefield, Stearns and one of the resistance’s most popular advocates with JE ct / W

his family adopted Baptist principles and in 1754 left his An Oration upon the Beauties of Liberty. In contrast to d E

for North Carolina. most colonists who blamed British bureaucrats, Allen pR o t ER v R A

In Sandy Creek they established a church that grew pointed directly at the king himself: RE s E l JE ct to more than 600 members. It spawned 42 congrega- I distinguish greatly between a king and a tyrant, hts G i

tions within 17 years, becoming the epicenter of Baptist a king is the guardian and trustee of the rights and pR o y

revival in the South. Stearns and his followers experi- laws of the people, but a tyrant destroys them. ssis, Goo G isto R h

enced intense signs and wonders. They preached in a This was heady, seditious stuff—three years ahead of upl E d

deeply emotional style that generated crying, shaking, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. N FFRE i

and visions. Stearns himself developed a quasimysti- At the outbreak of the Revolution, rank-and-file i cAR oli NA s AGE s / GRANGER; All R th m i cal reputation. Americans, including Baptists, carried on their daily ph

The Sandy Creek churches looked strictly to the business, often not learning of major developments N Bible as their guide for church practice, implement- until days or weeks later. The only journal entry Bap- lin —Jos E

ing even obscure obligations. They tist pastor Hezekiah Smith made on the weekend the bA ptist—No R pAR ty— sAR i practiced nine rites. The first two were believer’s bap- Declaration of Independence was signed was a passing tEA

tism and the Lord’s Supper celebrated weekly. But the remark about his health. But Smith soon became one of cREEK osto N Benjamin Fran K sAN dy other seven were less common in colonial America: the first chaplains hired by the Continental Congress. b

10 Christian History foundinG father Left: Baptists hoped leaders like Benjamin franklin and others would respond to their desires for religious liberty.

foundinG mother Below: Sandy creek Baptist church produced over 40 daughter congregations.

Great men with hats of feathers The South Carolina Patriot assembly sent Baptist pastor Oliver Hart of Charleston on a backcountry recruiting Samuel and John Adams, and presented a case for campaign to convince reluctant settlers to embrace the religious liberty and disestablishment (see “The wall Revolution. Hart found that some thought Bostonians of separation,” pp. 13–15). had recklessly stirred conflict; one man said he didn’t As the war progressed, many Baptists began to care if “1,000 Bostonians might be killed in battle.” identify America as a nation specially blessed by James Miles of North Carolina criticized Patriot lead- God. Hezekiah Smith traveled with General Horatio ers: “Show him a great man with a half-moon in his hat Gates’s troops as they faced the lumbering army of with liberty written upon it and his hat full of feath- British general John Burgoyne in in 1777. ers . . . and he would show you a devil.” Smith ministered to American troops and watched But the Separate Baptists of declared in them win the Battle of Freeman’s Farm. He captured 1775 that although they had many religious differ- the experience in a sermon on Exodus 15:2: “The ences with their fellow Americans, they shared the Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my same political cause of liberty. They advised “mili- salvation.” tary resistance against Great Britain in her unjust Manning had received the war’s beginning with invasion, tyrannical oppression, and repeated much trepidation, but he and Backus heralded its con- hostilities.” clusion as a sign from heaven. This growing Baptist ipedia K

i The Philadelphia Association took a more muted enthusiasm for the new country was perhaps best tone, worrying over the “awful impending calami- expressed by the Warren Association in 1784: JE ct / W d ties” of war and recommending that congregations The . . . has been accom- E

pR o hold days of fasting to pray for God’s help and for- plished by many astonishing interpositions of t ER v R A

RE s giveness for America’s sins. The war did hold Providence. . . . Nor is it at all improbable, that E l JE ct hts “awful impending calamities” for many Americans; America is reserved in the mind of Jehovah, to be G i

pR o numerous churches were damaged, disrupted, and the grand theater on which the divine Redeemer y

ssis, Goo G scattered by the conflict. Charleston’s First Baptist will accomplish glorious things. isto R h

upl E Church essentially ceased to function for two years Baptists hoped that victory over tyranny would be d

N after the city fell to the British. followed by full religious liberty. They had come a long FFRE i

i The First Continental Congress in Philadelphia way from their dissenting English roots and their days cAR oli NA s AGE s / GRANGER; All R th m

i C H ph in 1774 presented a chance for Baptists to appeal as colonial outlaws; they had become Americans.

N directly to Patriot leaders for religious liberty. The Warren Association distributed An Appeal to the Pub- Thomas S. Kidd is Distinguished Professor of History at lin —Jos E

bA ptist—No R lic for Religious Liberty to members of Congress and and the author of books on evangelical pAR ty— sAR i sent Backus and to Philadelphia to and colonial history. Barry Hankins is professor tEA

cREEK lobby for their cause. In October 1774 they met with of history at Baylor. This article is adapted from their book osto N Benjamin Fran K sAN dy b leaders of the Massachusetts delegation, including Baptists in America.

Issue 126 11 very oLd Baptists First Baptist Church of Boston, established (illegally!) in 1655, has been in this build- ing since 1881.

Landmark Baptists held that Jesus had established a Baptist church and that only Baptist churches had an unbroken succession back to the New Testament. Landmarkers stressed the abso- lute primacy of the local church, practiced , and rejected “alien immersion” (bap- tism by a non-Baptist). Their influence in Southern Baptist life can still be felt.

he most basic Baptist unit is the local church. TBut organizations have risen at a higher level. The Triennial Baptist Convention was established in 1814 to support Baptist foreign missions. It soon associations, societies, and eventu- ally educational and publishing efforts. It attempted neutrality over , but when its Home Mission Society refused to appoint a slave owner as a mis- sionary, the Southern Baptist Convention formed in 1845. In 1907 Baptists in the North decided to create a more centralized structure and formed the Northern Baptist Convention (now American Baptist Which Baptist are Churches in the USA). American Baptists have tended to be more liberal in you again? their doctrine, liturgical in their worship, and ecumeni- cal in their practice. Southern Baptists are generally n England Baptists were divided into General (Armin- theologically conservative, nonliturgical, and evangeli- ian) and Particular (Calvinist) Baptists, differing over cal in outlook. With roughly 16 million members, the Iwhether Christ died for all () or only for Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Prot- the elect (). These developed in the colonies estant denomination in the United States. into three groups: Fundamentalist movements resulted in numer- were Calvinist and more formal in ous splits among white Baptists over the first half their worship, favored a paid and educated male clergy, of the twentieth century. In 1979 the SBC under- and opposed the emotionalism of the First Great Awak- went significant upheaval; after conservatives came ening of the eighteenth century. By the nineteenth cen- into power, progressives formed the Alliance of Bap- tury, they had merged with Separate Baptists. tists in 1986 and moderates formed the Coopera-

separate Baptists emerged from the First Great tive Baptist Fellowship in 1997. mages Awakening. More moderate Calvinists, they allowed Most black Baptists originally worshiped in women to preach, employed altar calls in worship, and churches controlled by white Baptists. But after the discouraged a paid clergy. Civil War, they increasingly established their own Baptists were Arminian; as Regulars congregations, associations, and mission societies.

and Separates joined together and their Calvinism In 1895 three black conventions merged into the hive/ uig / Bridgeman i C softened, most Free Will churches were absorbed into National Baptist Convention. In 1915 National Bap- r those associations and conventions. A few still exist, tists split over ownership of the publishing house; marked by conservative theology and the practice of fragmentation continued in 1961, resulting in the foot washing. activist Progressive National Baptist Convention. At roughly 15 million, black Baptists account for n America new groups emerged in the nineteenth at least 25 percent of America’s Baptists, mak- h (photo) / Buyenlarge a I century. were motivated by ing them hugely significant to the Baptist story. a desire to follow the faith and order of the New —Elizabeth Flowers, associate professor of religion Testament. They became known for strict Calvinism, at Christian University and author of Into the the rejection of organizing impulses, the practice of Pulpit: Southern Baptist Women and Power since

foot washing, and acappella singing. World War II. First Baptist Chur C

12 Christian History mages i geman ri D ibrary / b l ure ic T p in ol T o © b ho T usa / p ., on D. c ion, Washing T ollec T c The wall of separation ol

api T The BapTisT BaTTle for religious liBerTy c Curtis W. Freeman

On January 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson certain inalienable rights in this famous paint- wrote to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecti- ing from 1817, John Trumbull pictures the Declaration cut. For more than a year, it had been actively petition- Committee presenting their work in June 1776. ing against laws that privileged the state faith: Congre- gationalism. The association appealed to the president that the few religious privileges they enjoyed were for support, calling religion “at all times and places a regarded as “favors granted” by the state government, Matter between God and Individuals” and stating that not as “inalienable rights.” In his response Jefferson no one should “suffer in Name, person or effects on agreed “that religion is a matter which lies solely account of his religious Opinions.” between man & his god, that he owes account to none Even though the Bill of Rights had been in effect other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate for a decade, the First Amendment’s prohibition of reli- powers of government reach actions only and not opin- gious establishment was understood to apply only to ions.” It was a familiar argument he had made earlier in the federal government. In fact Congregationalists in his Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. To the Baptists

ence, 4th July 1776 , c.1817 (oil on canvas), Trumbull, John (1756-–843) / us New England had a standing order for civil authorities Jefferson went on to reference the First Amendment on to punish “idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, venting corrupt freedom of religion—which, he explained, built “a wall epen D D

n and pernicious opinions.” The Dissenters’ Petition, as it of separation between Church & State.” became known, asked the state legislature to abolish all The appeal to Jefferson seemed to have had no regulations that interfered with “the natural rights of immediate impact on the petition, which was met with freemen” or “the sacred rights of conscience.” overwhelming opposition in Connecticut’s General Assembly. Governor Oliver Ellsworth reportedly threw actions but not opinions it on the floor and stomped on it, saying, “This is where Baptists deeply objected to paying taxes to support it belongs.” But in 1818 Connecticut would narrowly

Signing the Declaration of i Congregational churches. They reminded the president adopt a new constitution affirming “that the exercise

Issue 126 13 “the free exercise thereof” Baptists influenced James Madison (left), whose Bill of rights left no room for a nationally established church.

American colonies. Roger Williams (1603–1683) arrived in Boston in 1631; he was banished four years later by the General Court of Massachusetts for his “new and dangerous opinions.” Boston minister and fellow dis- senter John Cotton defended the banishment; Williams responded that compelling the conscience amounts to “soul-rape,” declaring that any faith “which needs such instruments of violence to uphold it” cannot be true. Williams and a small band of followers set out to establish a colony as “a shelter for persons distressed of conscience” and obtained a Royal Charter for Rhode Island and Providence Plantation in 1636; it ensured religious liberty for all its residents. In his most famous book, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644), Williams drew on the Baptist tradition of dissent, especially a let- ter by Murton which he quoted extensively. Williams argued that the soul is free, not because the human will and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, is supreme, but because Jesus Christ is king: without discrimination, shall forever be free to all per- God’s people since the comming of the King sons in this State.” of Israel, the Lord Jesus, have openly and con- stantly profest, that no Civill magistrate, no King the crown of jesus nor Caesar have any power over the Soules or The Baptist position came out of a long tradition of Consciences of their Subjects, in the matters of English religious dissent. The term “dissenter” in the God and the Crowne of Jesus. English context includes a theologically wide range of In 1643 a letter to Williams by John Cotton mysteri- groups from Presbyterians to , with Baptists ously appeared in print, denying that it was necessary and Independents in the middle; they shared a com- to repent for maintaining communion with the Church mon bond as minorities first persecuted and later toler- of England. But Williams in reply contended that join- ommons c

ated by the dominant, established Anglican majority. ing together with the unregenerate is akin to false wor- ia The first generation of English Baptists were ship which, as he famously intoned, “stincks in God’s strong defenders of religious liberty. Leonard Busher‘s nostrils.” He proposed that there must be a “wall of Division

Religion’s Peace (1614) addressed to King James I a full- Separation between the Garden of the Church and the ion / Wikime D throated plea for complete and free liberty of con- Wildernes of the world.” Initially he thought this could ssocia T science for all: “Christ hath not commanded any king, be achieved by weeding the garden, but his hopes of a anuscrip T a m bishop, or minister to persecute the people for dif- pure church faded. orical ference of judgment in matters of religion.” Thomas Williams invoked the metaphor of “the wall of sepa- ommons c is T ongress, ia Helwys and John Murton also defended freedom of ration” long before Jefferson. Yet for Williams this wall h

conscience in tracts like A Humble Supplication to the protected the church from the world, not the state from ouse h

King’s Majesty Against Persecution of Any of the King’s the church. He lamented that God had caused the wall e Subjects for Differences in Religion (1620). to be broken down, and the worldly vines had choked s—library of c

In 1661 John Sturgion published a tract addressed to out the garden. The only hope was to await the com- is T

King Charles II in which he made an impassioned plea ing of Christ, the heavenly gardener, who would prune ap T eale (1778–1860) / Wikime D

for toleration on behalf of “the Baptized People” (the back the weeds, so that the roses might again bloom. p

