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A Critical Analysis of Selected Southern Baptist Convention Presidential Addresses, 1950-1970

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A Critical Analysis of Selected Southern Baptist Convention Presidential Addresses, 1950-1970 Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1971 A Critical Analysis of Selected Southern Baptist Convention Presidential Addresses, 1950-1970. Robert L. Hartsell Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hartsell, Robert L., "A Critical Analysis of Selected Southern Baptist Convention Presidential Addresses, 1950-1970." (1971). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2128. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2128 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 72-17,766 HARTSELL, R o b ert L . , 1930- A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES, 1950-1970. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College,Ph.D., 1971 Speech University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1972 ROBERT L. HARTSELL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES 1950-1970 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and . Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Speech by Robert L. Hartsell B.A., Ouachita Baptist University, 1951 B.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1956 M.R.E., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1957 M.A., Kansas State University, 1965 December, 1971 PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author hereby expresses appreciation to Dr. Harold Mixon, the study director, for his wisdom and counsel. He further expresses appreciation to the other committee members, Dr. Waldo Braden, Dr. John Pennybacker, Dr. Claude Shaver, and Dr. Fabian Gudas. Special gratitude is expressed to Mrs. Marian Keegan, Archivist, Dargan-Carver Library, Nashville, Tennessee. It is with deep gratitude that the prompt, cordial, and generous cooperation of the former presidents, and the one president* s widow, involved in this study is acknowledged. Personal debts of gratitude are owed to Dr. and Mrs. Lynn M. Stewart of Nashville, Tennessee, and to Dr, Loyd Hunnicutt of Magnolia, Arkansas. Each rendered a special service which removed barriers from the completion of the investigation. Finally, it is readily acknowledged that no investigation of this nature is accomplished without the personal indulgence and sacrifice of those closest to the investigator. For their incomparable contri­ bution, appreciation is hereby expressed to Elinor, Lynaire, Bruce, and Nikki, for whom and without whom .... To SABAL. ZAH RIKAH 'i* iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................. ii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .......................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .......................................... 4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ............................................................... 6 TYPE OF D A T A ............................................................................... 8 METHOD OF ANALYSIS................................................................ 12 OVERVIEW OF DISSERTATION DEVELOPMENT .... 32 2. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ............... 36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION............................................................ 36 NATURE OF THE CONVENTION............................................. 41 RELATIONSHIP OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE CONVENTION........................... 48 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS............................................................................. 52 iv Chapter Page BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE PRESIDENTS INCLUDED IN THE STUDY ...................................................... 61 TYPICAL AUDIENCE..................................................................... 83 TYPICAL OCCASION..................................................................... 89 SUMMARY........................................................................................... 90 3. ANALYSIS OF METHOD . ...................... 94 R.'G.' LEE ............................................................................ 95 J.D. G R E Y.......................................................................... 99 J.W. STORER . , ............................................ 101 C.C. WARREN .............................................................. 104 BROOKS H AYS ............... 108 RAMSEY POLLARD ........................................................ 109 HERSCHEL H. HOBBS .................................................................. 112 K. OWEN W HITE............................................................................... 115 WAYNE DEHONEY ........................................................................ 117 H.F. PASCHALL ............................... 120 W.A.-CRISWELL............................................................................... 123 SUMMARY........................................................................................... 127 4. ANALYSIS OF CONTENT ............................................................... 129 LOCAL CHURCH AUTONOMY .................................................. 139 THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY ............................................ 173 vi Chapter Page ECUMENICITY ................................................................................. 238 RACIAL RELATIONSHIPS............................................................ 260 SOCIAL APPLICATIONS OF THE G O SPEL ....................... 294 SUMMARY ............................ 319 5. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................... 320 NATURE OF THE ADDRESS ........................................ 320 Persuasive Rhetoric ........................................... 320 Lofty- Rhetoric ............................................................... 333 AN ASSESSMENT OF VALUE .................................................. 334 Rhetorical Effectiveness ............................................................ 334 Rhetorical Quality ............... 337 EXTENT TO WHICH THE PRESIDENTS UTILIZED THEIR RHETORICAL OPPORTUNITIES ................ 342 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................. 344 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 346 APPENDIXES.................................................................................................... 356 APPENDIX A .............................................................................................. 357 APPENDIX B ................................................................................ 358 APPENDIX C .............................................................................................. 359 APPENDIX D .............................................................................................. 362 APPENDIX E .............................................................................................. 365 v ii Chapter Page APPENDIX F ............................................................................. 367 APPENDIX G ................................................................ 368 VITA ....................................................................................................................... 371 * ABSTRACT This study analyzes Southern Baptist Convention presidential addresses during 1950-1970 to determine their nature and value and to establish the extent to which the presidents utilized their rhetorical opportunities. Specific rhetorical elements examined include speaker aims and strategies, message structure, methods of development, and forms of proof. A historical sketch traces the Conventions development from the organization of its parent body in 1814, through the controversy which led to its establishment in 1845, to its most recent sessions. The Convention*s nature--an organization for the support of missions, I evangelism, education, and benevolence, not an ecclesiastical or hierarchical body--has a direct bearing upon the presidential address. The address cannot call for actipn binding upon the churches; constituency support of the Convention is voluntary. The Convention is composed of messengers from cooperating churches and is an autono­ mous organization; the churches are independent of the Convention. , I The Convention president presides over the annual sessions and may serve as an informal denominational spokesman and a fraternal v iii ix messenger to other bodies but has no authority to speak officially for the Convention. This circumstance prevents the address from consti­ tuting dogma, encyclical, or an "official Baptist line"; the president wins voluntary support only by persuasion. The presidents, not the Convention,
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