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Bowdoin College Bowdoin Digital Commons Honors Projects Student Scholarship and Creative Work 2019 The Sacralization of Absolute Power: God's Power and Women's Subordination in the Southern Baptist Convention Sydney Smith [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Sydney, "The Sacralization of Absolute Power: God's Power and Women's Subordination in the Southern Baptist Convention" (2019). Honors Projects. 123. https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/honorsprojects/123 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship and Creative Work at Bowdoin Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Bowdoin Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Sacralization of Absolute Power: God’s Power and Women’s Subordination in the Southern Baptist Convention An Honors Paper for the Department of Religion By Sydney Catherine Smith Bowdoin College, 2019 © 2019 Sydney Smith Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………..………………….. 1 Chapter 1: A Brief History of The Conservative Takeover of the SBC……………………........ 15 Chapter 2: Neo-Calvinism: Continuity and Change …………………….………………………. 33 Chapter 3: Loyalty, Denominational Politics, and Departure from Baptist Tradition ...………... 54 Chapter 4: Strategic Submission and the Empowerment of Southern Baptist Women …………. 69 Chapter 5: A Day of Reckoning for the SBC? …………….……………………………………. 96 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….………….…. 127 Bibliography………………………………………………………….………………………... 132 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Bowdoin College Faculty Scholar program, for providing the grant which facilitated the summer research that made this project possible. Thanks to all of my friends who supported me throughout this long year of research, including spontaneously driving to Hillsong Church with me and always asking for the “hot Calvinism goss.” Thanks to Chelsea, for hosting me at Duke while I revised this project, and for joining me for study breaks to watch Duke softball. Thanks to Michael, for driving me to the SBC headquarters in Nashville. To the professors who sparked my love for the study of religion at Bowdoin, Prof. Morrison, Prof. Pritchard, Prof. Sonia, Prof. Berzon, and Prof. Golovkova: thank you so much, not only for what you have taught me, but for your contagious passion for learning. I extend my most heartfelt love and thanks to my home church, Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, KY. And to my brother Cullen, for his love and support at all times—including driving me to Louisville to explore The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and going to the Passion conference with me in 2015. And to my mom and dad, for their love and support, and for raising me to love learning. Most of all, I would like to thank Professor Pritchard. I cannot express how much I appreciate the many hours you have put in to help me with this project. Our meetings over the past year have been a highlight of my Bowdoin experience, as you have challenged me to think deeply and critically about things I am passionate about. Thank you for your wisdom in guiding me through this process with which I was entirely unfamiliar and for helping me see the big picture when I get lost in the details. 1 Introduction In February 2009, the cover of TIME Magazine advertised its feature story: “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now.” This special edition magazine consisted of an analysis of several potentially world-changing innovations, and many people were likely shocked to discover “The New Calvinism” listed among them.1 The article noted the neo-Calvinist emphasis on divine sovereignty and total depravity, describing the theological system as “complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity [and] sinful and puny humanity” and marveling at the stunning success of such a harsh theological system among an almost exclusively millennial audience.2 Neo-Calvinism is led by passionate and charismatic individuals such as John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler—men who draw huge crowds of young people with their blunt messages about absolute sovereignty, total depravity, and predestination. The neo-Calvinist movement has rapidly spread throughout the American Protestant landscape, embedding its theology into a variety of institutions, including parachurch organizations and even well-established denominations like the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Although the emergence of neo-Calvinism is a fairly recent development, especially within the SBC, there is a long history of Calvinist influence on Baptist churches in the United States. It began in England, when Puritan separatists broke off from the Anglican church, motivated by their desire to “purify” the church from lingering Catholic tendencies. They placed a strong emphasis on the authority of scripture, declaring their intention to exclude from official church doctrine 1 Followers of this movement generally call themselves “New Calvinists,” but I use the term “neo-Calvinist” to refer to both the persons and the theology they endorse. 2 David Van Biema, “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now: The New Calvinism,” Time, March 12, 2009, accessed February 22, 2019, http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html. 2 “everything that was not commanded directly by Scripture.”3 Several sects subsequently split off from the Puritans, including the Baptists. Baptists distinguished themselves through the practice of adult baptism by immersion, baptizing individuals “on the basis of their own personal professions of faith.”4 They also relied heavily on the authority of scripture; in fact, their namesake practice of adult baptism by immersion was rooted in a desire to adhere to their interpretation of New Testament standards for baptism. Baptists were later divided into two main groups: General Baptists (who believed in general atonement—the idea that Jesus died for all of mankind, without exception) and Particular Baptists (who believed in particular, or limited, atonement—the idea that Jesus died only for the elect). The Particular Baptists adopted a Calvinist theological framework, supplementing their namesake practice of adult baptism by immersion with strong beliefs in limited atonement, perseverance of the saints, and the authority of scripture.5 When Particular Baptists immigrated to America, they adopted their own confessional statement—the Philadelphia Confession. In the mid-nineteenth century, conflict over the institution of slavery drove a regional wedge between Baptists in the north and south, leading to the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. SBC founders like John Dagg, James P. Boyce, and John A. Broaddus 3 Mark A Noll, Protestants in America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 32-33. 4 Ibid., 33. 5 Bill Leonard, Baptists in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 16. The Particular Baptists adopted the First London Confession (1644) and Second London Confession (1689) as a declaration of their Calvinist identity—and thus, their distinction from other Baptists. The Philadelphia Confession was nearly identical to these traditional Particular Baptist confessions. The following excerpts are from the First London Baptist Confession (1644) and demonstrate the Particular Baptists’ Calvinist theology: Limited atonement: “Christ, being consecrated, has appeared once to put away sin by the offering and sacrifice of Himself, and to this end has fully performed and suffered all those things by which God… might reconcile His elect only”; “Christ Jesus by His death did bring forth salvation and reconciliation only for the elect.” Perseverance of the saints: “Those that have this precious faith wrought in them by the Spirit, can never finally nor totally fall away.” Total depravity and unconditional election: “All mankind being thus fallen, and become altogether dead in sins and trespasses, and subject to the eternal wrath of the great God by transgression; yet the elect, which God has loved with an everlasting love, are redeemed, quickened, and saved, not by themselves, neither by their own works, lest any man should boast himself, but wholly and only by God of His free grace and mercy.” The Reformed Reader, “London Baptist Confession of 1644,” accessed April 9, 2019, http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/h.htm. 3 defended Calvinist theology and ensured that it was taught in the denomination’s first seminary— The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.6 Though Calvinist theology was highly influential during the founding of the SBC, it began to experience a decline during the early twentieth century. According to Gregory Wills, a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Southern Baptists relinquished Calvinism in the early twentieth century due largely to the influence of pragmatism, experiential theology, and a growing emphasis on the priority of individual freedom.”7 With the decline of Calvinist theology in favor of more progressive theology came the emergence of liberalism within the denomination. This trend continued until the late twentieth century when, after lying relatively dormant