Baptists) “that we may serve the Lord without molesta- Other colonies held the Rhode Island experiment in erlyn (1775–1852), Whi T he Danbury b an D

tion in that Faith and Order which we have Learned in contempt, and Williams was essentially forgotten, even T embran DT o the Holy Scriptures.” And Thomas Monck and six other among fellow Baptists. But in the late eighteenth cen- T Baptists issued a petition entitled Sions [Zion’s] Groans tury, Isaac Backus (1724–1806) and Baptists in Massa- for her Distressed, which asserted that, because God chusetts retrieved his memory and example to support made the conscience free, “no Magistrate, although a their cause of religious disestablishment. ison, 1816 by John v D

Christian, hath power to be a Lord over another’s faith.” In History of the Baptists in New England (1777), Backus a Some dissenters left England in search of free- extolled Williams’s Rhode Island as “the best form of m ames J Thomas Jefferson, 1800 by r dom of worship, and, of course, some wound up in the civil government that the world had seen in sixteen Thomas Jefferson le TT er

14 Christian History much-revised letter Above: Thomas Jefferson laid out a framework for over 200 years of church-state rela- tions in his letter to the Danbury Baptists (left).

hundred years.” Yet when Backus had earlier drafted Yet for Leland true liberty was more than toleration. a petition to the Massachusetts General Court arguing To secure it he met in 1788 with Madison, a delegate that every person has a God-given “unalienable right” to to Virginia’s ratifying convention for the Constitution, act according to conscience, he did not extend this pro- and protested that the Constitution had no provision tection to Catholics (unlike in his Rhode Island model). for religious liberty. Madison, who was also running for Congress, reminded Leland of his efforts to secure a change in the solar system religious liberty in the Virginia Legislature and assured ommons c

ia The greatest contribution of Backus to church-state him he would do the same if elected to Congress. relations came through his leadership of the Grievance Leland and the Baptists agreed to support Madison, Committee of the Warren Association, which repeat- who was elected by a large margin. Virginia ratified the Division

ion / Wikime D edly petitioned the Massachusetts General Assembly. Constitution in 1788; Madison went on to write the Bill of In 1774 it even submitted a memorial to the Continental Rights, approved in 1791, making good on his promise. ssocia T anuscrip T Congress; John Adams dismissed it, suggesting it In 1802, when Jefferson wrote the Danbury Baptists, a m would be more likely to expect a change in the solar he originally also wanted to explain why he did not orical ommons system than to expect Massachusetts to give up its proclaim fasts and thanksgiving days like his predeces- c is T ongress, ia h established church. (But give it up Massachusetts ulti- sors. After consulting with his cabinet, Jefferson deleted

ouse mately did, in 1833.) his explanation and also struck out the word “eternal” h e Backus was not the only prominent Baptist advo- in his sentence that the First Amendment built “a wall cating freedom of conscience. If one asks historians of eternal separation between Church & State.” s—library of c

is T who built the wall of separation of church and state in Given that the closing of the Danbury Association

ap T America, their answer is usually “James Madison,” but letter prayed that Jefferson would be brought safely to eale (1778–1860) / Wikime D

p if the question had been put to Madison (1751–1836), he the Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ, perhaps

erlyn (1775–1852), Whi T might well have replied “John Leland and the Baptists.” the president and his advisors realized that not even he Danbury b an D

T In colonial Virginia it was not uncommon for Baptists believed that the separation of church and state embran DT o T Baptists and other religious dissenters to be fined, would continue throughout eternity. C H beaten, or imprisoned. Between 1770 and 1775, the Baptists presented a succession of petitions against this Curtis W. Freeman is research professor of theology and in the General Assembly of Virginia; the undisputed Baptist studies and director of the Baptist House of Studies ison, 1816 by John v D

a leader of this battle for the disestablishment of the at Duke Divinity School, an ordained Baptist minister, and m Episcopal Church in Virginia, which finally occurred the author of Undomesticated Dissent; A Company of ames J Thomas Jefferson, 1800 by r Thomas Jefferson le TT er in 1776, was John Leland (1754–1841). Preachers; and Baptist Roots.

Issue 126 15 March to freedom d ESE rv E

AfriCAn AmEriCAn BAptists forgEd A strong idEntity in thE fACE of opprEssion r

Adam L. Bond ght S ll r I a — r AfricAn AmericAn BAptists have trans- SlaveS waiting for Sale English painter Eyre Crowe formed the moral and social landscape of the United intended this painting of a slave market to show the anxi- / grang E States. When we honor Martin Luther King Jr. (1929– ety of a family fearing they would be sold apart. r 1968), we also honor black Baptist spaces and lead- ers that formed him. When we observe Black His- new members were enslaved people of the southern tory Month, we pay homage to its founder, Carter G. states. The traditional religions of their African ances-

Woodson (1875–1950), from the Shiloh Baptist Church tors provided a foundation consistent with Christian- , 1852–53— grang E in Washington, DC. First-ever female bank president ity. But it soon became apparent that in practice, Chris- anva S and legend of the black freedom struggle Maggie Lena tian slaveholders behaved inconsistently with the spirit

Walker (1864–1934) was a long-time member of the First of a religion focused on freedom. oln— lI brary of Congr ESS oI l on C C lI n

African Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. White Christians debated converting enslaved h C ginia. r R ort However this transformation came through an Africans. Some said slaves would be better laborers i enduring tension: Baptists of African descent pushing upon conversion. Others discouraged conversion, cate- back against the heavy hand of racism in their march chesis, and baptism, feeling it would prompt Africans to apt IS t Ch U to freedom as they built their institutions and uplifted see themselves as equals of those persons who held them b

their race. as chattel. These debates did not stop African converts d Infantry, at f fr IC an a t

from embracing and expressing their faith. The congre- S From Fervor to Freedom, 1740–1845 gational polity of the Baptist Church and its emphasis

The Great Awakening of the eighteenth century intro- on experience gave African American Baptists a partic- Slave auction in Richmond, v — ryan—— fI r

duced the power of the evangelical message of salva- ular avenue to practice and preach . b row E w C tion. That compelling message led many churches to By the end of the eighteenth century, white Baptists ndr E Company E, 4th U.S. Color E a grow—chiefly Methodist and Baptist churches. Many licensed enslaved men across the South as preachers. Eyr E

16 Christian History march on Right: African American troops, like the 4th Colored infantry here, fought for the Union after the Emancipation proclamation.

pray on Below: the first African Baptist church of savannah memorializes founder Andrew Bryan.

In the Buckhead Creek Church licensed and ordained (1750– 1820) “to perform missionary labors among slaves on other plantations in the sur- rounding area.” He also organized the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, with Andrew Bryan, and later became a missionary to . In Joseph Willis—a free African—was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1798. He became the first moderator of the Louisiana Baptist Association in 1818, after serving as a pastor and church orga- nizer. Another preacher enslaved from birth, “Uncle Jack” (c. 1746–1843), earned his freedom and impressed white church members during his Baptist ministry in the 1790s, mostly in Virginia. He was so captivating that a white Presbyterian minister, William White, wrote a biography about him, The African Preacher (1849). Peter Randolph, born enslaved around 1825, gained

d his freedom in the 1840s and became a Baptist preacher. In Sketches of Slave Life (1855), he wrote:

ESE rv E Among the slaves, there is a great amount of tal- r ent . . . which, if cultivated, would be of great ben- ght S efit to the world of mankind. If these large minds ll r I a

— are kept sealed up, so that they cannot answer the r end for which they were made, somebody must answer for it on the great day of account. Up From Freedom, 1845–1895 / grang E r As the nation embraced its new-found indepen- As an oppressed people, sought to dence, African Baptists began to build independent challenge longstanding institutions of white suprem- congregations, leaving many white Baptist churches or acy; as part of the larger Baptist family, their energy other black congregations to do so—from Petersburg to and influence led to conversations about Baptist com-

, 1852–53— grang E Williamsburg to Charles City to Norfolk. Baptist polity mitment to real freedom. Baptists debated slavery in gave them permission to receive their direction from the years following the unifying anva S God alone. To be sure the laws of the commonwealth of 1814. They had merged for the sake of missions and

oln— lI brary of Congr ESS would have some say in how that happened. education, but the cultural divide between the states oI l on C C lI n

h Often black congregations blossomed with influ- was growing. Black Baptist associations and conven- C ginia. r R ort i ence—or interference—from white sister churches. tions began forming across the country with a focus In Richmond, Virginia, black congregants outnum- on abolishing slavery and its influence. When their bered white ones briefly at the the biracial First efforts were frustrated, they pushed for an independent apt IS t Ch U b Baptist Church; that church licensed Lott Carey, who national denomination.

d Infantry, at f became the first American Baptist missionary to They watched as Baptists in the South split from the fr IC an a t

S Africa in 1821. But the black members of First Church Triennial Convention in 1845 and continued to watch formed their own congregation in 1841. The gospel the larger society’s simmering conflict result in the Civil

Slave auction in Richmond, v of freedom that produced these Baptist pioneers and War, a failed Reconstruction, and the rise of Jim Crow — ryan—— fI r

b institutions still betrayed problems in the larger cul- laws. And they became more and more determined to row E w C ture. Black Baptists were still black, and racism was develop a national church; though northern mission- ndr E Company E, 4th U.S. Color E a Eyr E still prevalent. ary societies supported them on the mission field and

Issue 126 17 preach on Black Baptists served as tireless missionar- ies, from Lott Cary/Carey (above) to thomas Johnson and Calvin richardson and their wives (names unknown, left).

in education, black Baptists believed they would best (see “Preachers, organizers, trailblazers,” pp. 36–40). determine their course in a church of their own. Burroughs rose up the ranks of Baptist and black Fifty years after white Baptists split in 1845, the American life to become an officer in the Women’s merger of numerous black conventions led in 1895 to Convention Auxiliary. Her leadership ability and orga- the National Baptist Convention USA, Incorporated nizational prowess gave the women a singular focus as (NBC). Elias Camp Morris (1855–1922), its first presi- forces for good within the denomination and society. dent as well as a political leader in Arkansas, wrote in They embraced a social agenda that included the found- his 1901 memoir: ing of the National Training School for Women and Girls The writer firmly believes in the possibilities of in 1909, embodying its founder’s push for excellence. the race and has firmly advocated that the nearly Black Baptists faced numerous challenges in two millions of colored Christians which God has their march to freedom; these issues would remain added to the Baptist churches as a mass, are an her- through the civil rights era (see “That’s where I used itage, and that it is the imperative duty of Negro to go to church,” pp. 32–35) and beyond in the lives of Baptist leaders to develop this mighty force for the leaders like Samuel DeWitt Proctor (1921–1997), presi- glory of God and the further redemption of the race. dent of Virginia Union University; Howard Thurman (1899–1981), dean at Howard University and Boston IF It Wasn’t For the Women, 1895–1965 University; and Prathia Hall (1940–2002), activist, Black Baptist women were a major force in the growth preacher, and theologian.

of these churches, associations, and conventions— When King famously reminded his audience in hm db.org r,

establishing strong societies that supported mission 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “We E

work in the fields of education and . Sought- will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like fIS h hoto p

after evangelist and teacher Virginia Broughton (1856– waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he k 1934) shaped NBC mission work, wrote for denomina- spoke as an American asking his country to make tional newspapers and magazines, called attention to good on its promises of freedom. He also spoke as efforts of the women’s convention, and mentored the a Christian and a Baptist, reminding his audience of lamy Sto C rt ES y of bE rnard U

next generation of women. In Twenty Years’ Experience freedom’s source. C H o

of a Missionary (1910) she wrote: “The Negro woman is r— C doing a noble part to forward every righteous move- Adam L. Bond is associate professor of church history at the hIS tor IC a / ment that makes for the peace and uplift of humanity Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union lpha and the glory of God.” University and the author of several books and articles on the One of Broughton’s protégés, Nannie Helen Baptist experience. He is an ordained minister in the Ameri- Johnon— a Burroughs (1879–1961), would later wield influ- can Baptist Churches USA and senior minister of the Provi- homa S ott Cary hIS tor IC mark E t ence in the denomination and the women’s auxiliary dence Baptist Church in Ashland, Virginia. l

18 Christian History ikimedia ress / w on G “ For the public worship of almighty God

ibrary of c and also for holding Commencement” Baptists founded schools early and often for many purposes osition / l P x Amy Whitfield

Observers view baptist cOlleges and sem- few But mighty here is the 1899 graduating class inaries of today with curiosity. Like little engines that at roger Williams college in tennessee, founded in the could, they plod along amid the challenges of a culture 1860s for freed slaves. that increasingly spurns what they have to offer: educa- ssembled for 1900 Paris e a tion based on religious conviction. hs For Baptists this scorn is nothing new; they have thanks to Roger Williams a century before, had become ra P always trained those whom other colleges would not a Baptist haven—Rhode Island. Williams had seen the accept. Beginning in 1764 Baptists started over 500 necessity of education from the beginning, writing in his institutions of higher learning; some confessionally Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644) that one of the roles of Baptist but open to all, others specifically focused on a godly magistrate was to “provide for the churches as merican Photo G a Baptist church leadership or missionary service. to erect schools, take care for fit governors and tutors.” Rhode Island College (now Brown University) in frican Providence, founded in 1764, was the first Baptist edu- e— a the road to Brown Schools to educate believers were nothing new in colo- cational institution in America. The student body did nial America. Beginning with Harvard in 1636—then not always comprise a Baptist majority; the found- William and Mary (1693), Yale (1701), the University of ers, committed to religious liberty, envisioned a col- Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton (1746), and Columbia lege with classical ideals where Baptists and others er williams colle G (1754)—Anglicans, Congregationalists, and Presbyteri- could attend. Similar institutions followed: Colgate ans had founded colleges to provide both liberal arts University in New York, Georgetown College in training and religious education. , the University of Richmond in Virginia, and

class of ro G The trouble was that Baptists were not particularly Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Their goal welcome in these established institutions. Despite other was to prepare students for all of life within a broadly colonists having escaped religious persecution them- religious context. selves, they had little tolerance for Baptists. So Baptists But theological education was also significant.

1899 Graduatin G forged their own path. They began in the place that, When Baptists came to America, many were active

Issue 126 19 from the beginning in sending out itinerant preachers to plant churches in frontier areas. But most of these preachers were uneducated. Historian Janet Phillips once noted that the reputation of Baptists for “being an ignorant lot led by unlearned ministers made [Baptists] squirm.” Educational societies sprang up to support those called to the ministry; ministry training schools and seminaries arose throughout the country; and collec- sa 3.0

tions were taken to aid students. The Northern Baptist by - tock Photo

Education Society began handing out scholarships in s eminary 1791. Its constitution began: douBle duty Brown university (pictured at left in its s lamy

early days) for many years held commencement in the ical The exclusive object of this Society shall be to aid, ase, 2008 / cc c

in acquiring a suitable education, such indigent, first Baptist church of providence (above), specifically llc / a

erected in 1774 “for the publick Worship of almighty heolo G aniel pious young men of the Baptist denomination as God and also for holding commencement in.” t merica shall give satisfactory evidence . . . that they are a

called of God to the gospel ministry. orth n

Northern Baptists began the march of seminar- at Furman University formed The Southern Baptist outheastern ies by opening Newton Theological Institution in Theological Seminary (SBTS). Over the next century,

1825 for ministry training. Later they established nine Southern Baptists acquired or established five more es Grou P ma G i

other seminaries including Colgate Rochester Crozer seminaries. ourtesy of s Divinity School, American Baptist Seminary of the house, Providence, ri —Photo by d West, and Northern Seminary. new splits, new schools niversal edford— c When Southern Baptists established a sepa- Birthed amid conflict, Southern Baptists experienced l eetin G ew rate convention in 1845, their commitment to edu- continued controversy; as a result new institutions m tist niversity— u

cate their own future leaders soon followed. Initially arose. Seminary and Mid-America Semi- P u a training came through the religion departments of nary created places for theological conservatives who b rown tudents at n irst b f existing colleges, but in 1859 the religion department were concerned about moderate or liberal teachings. s

Two centuries of Baptist schools Furman University (1826) Some of the most famous colleges and seminaries Georgetown College (1829) originally founded for or by Baptists include University of Richmond (1830) Mercer University (1833) Brown University (1764) Wake Forest University (1834) Colby College (1813) Judson College (1838) Colgate University (1819) Samford University (1841) Union University (1823) Hillsdale College (1844) Newton Theological Institution (1825) Baylor University (1845) Mississippi College (1826) William Jewell College (1849)

20 Christian History hitting the books—and laptops stu- dents study in the 2010s at southeastern Baptist theological seminary.

Education was at the core of the dispute; president of the SBC (b. 1940) later commented, Scores of God-called young people who had been birthed, baptized, and disci- pled in Bible-believing Southern Baptist churches went off to Baptist institu- tions of higher learning where they were robbed of their faith in the truthfulness of Scripture by the very folk . . . paid by Baptists to strengthen their faith and pre- pare them for vital ministry. When the churches of the SBC led their institutions back to theological conserva- tism, this led new schools to emerge such as Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond, Campbell University Divinity School, and Wake Forest Many Baptists after the Civil War sought to edu- University School of Divinity. cate African Americans. At the same time, many Baptists were also committed to providing edu- existing Baptist schools did not admit black students. cation for individuals outside of the white male elite. Institutes began to spring up, many in church base- Like other American women, Baptist women did not ments: Morehouse College in 1867 in Springfield sa 3.0 by - attend seminaries, or even many universities. But in Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia; Virginia Union tock Photo

s 1838 Judson College opened in Marion, Alabama, University in the 1860s in Ebenezer Baptist Church eminary s founded by Siloam Baptist Church members and in Richmond, Virginia; and Spelman College, the lamy ical ase, 2008 / cc named after missionary heroine Ann Judson. nation’s oldest college for African American women, c llc / a Founder Julia Tarrant Barron (1805–1890) enrolled in Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta. After Brown heolo G aniel t her son John along with the first class of eight young v. Board of Education in 1954, Baptists ultimately merica a women, but when she thought he had become too opened all of their doors, but the historically black

orth old for co-educational classes, the undaunted Barron schools had developed a rich history. n

outheastern founded Howard College for men so John would The development of schools has not stopped, have a school to attend! from universities to trade schools to Bible colleges. es Grou P These schools were doing something revolutionary From a founding member of the Ivy League in 1764 ma G i

ourtesy of s by giving many women access to formal education for to twenty-first-century worldwide online learning, the first time. The Women’s Missionary Union Training hundreds of thousands of students have received an house, Providence, ri —Photo by d niversal School, founded in 1907 at the Broadway Baptist Church education from what began as a group of dissenters edford— c l in Louisville, trained potential missionary women in a who saw the value of learning and sought to pro- eetin G ew m three-year course that included not only Christian edu- vide it. C H tist niversity— u

P cation and home economics but also theology, compar- u a b ative religion, church history, and the Bible. In addition Amy Whitfield is director of Marketing and Communication rown tudents at n irst b f s they could take electives alongside men at SBTS. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School (1850) Spelman College (1881) University of Rochester (1850) Stetson University (1883) Bates College (1855) Belmont University (1890) University of Chicago (1856, refounded in 1890— Baptist University (1898) both times by Baptists) Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1908) The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1859) Northern Seminary (1913) Shaw University and Divinity School (1865) Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology (1941) Virginia Union University (1865) Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1950) Morehouse College (1867) Eastern University (1952) American Baptist Seminary of the West (1871) (1971)

Issue 126 21 THE CHRistiAN HistoRy TIMELINE Baptists, 1600-2000

— 1740s white , William Crane, form prompts Baptist growth. the first black mission society. It sends Carey and Teague to Liberia. — 1750 Silver Bluff Baptist Church is

founded in South Carolina, the US’s — 1822 Baptist preacher William ikimedia

oldest African American church. Miller announces the coming a / w end of the world, beginning the iN dia N — 1755 PBA organizes a home mis- Millerite movement. , sions program, alarming Baptists oshe N

First map of New England, g who fear too much organization. . 1677 oshe N — 1609 Former Anglican John Smyth — 1764 Baptists found the school later rebaptizes himself and 40 others by called Brown University, only the seventh institution of higher educa- pouring in Amsterdam. aRC hives— g tion founded in the colonies. usa — 1612 Thomas Helwys forms the — 1773 Isaac Backus publishes An first Baptist church in London.

Appeal to the Public for Religious ite Chu RC h N Liberty. NN o

— 1638 Roger Williams forms the first e Baptist congregation in America in Preacher George Hansell, — 1780 Another line of Free Will Providence, Rhode Island. 1899

Baptists is organized in New hoto #30. m Hampshire. — 1646 New England enact — 1827 Kehukee Association Declaration 39, p signals the rise of Primitive or Hard laws requiring attendance at — 1802 Thomas Jefferson writes to the Shell Baptists. Congregational churches. Danbury Baptists. — 1832 Triennial Convention — 1654 Henry Dunster, first president — 1812 Adoniram and Ann Judson establishes Home Mission Society. iv -10-7.2 Box 2 Folde R of Harvard, is forced to resign and Luther Rice leave for India ado.

because of his Baptist views. as Congregationalists but become ikimedia — 1833 Triennial Baptists approve convinced of Baptist doctrine.

New Hampshire Confession of Faith. ess / w R — 1661–1664 British parliament passes to Colo R g acts that exclude and penalize — 1814 Triennial Convention is Co N issio N

— 1840 American Baptist Missionary F m

Baptists and other Nonconformists. formed in Philadelphia. .

Convention, the first black Baptist RY o ved tio N BR a — 1815 Two black Baptist ministers, convention, is formed. i — 1665 Thomas Goold organizes the ese R Lott Carey and Collin Teague, and a R first Baptist church in Boston. ved

— 1844 In the “Millerites’ Great Dis- , 1899 / l aph Colle C ights R ese R iet Y ikimedia appointment,” the world does not R ll C

— 1682 First Baptist Church is formed o s

end on October 22. hotog R p in Kittery, Maine, then moves to ights s R ge R— a N atio N gR iessel, CC BY- sa 2.0 ll a a

South Carolina, becoming the first R

— 1845 Southern Baptist Convention li C issio N B m u Baptist church in the South. ge R; (SBC) is formed. sC ott N l / CC BY- sa 2.0 w ge R / g a BY d o F N R gi R a — 1707 Congregations in Pennsylva- R Baptist p — 1846 Free Will Baptists license Ruby hoto N ge R / g a ite Boa R N

nia and New Jersey unite to form C i N g— p Knapp Bixby as the first licensed a R me R the Philadelphia Baptist Associa- NN o female Baptist preacher in the US. Chu RC h— g e N a

tion (PBA). C i sel— a d map— g

1851 N a — Landmarker Movement arises, me R thum— m a h First Baptist Church, — 1727 Free Will Baptists are founded N arguing that Baptists trace back to a ge eN gla N Be N C

Methuen, Massachusetts st Baptist Chu RC h— eR ase R

in North Carolina. the New Testament. eo R New aFR i Fi R g Jud Y James Fo RB es speaki N

22 Christian History How a small group of ended up transforming American religion

From the Association of Religion Data Archives, the Baptist History and Heritage society, and other sources

— 1854 Baptist preacher Charles Elliott publishes the Message of Spurgeon becomes pastor of the Genesis. New Park Street Chapel in London. — 1963 A bomb at 16th Street Baptist

ikimedia — 1866 AMBC and other black-led Church in Birmingham, Alabama,

a / w conventions form the Consolidated kills four young girls; responses to American Baptist Convention to Elliott prompt the Baptist Faith and iN dia N , help black Baptists set up state con- Message statement by the SBC.

oshe N ventions free of white interference. g . — 1964 Watts Street Baptist Church — 1873 Lottie Moon goes to China. in North Carolina ordains Addie oshe N Abyssinian Baptist Church, 1907 Davis, the first woman pastor — 1891 Southern Baptists form a ordained by the SBC. Sunday school board, today the aRC hives— g — 1916 The NBCU splits over issues — 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. is usa Christian bookstore chain LifeWay. related to the Publishing Board. assassinated. — 1895 National Baptist Convention — 1923 William Bell Riley, “The

ite Chu RC h U.S.A. (NBCU) forms out of three — 1971 Jerry Falwell founds Liberty

N Grand Old Man of Fundamental- smaller African American groups. University. NN o ism,” sets up the Anti-Evolution e League of Minnesota and the — 1900 Nannie Helen Burroughs Baptist Bible Union.

hoto #30. m delivers speech “How the Sisters

39, p Are Hindered from Helping.” — 1926 Pastor J. Frank Norris is acquitted of murdering Dexter — 1905 forms Chipps on grounds of self-defense. in London. — 1933 Norris founds the Premillen- Preacher James Forbes, 2006 — 1907 Northern Baptist Convention iv -10-7.2 Box 2 Folde R nial Missionary Baptist Fellowship (NBC) is formed; pastor Walter — 1972 ABC changes its name to

ado. to protest SBC modernism. ikimedia Rauschenbusch publishes Christi- American Baptist Churches USA. anity and the social Crisis. — 1935 Two different streams of ess / w R to Colo R g Free Will Baptists form the National — 1976 Jimmy Carter is elected presi- Co N

issio N dent after referring to himself as

F Association of Free Will Baptists. m . “born-again” while campaigning. RY o ved tio N 1939 BR a — SBC, NBC, and NBCU jointly i

ese R — 1979 At the SBC’s annual conven- R sign the American Baptist Bill of ved tion, conservatives are elected to

, 1899 / l Rights as a statement of religious aph Colle C ights R ese R key positions. iet Y ikimedia R liberty. ll C o s

hotog R p ights

s — 1984 SBC delegates pass a resolu- R ge R— a — 1947 Billy Graham holds his first N atio N gR iessel, CC BY- sa 2.0 ll a a

R tion against women pastors. li C crusade; he will hold over 400 in issio N B m u ge R; sC ott Missionary Judy Bonthum, 185 countries and retire in 2005. N l / CC BY- sa 2.0 w ge R / g a BY d o F

N — 1987 is formed R 1961 gi R a R by SBC liberals. Baptist p hoto — 1950 NBC renames itself American N ge R / g a ite Boa R N C i N g— p a — 1909 Burroughs founds the National Baptist Convention (ABC). R me R NN o 1991 Chu RC h— g Training School for Women and — Cooperative Baptist Fellow- e N a

C — 1961 Pat Robertson founds

i Girls in Washington, DC. ship is formed by SBC moderates. sel— a d map— g N a me R Christian Broadcasting Network; thum— m a h

N 1995 a — 1910 the Fundamentals begins Progressive National Baptist Con- — SBC issues 150th-anniversary ge eN gla N Be N C st Baptist Chu RC h— eR ase R

eo R publication. vention leaves the NBCU; Ralph resolution on racial reconciliation. New aFR i Fi R g Jud Y James Fo RB es speaki N

Issue 126 23 Attempting great things for God Baptists spread the Good News arouNd the world

Melody Maxwell

“Young man, sit down! When God pleases to zeal for christ Missions concerned Baptists globally; convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or here British missionaries conduct a baptism in the Congo. mine!” With this exclamation an older British Baptist pastor reportedly silenced William Carey’s missions new regions of the world were accessible—and people plea at a meeting in the late eighteenth century. there needed to hear the Gospel. Baptists, captivated by Whether the conversation really happened or not, this vision and by stories from missionaries like Carey, most Protestants of the time did not prioritize mis- became ardent supporters of global missions. sions. But Carey (1761–1834), a bivocational cobbler and minister, had other ideas; his slogan was “Expect great “estimated by my merits”

things from God—attempt great things for God!” In his Baptists in the United States have traditionally con- hoto p hoto

workshop he hung a large map of the world and wrote sidered their first missionaries to be Adoniram (1788– p tock

information on it about peoples who had not heard 1850) and Ann (1789–1826) Judson, who departed s tock the Gospel. In 1792 Carey and his friends gathered in in 1812 (see p. 28). However African Americans had s lamy

Kettering, England, and formed the Baptist Missionary embarked on cross-cultural ministries even before lamy Society. The next year Carey and his family set sail for official missionary societies were organized. Among icle / a

India, where he served for more than 40 years. The them were escaped slaves protected by the British dur- istorica / a h hro N

modern missionary movement had begun. ing the Revolutionary War, who feared re-enslavement c lpha Carey’s organization, modeled on the concept of the after the American victory. — es— a

overseas trading company, introduced a new paradigm As early as 1782, pioneer African American pas- issio N m

for mission work. Protestants soon formed dozens of tor George Liele left the United States for Jamaica. go cy Jo N N o Na N similar societies. Advances in travel and trade meant Initially living as an indentured servant to pay for his c

24 Christian History family’s passage, Liele supported himself as a farmer and driver after regaining his freedom. He also contin- ued his intense evangelistic efforts, writing by 1791, “I have baptized 400 in Jamaica.” Liele endured repeated imprisonments but never wavered from his missionary endeavors. Thousands of Jamaicans were eventually converted as a result of his ministry. One of Liele’s early converts, (c. 1743–1810), accepted the Gospel as a freed man in Georgia and founded the first African American Baptist church. In 1782 he and others fled with British help to Nova Scotia, where George continued pastoral ministry despite persecution. Ten years later George and his family immigrated to Sierra Leone along with other former slaves. There he established the first- known Baptist presence in Africa and even convinced the Baptist Missionary Society to support his efforts for a time. Other freed slaves migrated to Liberia. One, Lott Carey (1780–1828), helped found the Richmond African Missionary Society, which assisted with his passage to Liberia in 1821. He explained, “I wish to go to a coun- try where I shall be estimated by my merits, and not my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my suf- fering race.” The influential Carey established the first Baptist church in Liberia, which drew fellow immi- grants as well as indigenous Liberians. Later an African American mission society was named in his memory. pioneer preacher Baptist Nancy Jones was the first black single female missionary commissioned by the organizing for missions american Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Congregationalists created the first missionary society in the United States in 1810, and two years later the Jud- The Triennial Convention soon began send- sons and Luther Rice (1783–1836) sailed to India under ing domestic as well as foreign missionaries. Pioneer its auspices. Knowing that they would meet Baptist missionary John Mason Peck (1789–1858) arrived in missionary William Carey upon their arrival, the trio Missouri Territory in 1817, explaining that “ever since studied what the Bible said about baptism. To their I have thought upon the subject of missions, I have had surprise they found themselves siding with the Baptist my eye upon the people west of the Mississippi.” position and were baptized as adults on the journey. He soon organized churches, Sunday schools, mis- They subsequently resigned from the Congrega- sion societies, and Bible societies, persevering despite tionalist board and lost financial backing. A shaken a drop in funding and the opposition of antimission- but determined Adoniram wrote, “Whether the Baptist ary Baptists. Peck later helped organize the American churches in America will be compassionate about my Baptist Home Mission Society, with 150 home mission- situation, I know not.” While the Judsons established aries in the field by 1836. They served among Native their mission in Burma, Rice returned to the United Americans, frontier settlers, immigrants, African

hoto States in the hopes of enlisting Baptist support for their Americans, and others. p hoto

p ministry. He traveled thousands of miles by horseback The debate about slavery that split the United States tock

s and stagecoach to make his plea to churches. also divided Baptist missions advocates. Northern tock s Thanks to Rice, in 1814 Baptists across the United Baptist abolitionists and Southern Baptist slavehold- lamy

lamy States joined together for the first time to form ers struggled for control of the Triennial Convention, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist which attempted to remain neutral. After the con- icle / a

istorica / a Denomination in the United States of America for vention refused to appoint a Georgia slaveholder as h hro N

c Foreign Missions (commonly known as the Triennial a missionary, southerners pulled out and formed the lpha — Convention) to support the Judsons and others. Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. Again missions es— a

issio N American Baptists had rejected previous efforts to took priority: the SBC’s stated purpose was “for the m

go unite them, so this was significant. The cause of mis- propagation of the gospel,” and it quickly established cy Jo N N o Na N c sions was a priority for Baptists across the country. foreign and domestic mission boards. Both Southern

Issue 126 25 A trumpet call for China: Lottie Moon

ottie Moon was born in 1840 in Virginia, where she grew up on Viewmont Planta- L tion not far from Monticello. From a wealthy family, Moon enjoyed the advantages of an out- standing education and became one of the first women in the South to complete coursework for a master’s degree. She knew seven different lan- guages and sometimes read the New Testament in its original Greek. The death of Lottie’s father and the Civil hold your breath Missionaries baptize converts in War hurt the fortunes of the Moon family, and russia in about 1960. Lottie began working as a teacher. As a young woman, she also committed her life to Christ. When the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission and Northern Baptists sent growing numbers of mis- Board appointed her younger sister Edmonia sionaries to China, India, West Africa, and other places. (1851–1908) as a missionary to China, Lottie took note. Now that the board had baptist Women get involved begun sending single women Women had supported Baptist missions endeavors from overseas, Lottie wanted their beginnings, praying for missionaries and giving to be part of this group. small sums of money they were able to save. In fact a In 1873 she set sail for Baptist woman, Mary Webb (1779–1861), created the first China, a country her sis- female missionary society in the United States. Despite ter would soon leave but having suffered paralysis as a child which forced her where Lottie would spend into a wheelchair, the 21-year-old Webb organized nearly 40 years. women in Boston to “contribute their mite.” Other Bap- In China, Moon taught tist women formed similar societies. In South Carolina, NN essee in girls’ schools, evange- for example, Heph-zibah Jenkins Townsend (1780–1847) e lized in towns and villages, led women to bake and sell bread to support missions NN essee e

and opened a mission station work among the Catawba Indians. NN essee e in the country’s interior—an These efforts multiplied in the second half of the unusual role for a single woman. nineteenth century as the idea of “woman’s work for rchives, Nashville, t

Over time she adopted Chinese dress woman” emerged among many Protestant denomi- a and grew to love the people of China. nations. Northern Baptist Helen Barrett Montgomery rchives, Nashville, t Moon famously wrote hundreds of letters to (see “Preachers, organizers, trailblazers,” pp. 36–40) a rchives, Nashville, t rary a ND a B i

Southern Baptists, urging them to support inter- explained the motivation: l rary a ND

national missions. She wrote, “Could a Christian Men were shut out from ministry [to women] by ia B i l rary a ND

woman possibly desire higher honor than to be the iron bars of custom. . . . The missionary wife at B i istorical permitted to go from house to house and tell of a best could give only a fragment of her strength and l

savior to those who have never heard his name?” time to the work; then why not send out women istorical Baptist h Later she urged, “Oh! That my words could be as to minister to the uncounted millions of women in istorical amphlet ND / Wikime D a trumpet call, stirring the hearts of my brethren non-Christian lands? ther N Baptist h p U

o

and sisters to pray, to labor, to give themselves to In the 1870s Northern Baptist women organized Baptist h io N ther N

this people.” home and foreign missionary societies in Boston U o ther N ary U N and Chicago. Southern Baptist women established a U

Moon’s efforts led to the formation of the o rtesy of s U o

Woman’s Missionary Union and the establishment national organization in 1888. These societies supported c issio N — m rtesy of s ’s

of what became known as the Lottie Moon Christ- and sent female missionaries, especially single women. U o rtesy of s U mas Offering, which has raised more than $2 bil- The Woman’s Baptist Missionary Society in 1878 sup- Japa N o c g i N —

lion for missions. Lottie Moon died in 1912, having ported 35 female missionaries in locations such as —Wome N li N D oo N e given her all for Christ. More than a century later, Burma, Japan, and India. Women’s missionary societies Baptism— c m m

she remains the most famous Southern Baptist also published magazines, led fund-raising campaigns, hastai N c

NN a g ottie e l l rU ssia N missionary of all time.—Melody Maxwell and provided thousands of women with leadership J

26 Christian History lottie mooN—WomeN’s missioNary UNioN pamphlet ND / WikimeDia rUssiaN Baptism—coUrtesy of soUtherN Baptist historical liBrary aND archives, Nashville, teNNessee

leNNa meDliNg iN JapaN—coUrtesy of soUtherN Baptist historical liBrary aND archives, Nashville, teNNessee J g chastaiN—coUrtesy of soUtherN Baptist historical liBrary aND archives, Nashville, teNNessee Issue 126 good, a visitor wrote: wrote: good, avisitor for States United to the returned George before year the 1971, In Native Mission. Interior Elizabeth the nization, orga mission own her to establish woman American African first the not was complete. became She istry min her that believing at age 65, refused, retire George farming. like skills side vocational Bible the along learned where children aschool leading Liberia, in years 50 more than spent Eliza” “Mother that’s and where Imust go.” but Africa, America, not in George, my “I a Texan, believe life’s declared, work is service. to lives missionary their dedicated (1879–1979) George Davis Eliza as such Women ministry. and women for missions American African trained and material, missions published for missions, funds 1900.Convention in It formed was raised pp. Women’sers, the trailblazers,” 36–40), organiz (see “Preachers, Burroughs Helen of Under Nannie leadership participated. the support. missions encouraged and States United the in pp.ers, remained trailblazers,” 36–40), organiz (see “Preachers, Armstrong Annie Moon’s to.China.” give them counterpart, lives,” wrote, Moon “thata thousand Imight “I would Ihad missions. to engage in Baptists Southern urged and new areas, in ministry of people, pioneered to thousands witnessed She China. in serving nearly years 40 spent background, aprivileged from woman liant era. Moon, abril of this missionary revered (1840–1912;Moon sidebar) see most the was of thousands. to tens writing and movement,woman’s speaking missionary interdenominational the Baptists—led Lucy Peabody (1861–1949)—both Northern Montgomery Helenexperience. and Barrett on every inhabited continent in the world. the often in They continent inhabited every on served missionaries century, Baptist twentieth By the a globalpeople many whospreadtheGospelworldwide. J. G.Chaistain( aries from teatohorses walked with a walking stick. She had a larger trop alarger had She stick. awalking with walked She blind. vast. almost was was She Her ministry age at of bush 91. the the in deep Mission Industrial claims of Christ. of Christ. claims the pressing still she was and leg, her on cancer ical I met Mother George at the Evangelical Negro Negro Evangelical at George the Mother I met Convention to her Baptist asked National the When women also Baptist American African women, Lottie Baptist Southern Among l ) in Japan and enna Medling(right)inJapanand

) in Mexico were among below) inMexicowereamong Baptist mission- - - -

- - - - the Corridor. the in Torches and Woman IAm The women, Baptist on books author the and two at of Howard Payne University ies stud Christian of assistant professor is Maxwell Melody people. global atruly to be themselves proven had Baptists sail, set missionaries Baptist first the since centuries everywhere.” two the from and In “to expanded everywhere missions as themselves missionaries and mobilizers became fields mission former in addition Baptists In teams. mission term way, some short- in sending many missions with supported America in churches Baptist Nearly all or independently organizations denominational inter through served also missionaries Baptist Some denomination. American other any than missionaries more popular. people became unreached among planting church and ministries midcentury. Gradually justice the in over to nationals were turned institutions mission many although or worked hospitals, taught school, in evangelized, By the century’s end, Southern Baptists sent more sent Baptists end, century’s Southern By the C H - - .

27 burma love story Adoniram and Ann Judson were 19th-c. celebrities, inspiring thousands to greater devotion to missions.

24 and 22, and immediately set sail for India.

congregationalist to baptist On their long voyage, the Judsons stud- ied the Bible and embraced Baptist convictions. Ann wrote in her journal: “I have been examining the subject of baptism for sometime past, and, con- trary to my prejudices and my wishes, am compelled to believe, that believers’ baptism alone is found in Scripture.” American Baptists organized the Trien- nial Convention to support their unex- pected new missionaries. The Judsons settled in Burma and embarked upon Bible translation and All for Burma: Adoniram and evangelism efforts. They endured mul- tiple challenges: illness, living in a for- the three Mrs. Judsons eign culture, their children’s deaths, and Adoniram’s imprisonment. Soon after doniram Judson couldn’t sleep. In fact, the noises Adoniram was released from captivity, Ann, who had coming from the room next door were so dis- sacrificed her health for his welfare, passed away at Aturbing that he feared for the life of the per- age 36. Her sacrifice and the many letters she had son there. When morning broke, 20-year-old Judson written home to curious audiences describing their learned from the innkeeper that a man had indeed endeavors made her one of the most beloved mission- died of an illness in the neighboring room overnight. ary heroines America has ever known. Judson was stunned to discover that this man had After an extended period of mourning, Judson been none other than his college friend Jacob Eames. resumed his missionary work in a different part of As a student Eames had led Judson to doubt his Burma. In 1834 he married Sarah Boardman (1803– childhood faith. Now, reeling from Eames’s untimely 1845), the widow of another American missionary death, Judson reconsidered his commitment to God. there. Together they evangelized and translated the He soon enrolled in seminary and dedicated himself to Bible among the Burmese and the Karen peoples. missions service. In 1810 he and his classmates estab- After 11 years and the birth of eight children, Sarah lished the country’s first mission society, the American too died, a victim of a “wasting disease,” one of many Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (a Con- illnesses that so often ravaged early missionary gregationalist group). communities. Visiting the Hasseltine home as part of this effort, Judson returned to the United States on furlough Judson was smitten with the family’s youngest daugh- and commissioned popular author ros, 1857) ter, Ann. He soon proposed marriage, asking Ann’s father: (1817–1854) to write a biography of Sarah. Soon, to b whether you can consent to part with your daugh- the surprise of many, Adoniram and Emily announced mA son

ter early next spring, to see her no more in this their engagement. Some Americans were scandalized ns (

world . . . whether you can consent to her exposure at the idea of Judson marrying a much younger woman ric A to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, whose vocation did not seem as honorable as those

insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. of his previous wives. However the pair married and nt Am E Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who served happily together in Burma until Adoniram’s ry of Congress left his heavenly home and died for her and for death in 1850. Emily passed away four years later. you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for The legacy of Adoniram and the three Mrs. Judsons the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? encouraged thousands of Americans to faithful Chris-

Ann and her family struggled with this request, tian commitment and led many to serve as missionaries m Judson—Libr A ultimately deciding to trust her future to God. Adon- themselves. —Melody Maxwell. For more on the lives of Adonir A iram and Ann were married in 1812 at the ages of the Judsons, see Christian History issue #90. Anne H. Judson—Lossing, Emin E

28 Christian History ongress rary of C Multiplying by aptizing—li B dividing (again) for a B ree K Baptists wrestle with fundamentalism and liBeralism Bill J. Leonard

Baptists in the United states entered the StiLL CoMMitted, StiLL BAPtiZinG primitive Baptists twentieth century at the top of their game. One of the in morehead, Kentucky, head to the creek for a baptism. country’s largest Protestant groups, they were heirs of religious awakenings across the previous cen- tury: camp meetings, seasonal revivals, and urban color of paint for the fellowship hall. As the twenti- evangelistic . Their missionary endeavors eth century began, earlier over slavery and the spanned the globe, and they maintained colleges Civil War remained festering wounds, extended by the and universities across the nation. The oft-ridiculed, South’s Jim Crow segregation and the North’s growing h in Morehead, Kentu CK y, and going down to the C sometimes-persecuted colonial sect had become a passion for . Baptist pastor powerful fixture in American religious life. and Rochester Theological Seminary professor (1861–1918) envisioned a Social Gospel free to unite, free to divide movement by which Christ’s kingdom, “humanity itive Baptist Chur C Baptists “multiply by dividing,” so the saying goes. organized according to the will of God,” would gradu- ri M They unite around the concept of a believers’ church ally transform individuals and society. composed of those who testify to an experience of Meanwhile Baptist pastor William Miller’s 1840s God’s grace through Jesus Christ, symbolized by claim that Christ’s second coming would soon occur believers’ baptism. Yet corresponding emphases on had helped popularize the premillennialist idea that congregational autonomy, the priesthood of all believ- the Savior was on the verge of dramatically estab- ers, and freedom of conscience, plus the Calvinist- lishing a 1,000-year reign of peace. Jesus tarried but Arminian divide, create the possibility of division premillennialism became a major component of early

Mountain people leaving the p over issues ranging from Scripture’s authority to the fundamentalist belief and preaching.

Issue 126 29 StrAnGe LeGACy william Jennings Bryan successfully prosecuted scopes in his trial for teaching evolution, but the verdict was overturned on a technicality.

Augustus H. Strong (1836–1921), another longtime professor at Rochester, maintained a concern for divine sovereignty and biblical authority while exploring the insights of evolution and the historical-critical method of biblical studies. But by the 1920s, William Louis Poteat (1856–1938), science professor and president of North Carolina’s Baptist-related Wake Forest College, illustrated progressivism by teaching evolution to undergraduates, encouraging Baptists not to fear sci- entific investigation because Jesus Christ is “the theme, origin, and end of all truth.”

“WhAt iMMeASurABLe foLLy” These views began to trouble fundamentalists. Lib- eral Baptist pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) became a continuing target; his 1922 sermon “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” only exacerbated the ire. Responding to the escalating controversy, he called for tolerance, even as he insisted that Fundamentalists propose to drive out from the Christian churches all the consecrated souls who do not agree with their theory of inspira- tion. What immeasurable folly! “A fundamentalist is an evangelical that is angry about something,” historian George Marsden once observed. Baptist fundamentalists directed this out- rage initially toward two targets: Charles Darwin These dueling perceptions set the stage for disputes. (1809–1882) and the historical-critical method of Though the 1910s booklet series The Fundamentals was biblical studies developed in nineteenth-century actually conceived by a Presbyterian, its effects rippled Europe. Both, they believed, challenged biblical through many denominations, including Baptists. authority and veracity. Fueled by charismatic personalities, these controver- Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) undermined edia M

sies divided congregations and often spawned new the Genesis accounts of creation, the traditional i K Baptist coalitions. Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo (out of noth- i Left-of-center Baptists understood themselves ing), and the belief that humanity was created in as “Christocentric liberals,” applying new discover- the divine image. The infamous Scopes Trial, con- ies in theology, philosophy, and science to Christian ducted in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925, centered truth. They accepted biological evolution, histor- around John Scopes’s decision to teach evolution in rary of Congress / w B ical-critical methods for biblical studies, the find- his science classes, violating Tennessee’s anti-evo- i hoto ings of modern sciences, the benevolence of the God lution law. Famed lawyer Clarence Darrow (1857– p ll rights reserved

revealed in Jesus, and the progressive goodness 1938) defended Scopes with ACLU support, while the to CK a s .J. Bryan. l y of human nature. In The Faith of Modernism (1924), prosecution secured William Jennings Bryan (1860– w

Shailer Mathews (1863–1941), Baptist dean of the 1925), nationally known orator and erstwhile presi- la M University of Chicago Divinity School, wrote, dential candidate. Fire-breathing Baptist evangelist earn / a Modernists are thus evangelical Christians T. T. Martin (1862–1939), known for his popular cre- f aul

who use modern methods to meet modern ationist book, Hell and the High Schools (1923), con- p

needs. Confessionialism is the of ducted a revival in Dayton during the trial (see issue h— granger / ; us C

the dogmatic mind. Modernism is the evangeli- 107, Debating Darwin). osdi CK — f

calism of the scientific mind. Likewise the historical-critical method of bibli- hen B

Since all truth is God’s truth, Mathews and others cal interpretation—which analyzes textual language, aus C r argued, Christians need not fear new knowledge and dating, and editorial intent—was thought to place eM erson alter arry he issue— 1900. Liberty. Justice. Humanity . w h scientific discoveries. sacred writ on the same level as other literature. In t

30 Christian History ShALL the LiBerALS Win? Baptist funda- mentalists protested against the social Gos- pel and liberalism as preached by rauschen- busch (near right) and fosdick (far right).

The Fundamentals, Baptist professor J. J. Reeve linked evolution and “the Critical Movement,” calling them “fundamentally anti-supernatural and anti-miraculous.” Fundamentalists defended a set of 14 nonnegotiable doctrinal fundamentals, which they asserted as a historic Christian response to modernism. Five points have endured as definitive of the movement: 1) ; 2) Christ’s virgin birth; 3) his substitutionary atonement, taking upon himself the punishment deserved by sinful humanity; 4) his bodily res- urrection; 5) his literal second coming. NBC-funded schools. When the texAS tornAdo the denomination rejected In the South J. Frank Norris—a fierce populist called those efforts, a frustrated Riley moved toward “the Texas Tornado”—brought monkeys into the the World Christian Fundamentalist Association, pulpit to attack evolution and declared that preach- a Baptist-dominated group that had funded Bryan’s ers who take “the Bible allegorically and figura- work in the Scopes Trial and promoted fundamental- tively“ preach “an allegorical gospel which is no ism in numerous denominations. This laid the founda- gospel.” Norris accused even the Southern Baptist tion for a formal NBC and the formation of the Convention (SBC) of harboring liberals, ultimately Conservative Baptist Association of America in 1947. departing to lead a movement of Independent Bap- While the SBC also lost members to Independent tists who affirmed the Five Points and the abso- Baptists, it avoided formal schism because of its long lute autonomy of every Baptist congregation. They history of conservativism, a leadership that resisted rejected institutionalism, particularly “unbiblical” fundamentalism, and its emphasis on evangelism mission boards, preferring to fund and commission and religious experience as the source of unity. missionaries from each congregation. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president E. Independent clergy formed loose-knit pastor- Y. Mullins (1860–1928) contributed an essay to The coalitions including the Baptist Bible Fellowship, Fundamentals in which he linked doctrinal orthodoxy the Premillennial Baptist Missionary Fellowship, with the experience of regeneration. the , and the Southwide The SBC essentially deferred schism until the Baptist Fellowship. Most insisted that Baptists are 1980s when a conservative coalition executed a doc- the only true church, in direct succession from New trinal “course correction” (see “That’s where I used Testament congregations. They also pledged to avoid to go to church,” pp. 32–35). In the same period, all contact with liberals. Thus many boycotted Billy many Independent Baptists such as Jerry Falwell Graham’s evangelistic crusades because he permit- would join forces with the Religious Roundtable and hoto p ted Roman Catholic and clergy the Moral Majority. Northern Baptists continued to ll rights reserved

to CK to participate in those gatherings. resist fundamentalist approaches, promoting poli- a s

y Independent Baptists were aggressively evan- cies that have made them one of the country’s most

la M gelistic, building some of America’s first mega- racially diverse Baptist groups. Today Baptists are churches. Many founded their own Bible schools, the second-largest Christian group in the United earn / a f suspicious of liberal influence on traditional colleges States after Roman Catholics. Perhaps “multiply by aul

p and seminaries. William Bell Riley (1861–1947), pas- dividing” is the best description after all. C H h— granger / ; tor of First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, founded the us C

osdi CK — Northwestern Bible School (1935) and college (1943); Bill J. Leonard is Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and pro- f hen B Billy Graham succeeded him as president in 1947. fessor of church history at Wake Forest University School of aus C Riley attempted to purge the Northern Baptist Divinity and author or editor of over 20 books, including Dic- r eM erson Convention of liberals and to require a denominational tionary of Baptists in America, Baptist Ways, Baptists in alter arry w h confession of faith for missionaries and professors at America, and The Challenge of Being Baptist.

Issue 126 31 “That’s where I used to go to church” Black Baptists and white Baptists shared something important in the twentieth century: a penchant for splitting Barry Hankins

A fAmous joke: A Baptist was stranded on a remote demands of baptists and others civil rights island for 20 years. When rescuers finally got to him, protestors march on washington, dc, in 1963. they found he had built three structures. When they asked him about them, the man pointed to one build- ing and said, “That’s my house.” “And over there?” the as a promise of their own freedom. Where African rescuers asked. “That’s my church,” the stranded man Americans were permitted their own churches, a white replied. “I’m Baptist and take my faith quite seriously.” preacher presided over the congregation. ongress aLL rights reserved “And over there? What is the third building?” the res- Even so, by some estimates, when the white cuers asked. “Oh,” said the man. “That’s where I used Southern Baptist Convention came into existence in aLL rights reserved to go to church before the split.” 1845, there were more black than white Baptists in the South. Immediately after the Civil War, they demanded

black baptists breaking up their own independent churches and began to form rchives / granger — White and black Baptists in America generally wor- associations, mission societies, and in the 1890s the

shiped together before the Civil War, because white National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc. (NBCU). By ue des a slaveholders in the South feared to let blacks have their 1900 it had become the largest black organization of any own churches, which might become centers of agita- kind in America and remains so today.

tion for freedom. It was dangerous to let slaves read the But the NBCU split in 1915, producing the arch on Washington, dc , 1963—Library of c

story of Moses leading the Hebrew people out of bond- National Baptist Convention of America Un incorpo- ery bus boycott— granger / —

age, slaveholders thought: they might take the Bible rated, which is now the National Baptist Convention rights M Montgo M Martin Luther King Jr.— r literally and interpret the Israelites’ redemption story of America, Inc. In 1988 another split produced the civi L

32 Christian History National Missionary Baptist Convention of America. a dream and a schism Left: martin luther king Jr. And throughout most of the twentieth century, the preaches in 1965. the montgomery bus boycott he and Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention functioned as rosa parks led (at right, an almost-empty bus during the boycott) ended up sparking a controversy among yet another major black Baptist denomination—to say black Baptists. nothing of smaller black Baptist bodies and indepen- dent Baptist churches. Initially black Baptist schism occurred over orga- a gradualist, and he bristled at King’s growing popu- nizational or sociological issues rather than theology. larity, allegedly responding, “We must not crown our The 1915 split, for example, centered largely on con- heroes too quickly.” The New York Times would much trol of the publishing company that produced Sunday later report him as saying: “The answer to racial confu- school material and hymnbooks. But the racial turbu- sion is the Bible,” which was something white Southern lence of the 1950s and 60s led to significant political Baptists were also fond of saying. and religious schisms in black Baptist churches. Nearly Jackson had pastored the Olivet Baptist Church on a century after the abolition of slavery, a rift formed the South Side of Chicago since 1941; by the time of his over how African Americans should pursue equality death, the church would boast over 20,000 members, with whites. double the membership when he became pastor. Until King and civil rights became a national phenomenon, “shall gradualism be applied?” Jackson had been the best-known and most influential Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church black Baptist preacher in America, becoming president in Montgomery, Alabama, was affiliated with the of the NBC in 1953 with King’s support. NBCU. After Rosa Parks’s famous arrest on December Following Parks’s arrest Jackson at first favored the 1, 1955, National Association for the Advancement of movement, sending money from the NBCU and from ongress Colored People (NAACP) leaders, including Parks, met Olivet Baptist and even offering to purchase a bus to aLL rights reserved in King’s home. They called for the Montgomery bus help transport African Americans who were boycot- aLL rights reserved boycott of 1956. Dexter Avenue Baptist served as the ting the transit system. After the 1956 symposium, headquarters for organizing the protests against segre- however, Jackson and King became bitter enemies. gation in Montgomery’s city transit system. Some of King’s supporters even urged him to attempt

rchives / granger — In September of 1956, as the bus boycott continued, to unseat Jackson from the presidency. the NBCU held a symposium on civil rights at its annual When Jackson’s fourth term as president of the

ue des a meeting in Denver, debating “National Baptists Facing NBCU expired, his supporters tried to keep him in Integration: Shall gradualism be applied?” Gradualism office in violation of the four-term limit, and the issue is the idea that African Americans must be patient and landed in court where Jackson prevailed. King and other arch on Washington, dc , 1963—Library of c move slowly toward equality with whites. Following civil rights activists like (1926–1990)

ery bus boycott— granger / — the panel King denounced gradualism in a sermon; threw their support to Gardner C. Taylor (1918–2015)

rights M many at the convention responded enthusiastically. of Brooklyn’s Concord Baptist Church of Christ. Taylor Montgo M Martin Luther King Jr.— r civi L But NBCU president Joseph H. Jackson (1900–1990) was was a close friend of King; he would ultimately serve

Issue 126 33 the church for years, author numerous books, and messages and messengers Left: sBc messengers be named the “dean of American preaching” in 1980 (delegates) meet in 1973, before the conservative shift. by Time. the controversy was earlier foreshadowed by a 1961 fight over ralph elliot’s historical-critical exegesis in The In many ways this debate was nothing new. Message of Genesis (above). Following the Civil War, some had favored separation from white Baptists, while others favored cooperation. In the early twentieth century, Booker T. Washington arguably the most significant church schism of the

(1856–1915) and W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) repre- twentieth century, given that it happened in America’s ennessee t sented similar positions: Washington, like Jackson, largest Protestant denomination, resulted in a complete was the gradualist, advocating economic training and turnover in power from moderates to conservatives, ashvi LL e,

opportunity rather than direct action to end segregation and had both theological and political consequences. n and discrimination. Du Bois, by contrast, would accept Conservative activists in the Southern Baptist

nothing short of complete equality in all spheres of life. Convention (SBC) had been pestering the moderate rchives, The NBCU exploded in controversy at its 1961 leadership since the 1920s, charging that the SBC’s sem- meeting in Kansas City. With both Jackson and Taylor inary professors and denominational officials were claiming the presidency, the debate devolved into a vio- theological liberals who believed in evolution. The con- Library and a lent melee in which pastor A. G. Wright from Detroit servative movement did not get much traction until was knocked from the platform and rushed to the hospi- preacher and theologian (b. 1942) and istorica L tal with a severe head injury. He died the next morning. Texas judge Paul Pressler (b. 1930) began to organize h Jackson emerged victorious once again, while blam- in the late 1970s; they brought education, prestige, and aptist ing King for the violence. At Wright’s funeral Jackson organizational prowess to the conservative cause. b referred to King as one of the “hoodlums and crooks Patterson and Pressler determined that if they could

in the pulpit today.” Taylor had initially pledged his elect a conservative to the SBC presidency for 10 consec- outhern support to Jackson, but soon he, King, Abernathy, utive years, they could completely remake the boards

and others bolted the NBCU and formed a separate of all SBC agencies and the six Southern Baptist sem- aigepatterson.co M p

denomination called the Progressive National Baptist inaries. They recruited Memphis megachurch pastor ourtesy of s Convention (PNBC). (1931–2005) to stand as the conservative

candidate for the SBC presidency in 1979, and he was esources, r a theological fight elected. Moderates thought this was another one-off,

While the black Baptist schism of 1961 was political, it much like conservative W. A. Criswell’s presidency a enesis was also a dispute about the proper role of the church decade earlier (see “Preachers, organizers, trailblazers,” aptist conference— c in politics. White Baptists fought about politics too. But pp. 36–40). It wasn’t. The moderates never again won b atterson—Media the white Southern Baptist controversy that erupted the presidency. By 1992 the conservatives controlled all p outhern aige s The Message of g in 1979 was more clearly rooted in theology. It was agencies and seminaries. p

34 Christian History southern baptist conference—courtesy of southern baptist historicaL Library and archives, nashviLLe, tennessee The Message of genesis

paige patterson—Media resources, paigepatterson.coM Issue 126 for faculty hiring: belief in inerrancy and opposition opposition and inerrancy in belief hiring: for faculty test afour-part He formed Louisville. in Seminary Baptist president of Southern conservative first the (b. 1959) Mohler 1993explosive In issue. Albert became equally an of became women soon ordination The ordination andsubmission Southern Baptist was ready was to march. Baptist Southern average that abortion, on SBC leader pro-choice was But, an that when people said of Scripture. inerrancy the have might denied professor when a seminary where and exactly discerning difficulty had Baptist average The inerrancy. on Southern emphasis their at was woman issue. of the health or mental life when the option it an as ing matter, always but support almost agraveas ethical of abortion speaking meetings, SBC annual through resolutions of It abortion stand. shepherded anumber pro-choice agency, asoftly taken had ethical and cal SBC’s the Commission, politi Life 1973, Christian the of v. Roe Wade decision the Following abortion. around play in explicitly, were often tions conspicuously most posi political Conservative Republican. uniformly to almost Democratic solidly from flipping was South entire cause; the conservative gave to the momentum faculties. and boards on byreplaced conservatives systematically themselves and to decline beginning cause their moderates found the of victories, six-year run conservatives’ Unable the moderates’ stand. to break last attended. 45,000 roughly Dallas, have up, might shown 18,000 messengers but by 1985 in events; contested before, 13,000 highly to into morphed meetings the controversy the employees. During gers” (delegates), of whom many were denominational “messen among fellowship worship and featuring meetings, business perfunctory formerlyhad been conventions SBC annual candidates. opposing around rallied moderate and constituencies conservative as tle century. early twentieth Convention the in Baptist Northern the in happened had as just alism, liber path toward theological SBC down the lead the would argued, they This, its defense. in or were soft inerrancy moderate rejected that leaders either argued them who joined many Pressler,Patterson, the and Bible 1976 the on cry, Battle the battle for The building book conservative the as served of Scripture inerrancy the leader, alsoservedass western Baptistt multiple pulpits Conservatives connected this human life issue to to issue life human this connected Conservatives era Reagan the place took during all this That 1985 the that as convention served retrospect In bat electoral an into year’sEach convention turned 1980s, raged, controversy the the as Throughout by Northern Baptist Harold Lindsell (1913–1998). Lindsell Harold Baptist by Northern

heological

p aige B c presidentinthe1990s. p atterson, president of s eminary and a conservative eminary andaconservative s outh------share very few pews. few very share But still they schism. for twentieth-century penchant a including common, much in have shared Baptists white and well. Baptists Black as denomination Baptist black or other any NBCU the in true is of course, this, churches But individual few very tions. America’s SBC among the denomina integrated most today, leadership and membership making in American African predominately are of them 4,000 and 3,000 credentials. conservative impeccably with leaders, eight black SBC and all pastors and eight white by crafted carefully been had resolution The ciliation. recon for racial denomination’s acall and past racist to adopt for apology the an voted overwhelmingly race. 1995 on In moderate messengers predecessors of their legacy the furthered conservatives Baptist sideservative of wars, Southern America’s culture women’s rejecting ordination. officially added aclause Two conservatives later, fanfare, years much less with approved biblically of marriage. only form the husband of her headship to awife’s the submission ment calling SBC’sshows to the by astate adding of faith confession York news New TV coverage major Times and secular on five SBC seminaries. other or at the there faculty nothe on moderates were left decade,of the virtually completely. over almost turned end By the faculty nary exodus semi followed, the Amass and ban. ordination women’s outraged by the Moderates were particularly women’s homosexuality, and to abortion, ordination. Uneasy in Babylon God’sand in Uneasy well as Rascal. tists, including evangelicalism on Bap and author books the and numerous of University at Baylor history of professor is Hankins Barry Among the roughly 47,000 roughly the Among between SBC churches, con role the on aleadership Yet, taking even while front-page the 1998 news in In SBC garnered the with Thomas Kidd as as Kidd with Thomas America in Baptists C H are integrated; are ------35 Preachers, organizers, trailblazers Some paSSioNate meN aNd WomeN you may Not kNoW Who Carried ennessee forWard the BaptiSt traditioN iN the uNited StateS t ennessee t Mandy E. McMichael nA shville, nA shville, annie Walker arMstrong (1850–1938) flagbearer Nannie Burroughs holds the banner of the hives,

founded the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) of Banner State Women’s Baptist Convention, c. 1905. hives, nd Ar C A

the Southern Baptist Church in 1888 in conjunction hoto ry p A nd Ar C r A k

with other women from 12 states—though estab- WMU’s annual Easter Offering was renamed the B i l ry to C A s

lishing a national women’s organization for mis- Easter Offering for Home Missions r B i my sions did not come without opposition from male in 1934. To date it has collected over $1 billion. l istori CA l

Southern Baptist leaders. Armstrong was elected its h

first corresponding secretary. Helen Barrett MontgoMery (1861–1934), istori CA l h ptist

Known for her slogan “Go forward!,” Armstrong social reformer and preacher, dedicated time and istori CA l / Al A h wrote letters (over 18,000 in one year) and trav- resources to help women access education. She was the ptist tion

eled tirelessly to raise support for missionaries. first woman to serve on the Rochester school board and outhern B A She refused to address crowds that included men, helped start a local chapter of the Women’s Educational believing that the Bible prohibited it, but she used and Industrial Union with Susan B. Anthony. She also outhern B A

her influence to promote Bible and missions edu- taught Sunday school at Lake Avenue Baptist Church verett Colle C cation, including the publication of educational for over 40 years, was a licensed Baptist minister, occa- materials for African American Baptist women and sionally provided pulpit supply, and served as the first k—Courtesy of s C

children. Under her leadership offerings and prayer president of the Woman’s American Baptist Foreign e weeks for both home and foreign missions were Mission Society and the first woman president of the h Annie Armstrong—Courtesy of s fA nnie established. She never accepted a salary. National Baptist Convention. Her president’s address nA nnie Borroughs— e

36 Christian History hall of famer Near right: annie armstrong eventually made it into the maryland Wom- en’s hall of fame.

say that again? Far right: fannie exile heck owed her unusual middle name to her mother’s feeling of “exile” from West Virginia due to the Civil War.

in 1922 arguably helped keep the denomi- nation from schism. With fellow Baptist Lucy Peabody (1861–1949), Montgomery threw herself into the cause of evangelism in the ecumenical women’s missionary movement through the Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions, which published no fewer than 37 textbooks for local mission societies. Montgomery authored six and translated the New Testament into every- day language, publishing the Centenary Translation in 1924.

Fannie exile scudder Heck (1862–1915) Under his leadership First Baptist Church grew served as the president of the North Carolina Woman’s from 700 members to 7,800. Services were broadcast on Missionary Union from its beginning in 1886 until her the radio; Truett preached revivals around the nation death and also served several terms as national WMU and was appointed by Woodrow Wilson to preach to president. She and Annie Armstrong disagreed over troops in Europe in 1918. He also served as president their roles; eventually Heck refused to serve as presi- of the SBC and the Baptist World Alliance. Many of dent until Armstrong stepped down as corresponding his sermons and addresses were published, and he secretary. preached one, “Baptists and Religious Liberty,” on the Heck proved to be an incredibly strong president. steps of the Capitol in Washington, DC, in 1920. She was instrumental in the founding of the Woman’s Missionary Union Training School in Louisville, JoHn Franklyn “Frank” norris (1877–1952) ennessee t Kentucky, established age-level mission education was converted at a revival meeting. His first church ennessee t programs in local churches, spearheaded a major after seminary at Southern Baptist Theological Semi-

nA shville, fund-raising campaign during the WMU’s twenty- nary was McKinney Avenue Baptist Church in Dallas. fifth anniversary, wrote for numerous denominational He left that church in 1907 to become the editor of the nA shville, hives, publications, and authored the Woman’s Missionary Baptist Standard, but then left that post in 1909 to pastor

hives, Union , “Come, Women, Wide Proclaim.” She First Baptist Church, Fort Worth, which he did until his nd Ar C A

hoto became known in many Baptist circles, even delivering death. From 1935 through 1950, he also pastored Tem- ry p A nd Ar C r A k

B a speech at the Baptist World Alliance meeting in 1911. ple Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, traveling by i l ry to C A s

r After Heck’s death the minutes of the Foreign train and plane and enlisting the help of others. B i my l Mission Board included a tribute: “She exhibited . . . del- In the 1920s Norris emerged as a leader in the istori CA l

h icate feminine modesty and strong leadership. Many fundamentalist movement in the United States. His

istori CA l will be under the spell of her life and devote themselves attacks on Baylor University and on denominational h ptist

istori CA l / Al A to her ideals.” The WMU in North Carolina established leaders cost his church its seats at the Baptist General h ptist an annual offering in her memory. Convention of Texas, and Norris eventually broke ties tion

outhern B A with the Southern Baptist Church (SBC) which he saw george WasHington truett (1867–1944) is as too modernist. He founded a group of independent outhern B A best remembered as being pastor of First Baptist Church, Baptists (later the World Baptist Fellowship), helped

verett Colle C Dallas, Texas—for 47 years! Truett originally wanted to start the Fundamental Bible Baptist Institute, and pub- study law, but at Whitewright Baptist Church, congre- lished a fundamentalist newspaper. gants discovered his oratorical and teaching gifts and Norris made enemies among conservative evan- k—Courtesy of s C

e ordained him in 1890. As Baylor University’s finan- gelicals, liberals, Catholics, and fundamentalists—and h cial secretary, he raised $92,000 to help Baylor pay off was indicted for burning his own church on two sep- Annie Armstrong—Courtesy of s fA nnie nA nnie Borroughs— e its debts. Only then did he attend Baylor as a student. arate occasions, as well as for libel and murder. The

Issue 126 37 eorgi A g , nt A niversity, Atl A u mory e ry, A r B i l

power couple Above: howard and Sue thurman

appear at an academic event in 1953.. oodruff w . w two of a kind Left: J. frank Norris (at right) poses with ert B

popular anti-evolution preacher J. roach Straton. o r ry, A r B But Burroughs’s crowning achievement was found- i ing a school for African American girls in Washington, DC, in 1909 with the support of the NBC and the WC.

Burroughs became president of the National Training rA re Book l nd and Professional School for Women and Girls, a posi- A tion she held until her death. A vocal supporter of civil hives, last charge arose from his shooting Catholic lumber- rights, she invited Martin Luther King Jr. to speak to the man Dexter Elliott Chipps in his church office in 1926; WC (he accepted). She also spoke out against lynching ript, Ar C Chipps had stopped by to tell him to stop criticizing the and for suffrage. In 1964, three years after her death, the

Catholic mayor of Fort Worth. Norris escaped all but school renamed itself after her. mA nus C

the libel charge, acquitted of murdering the unarmed ikimedi A w pers,

Chipps on the grounds of self-defense, as Chipps had HoWard WasHington tHurMan (1899–1981) ry/ A r B challenged him to a fight. Allegedly Norris called his and sue Bailey tHurMan (1903–1996) trav- i l fA mily p A

wife after the shooting and told her, “I’ve just killed eled, spoke, and advised the civil rights movement. n ord f me a man.” Howard was a pastor, professor at Morehouse and . r hurm A ld Spelman, dean of the chapel at Howard University, t nd er A nannie Helen BurrougHs (1879–1961) was pastor of the intentionally interracial Church for the A

a teacher, reformer, and leader in the National Bap- Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, and the iley tist Convention (NBC). She wanted to teach in the first black dean of the chapel at Boston University.

District of Columbia, but the board of education After the death of his first wife, Katie Kelley, he mar- k, Courtesy g would not hire her because of her race. Instead she ried Sue, who had trained as a teacher and musician found work in Philadelphia with the NBC’s paper, at Oberlin College and already had a thriving lecture itz- pA tri C nger — All rights reserved f

the Christian Banner. In 1900 Burroughs accepted a career. In 1935 they traveled to India and met Gan- m

position with the Foreign Mission Board (FMB) of dhi, a moment that committed them to nonviolence. illi A w y nger / gr A

the NBC; she would work with the denomination Sue founded the Aframerican Women’s Journal and B nd unidentified others, 1953. B A A

for the remainder of her life. published countless articles and a cookbook high- hoto n hoto p r.— gr A k

Burroughs delivered one of her most famous lighting African American experience. Howard wrote s to C hurm A ing t addresses, “How the Sisters Are Hindered from numerous books—Jesus and the Disinherited (1949) s k my

Helping,” at the FMB’s annual meeting in 1900, was his most famous—and influenced young Boston iley uther

lamenting the lack of opportunities for African University doctoral student Martin Luther King Jr. l l Convention— p ue B A American women to serve in Baptist churches. This Howard had known King’s father at Morehouse. pl / Al A hive mA rtin

led to the founding of the Women’s Convention (WC) Howard credited his once-enslaved grandmother nA tion A n with s nd auxiliary of the NBC. Burroughs served as its long- for a profound influence on his life, writing in Jesus and A li CA n hurm A t rter

term corresponding secretary, traveling tirelessly the Disinherited about her refusal to let him read Paul’s orris—Ar C n epu B rd r

to promote the cause and even addressing the first letters to her, “Always the white minister used as his nk A ow A r f Jimmy C A h Baptist World Alliance meeting in London in 1905. text something from Paul. . . . I promised my Maker that 1976

38 Christian History Baptist Presidents and Vice Presidents eorgi A g , ichard m. Johnson (1780–1850; vice president nt A to Martin Van Buren, 1837–1841) served as a US R representative and a senator from Kentucky. He tried several times to establish a school for the Choc-

niversity, Atl A taw in cooperation with the Kentucky Baptist Society u and the Baptist Missionary Society and fought for keep- mory e ing Sunday mail delivery when the issue arose in Con- ry,

A gress—calling the US government “a civil, and not a r B i l religious institution.” warren g. harding (1865–1923; president, 1921–

oodruff 1923) served as Ohio’s governor and as a US senator; w . he died two and a half years into his presidential term w

ert and was replaced by Calvin Coolidge. He was the United B o r States’ first Baptist president and remains the only one ry,

A to be a Republican. Harding belonged to Trinity Baptist r B i Church in his hometown of Marion, Ohio, but attended Calvary Baptist Church in Washington while president. harry s truman (1884–1972; vice president to rA re Book l Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1945; president, 1945– nd A 1953) replaced Henry Wallace as FDR’s vice president for FDR’s fourth term. After 82 days Roosevelt died, hives, making Truman president. Raised in Presbyterian and Baptist churches, Truman was baptized as a Baptist in ript, Ar C 1902 and belonged to the Grandview Baptist Church in civil religion Baptists can claim politicians as different as Jimmy Carter (top left with martin Luther king Sr.) and

mA nus C Grandview, Missouri. He sometimes described himself Nelson rockefeller (bottom right with reagan and ford). ikimedi A as a “lightfoot Baptist” because of his love of non-Bap- w pers,

ry/ tist recreations, but also wrote, “I’m a Baptist because I A r B i think that sect gives the common man the shortest and bill clinton (b. 1946; president, 1993–2001) l fA mily p A

n most direct approach to God.” served as the attorney general of Arkansas and as ord f .

r nelson rockefeller (1908–1979; vice president to its governor. He was baptized at Park Place Baptist hurm A ld t Gerald Ford, 1974–1977) was governor of New York Church in Hope, Arkansas, in 1955 at the age of nine, nd er A A for over a decade. Ford appointed him vice president in but grew more distant from the church as a young

iley 1974 when Nixon’s resignation made Ford the nation’s adult. In 1980 he joined Immanuel Baptist Church in 38th president. Rockefeller’s father and grandfather Little Rock, though as president he attended Foundry

k, Courtesy g were wealthy Baptist oil tycoons; his grandfather along United Methodist Church in Washington with his wife with other Baptist investors refounded the University Hillary. He joined with Carter to help found the New of Chicago in 1890, and his father was instrumental in Baptist Covenant group. itz- pA tri C nger — All rights reserved f

m the establishment of the nondenominational Riverside al gore (b. 1948; vice president to Bill Clinton, 1993–

illi A Church in New York in 1930. 2001) served as a US senator and representative from w y nger / gr A B Jimmy carter (b. 1924; president, 1977–1981), Tennessee. He grew up in the New Salem Missionary nd unidentified others, 1953. B A A

hoto hoto governor of Georgia, belonged to the Plains Baptist Baptist Church in Elmwood, Tennessee, and was bap- n hoto p r.— gr A k

s Church in Plains, Georgia, for many years. In 1977 dis- tized in the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church (SBC) in Arlington, to C hurm A ing t s agreement over whether Plains would allow African Virginia. He noted in the mid-2000s that he considered k my iley American membership led to a church split creating the himself no longer SBC. In a Newsweek interview, he said, uther

l Maranatha Baptist Church, which Carter joined after his I am a Christian. I am a Protestant. I am a Baptist. l Convention— p ue B A pl / Al A presidency. As a deacon there, he still teaches a Sunday All of those labels are less significant to me than hive mA rtin

nA tion A school class. In 2000 he announced that he was sever- my own personal religious faith . . . the tradition of n with s nd A ing ties with the Southern Baptist Convention (though which I’m a part recognizes the importance of per- li CA n hurm A t rter

orris—Ar C he continues to attend Maranatha, an SBC church), and sonal communication with the deity, along with the n epu B rd r

nk in 2007 he helped found a progressive group called the lessons that come from Scripture. A ow A r f Jimmy C A h 1976 . —Jennifer Woodruff Tait

Issue 126 39 they had dreams it is hard to imag- ine 20th-c. american religion without the contributions of Clarence Jordan (left), W. a. Criswell (below left), and prathia hall (below right).

clarence leonard Jordan (1912– 1969), a farmer and New Testament scholar from Georgia, witnessed racial tension and economic disparity from an early age. Hoping to make a difference in the lives of poor farmers, he studied agri- culture at the University of Georgia. But he felt called to ministry and eventually earned a PhD in New Testament studies, was ordained, and pastored three rural churches before establishing Koinonia Farm in Georgia in 1942. At Koinonia inhabitants shared their resources, practiced pacifism, and treated all people as equal regardless of race or class. Violence and economic boycotts against Koino- nia hindered its growth; the farm reincorporated as Koinonia Partners in 1968, and its low-cost, interest- free housing program eventually evolved into the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity. Jordan’s translations of portions of the New Testament into the southern vernacular became known as the “Cotton Patch” series, and his translation of Matthew was turned into an off-Broadway musical, Cotton Patch Gospel.

PratHia laura ann Hall (1940–2002), preacher and activist, grew up in Mt. Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia, earned a degree in political if I ever learned to read and if freedom ever came, I science, and became a leader in the Student Nonviolent ennessee would not read that part of the Bible.’” Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She spoke at mass t meetings, trained field workers, and led a voter reg- W. a. crisWell (1909–2002) became pastor of First istration project in Selma, Alabama. She was arrested nA shville, Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, following George Tru- multiple times and once suffered a minor gunshot

ett and served until 1995 (the church had only two wound. At a 1962 prayer vigil in Georgia, Martin Luther hives, pastors in 95 years!). He experienced conversion at King Jr. overheard Prathia Hall using the phrase “I have nd Ar C a revival meeting at age 10 and felt called to minis- a dream” in prayer. He began to use it in his preaching A ry A

try at 12; at 17, he was licensed to preach. (He would and speeches. When SNCC abandoned its commitment r B i l eserved

later earn advanced degrees including a PhD.) Under to nonviolence and excluded white members in 1966, r Criswell’s leadership FBC Dallas grew from 7,800 to Hall left the organization. ights

over 25,000—one new member was the young Billy Hall was one of the first African American istori CA l h Graham. His over 4,000 sermons were broadcast on women ordained by American Baptists. She earned ptist

radio and television, and he preached through the an MDiv and a PhD, pastored her father’s church nger. All r A r

entire Bible in his tenure. He also organized elaborate in Philadelphia, and taught Christian ethics, wom- oinoni A

age-level ministries, a model that churches around the anist theology, and African American religious gnumphotos outhern B A country would replicate. history. In 1997 Ebony magazine recognized her as

C H yon / m A Criswell was SBC president from 1968 to 1970 and one of the “15 Greatest Black Women Preachers.” l llstein Bild / g ourtesy of k significant in the denomination’s conservative resur- n— C gence. He wrote 54 books, including Why I Preach that Mandy E. McMichael is associate director of Ministry m 1954— u A h e Jord A hA ll— dA nny

the Bible Is Literally True (1969), and defended biblical Guidance and J. David Slover Assistant Professor of A

r inerrancy, premillennial dispensationalism, and, for Ministry Guidance in the religion department at Baylor g thi A ren C A A Criswell—Courtesy of s r Billy Cl A w a time, racial segregation. University. p

40 Christian History “ America’s Pastor” Prepared to meet his Lord: Billy Graham (1918–2018)

hen Graham preached, he said that death was, of course, inevitable. As no one knew when W Christ would return, he said, everyone should think instead about the sure thing they did know: the certainty of their own death. While some fundamental- ists predicted that some believers would escape death in the Rapture, the evangelist repeatedly insisted that death fell on everyone. In his remarks at former president Richard Nixon’s funeral, Graham reminded the family and audience that someday every one of them would die: “John Donne said that there’s a democracy about death. ‘It comes equally to us all and makes us all equal when it comes.’”. . . Though believers would not escape death, they would face it with greater clarity. During his Las Vegas evangelistic crusade in 1980, the MGM Grand Hotel burned. “Someday, for all of you, golden gates “think of a place where there will be no if you don’t know God, the music will stop. It will all be sorrow and no parting, no pain, no sickness, no death, no over,” he said. Critics who charged Graham with sen- quarrels, no misunderstandings, no sin and no cares,” Gra- ham (above in 1954) said once about heaven. timentality were not paying attention. He was not a profound thinker or preacher, but he dealt with serious things in serious ways. And millions listened. As for his future, Graham made clear that he antic- Death was one thing; the passing of time in the ipated his demise as a door to a new life in heaven. midst of life, another. Once, when he was in his mid- “I’m looking forward to it — I really am,” he said in 60s, a teenager asked him what surprised him most 1995, in his late 70s. “I’ll be happy the day the Lord in his “old age.” He answered without hesitation: “the says, ‘Come on. I’ve got something better planned.’” brevity of life.” The relentless march of events taught To be sure, Graham admitted that he did not look important lessons too. “I urge each of you to invest your forward to the dying process itself. . . . But beyond ennessee t lives, not just spend them,” he told another group of the event itself stood heaven as a place of glorious young people. . . . fellowship with the Lord, saints, loved ones and invig- Until the later decades of his ministry, Graham orating work to do. . . .The journalist David Frost asked nA shville, seemed not to dwell very much on [his own death]. the mature Graham what he would want the first line hives, But with time Graham did slow down. Aging quieted of his obituary to say. “That he was faithful and that his trademark machine-gun sermons into talks that he had integrity,” he replied. “And that I was faithful nd Ar C A seemed more like fireside chats. He readily admit- to my calling, and that I loved God with all mind, heart ry A r ted that he “yelled” less and that he had come to and soul.” B i l eserved

r favor less demanding indoor auditoriums over the Frost wondered if Graham had questions he hoped outdoor stadiums that had propelled him to interna- to ask God in heaven. “Yes, thousands. Many things in ights istori CA l tional fame. . . . Bible mysteries.” [Graham] then added, “Some things in h Yet serious illness took its inevitable toll. He col- my life I would be embarrassed if anyone else saw. I ptist

nger. All r lapsed while speaking in Toronto but climbed out of a would like God to edit the film.” If God needed to edit A r

oinoni A hospital bed several days later to preach to a Sky Dome the film of Billy Graham’s life, some readers undoubt-

gnumphotos record crowd of 73,500 on the final night of an evan- edly thought, the rest of us were in big trouble. outhern B A gelistic crusade. . . . Still [he] soldiered on, year after —Grant Wacker, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of yon / m A l year, until he preached his final evangelistic crusade in Christian History at Duke Divinity School and author llstein Bild / g ourtesy of k Flushing Meadows, New York, in the summer of 2005. of America’s Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of n— C Though others had to help him to the pulpit, the image a Nation. Excerpted from an article originally published m 1954— u A h e Jord A hA ll— dA nny A of an old warrior of the cross, pressing far past the nor- at Duke Today and in the Washington Post, reprinted

r g mal retirement age, helped normalize the aging process with permission from Duke University Divinity School. thi A ren C A A Criswell—Courtesy of s r Billy Cl A w p for many and provided inspiration for millions. For more, see our issue #111, Billy Graham.

Issue 126 41 Recommended resources Here are some recommendations from CH editorial staff and tHis issue’s autHors to Help you understand tHe Baptist story.

Books Read more about the black Baptist tradition in Good overviews of Baptists in America throughout LeRoy Fitts, A History of Black Baptists (1985); Paul the country’s history are Bill J. Leon- Harvey, Redeeming the South (1997) and Freedom’s ard, Baptist Ways (2003) and Baptists in Coming (2005); Andrew Manis, America (2005); William Brackney, Bap- Southern Civil Religions in tists in North America (2006); Pamela and Conflict (1987); Mechal Sobel, Keith Durso, The Story of Baptists in the Trabelin’ On (1987); Walter United States (2006); Joseph Early Jr., ed., Pitts, Old Ship of Zion (1993); Readings in Baptist History (2008); Wil- James Melvin Washington, liam Lumpkin, edited by Bill J. Leonard, Frustrated Fellowship (1997); Baptist Confessions of Faith (2011); Keith Mark Newman, Getting Right Harper, ed., Through a Glass Darkly (2012); with God (2001); Wilson Fallin and Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins, Jr., Uplifting the People (2007); Baptists in America (2015). Check out Janet William Banks, A History of Moore Lindman, Bodies of Belief (2008), for a narrative of Black Baptists in the United States (2013); Adam L. Bond, colonial Baptists. The Imposing Preacher (2013); and Keith Harper and Baptist involvement in debates over religious lib- Edward Crowther, eds., Between Fetters and Freedom erty appear in Walter Shurden, ed., Proclaiming the (2015). Baptist Vision: Religious Liberty (1997); William Estep, Finally enjoy these biographies and collections Revolution within the Revolution (1990); of writings of some individual Baptists whose stories Edwin Gaustad, Proclaim Liberty through- we’ve told: out All the Land (1991) and Faith of Our • Annie Armstrong: Keith Fathers (2001); James Byrd, The Challenges Harper, ed., Rescue the Perishing of Roger Williams (2002); J. Brent Walker, (2004) Church-State Matters (2008); and Lee • Virginia Broughton: Tome- Canipe, A Baptist Democracy (2011). iko Ashford Carter and Jessie Books on Baptists in education Carney Smith, eds., Virginia include H. I. Hester, Southern Baptists in Broughton (2010) Christian Education (1968); James Draper, • William Carey: S. Pearce LifeWay Legacy (2006); and William Carey, William Carey (2008) Brack ney, Congregation and Campus (2008). • George Liele: David Shan- Twentieth-century Baptist controversies appear non, George Liele’s Life and Legacy (2013) in Barry Hankins, Uneasy in Babylon (2002) and Eileen • Billy Graham: Grant Wacker, America’s Pastor (2014) Campbell-Reed, Anatomy of a Schism (2016). Read more • : Jason Duesing, ed., Adoniram Jud- about Baptists in mission in Sandy Martin, Black son (2012) Baptists and African Missions (1990); Alan Scot Willis, • Ann Judson: Rosalie Hunt, The Extraordinary Story of All According to God’s Plan (2004); and (2018) many of the biographies below. • Martin Luther King Jr.: Rich- Baptist women feature in Evelyn ard Lischer, The Preacher King Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Dis- (1995); Clayborne Carson, ed., content (1993); Keith Harper, The Quality The Autobiography of Martin of Mercy (1996); David Morgan, Southern Luther King, Jr. (1998) Baptist Sisters in Search of Status, 1845– • Helen Montgomery: Kendal 2000 (2003); Susan Shaw, God Speaks to Mobley, Helen Barrett Montgom- Us, Too (2008); Elizabeth Flowers, Into the ery (2009) Pulpit (2012); and Melody Maxwell, The • Lottie Moon: Keith Harper, Woman I Am (2014). ed., Send the Light (2002) and

42 Christian History Regina Sullivan, Lottie Moon (2011) • J. Frank Norris: Barry Hankins, God’s Rascal (1996) • Lucy Peabody: Louise Armstrong Cattan, Lamps Are for Lighting (1972) • Roger Williams: Edwin Gaustad, Liberty of Con- science (1999) and Roger Williams (2001)

WeBsites As befits a group interested in the liberty of the individ- ual, there are many, many Baptist websites. Start with some of the larger Baptist archives and historical soci- eties: American Baptist Historical Society; Baptist His- tory and Heritage Society; International Missions Board (SBC); and the Southern Baptist Library and Archives. Also look at Baptist Studies Online, a collaborative effort by scholars from various Baptist traditions. Baylor University’s Baptist Studies Center has extensive links to many smaller archives and historical Christian history issues societies as well as Baptist publishing houses, denomi- Read these past issues of Christian History online. nations, and a bibliography of Baptist resources. Some are still available for purchase: • 6: The Baptists • 8: Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening • 23: Spiritual Awakenings in North America • 29: • 36: William Carey and the Great Missions Century • 38: George Whitefield • 41: The American Puritans • 45: Camp Meetings and Circuit Riders The Baptist History Homepage is continuously • 50: The American Revolution maintained with excerpts from historic Baptist doc- • 55: Rise of Fundamentalism uments; Baptist Heritage has some documents and • 65: Ten Most Influential Christians of the 20th Century pictures. Documenting the American South contains • 90: Adoniram and Ann Judson a number of primary-source resources from Baptists. • 92: A New Evangelical Awakening • 111: Billy Graham

Videos from Vision Video To learn more about the origin of Baptists in Videos on the theme of this issue include Briars in the Britain, go to the Baptist Historical Society. And as Cotton Patch; Come Alive; C. H. Spurgeon: The People’s always many public-domain primary source docu- Preacher; Candle in the Dark; People of Faith; Sacred Space; ments about people referenced in this issue can be Saints and Strangers; The Midnight Cry; and We the People. found at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. C H

Issue 126 43

C. H. Spurgeon: Candle in the Dark: The The People’s Preacher Story of William Carey This powerful, inspirational William Carey sailed to India in docudrama faithfully re-creates 1793 with a reluctant wife and four the times of C. H. Spurgeon and children to bring the message of brings the “people’s preacher” to Jesus. He worked tirelessly to life as it follows his trials and influence the abolition of sati (the triumphs with historical accuracy. burning alive of widows when 70 minutes their husbands died) and to #501345D, $12.99 oversee more translations of the Bible than had ever been done before. Life was never easy for Carey. But he simply refused to Christian History magazine #29 on quit, even when a devastating fire destroyed Spurgeon—#97866, $5.00 years of his literary work. His legacy has inspired countless others from his own day to the present. Drama, 107 minutes Billy Graham: #4782D, $9.99 Prophet with Honor Adoniram and Ann In this fast-paced international television special hosted by David Judson Frost, we meet Billy Graham and Adoniram and Ann Judson were hear in his own words about his American missionaries who unprecedented opportunities and sacrificed enormously to bring the the formidable challenges that Gospel to the people of Burma marked major turning points for (present-day ). Despite him. Includes documentary resistance, persecution, imprison- footage and comments from ment, personal loss, and ill health, friends, associates, and critics. Adoniram’s and Ann’s faithfulness Documentary, 50 minutes led to the establishment of a #501236D, $9.99 church that continues to flourish today. Experience the struggles Christian History magazine #111 on and triumphs of these remarkable Billy Graham—#501614, $5.00 missionaries in this illuminating documentary. 65 minutes #501793D, $14.99 A Gathering of Souls Christian History magazine #90 on With expert commentary from the Judsons—4891, $5.00 pastors, academics, Billy Graham associates, and fellow evangelists, this documentary gives the history of the crusades from the first event in Los Angeles in 1949 to BEST BUY! the groundbreaking 1957 New York City crusade and on to the Everything on this page (5 DVDs and remarkable gatherings behind the 3 magazines) for only $29.99. Save $43! Iron Curtain and in the Far East. Documentary, 51 minutes Use item #97392D for this offer. #501582D, $9.99 www.VisionVideo.com • 1-800-523-0226 Please use source code CH126b when ordering. PO Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490 www.christianhistoryinstitute.org Electronic Service Requested

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