Baptist at the Crossroads: The Legacy of E. Y. Mullins R. , Jr.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is President Introduction was a liberal arts college with a military and Professor of Christian Theology One of the towering figures of Southern cadet corps. As William E. Ellis comments, at The Southern Baptist Theological Baptist history, led “A. and M. displayed two dominant char- Seminary. He is the author of numer- Southern Baptists through some of the acteristics during these early years of ous scholarly articles and has edited and most tumultuous decades of American existence: a pervading southern ‘Lost contributed to important volumes on religious history. As a Baptist statesman, Cause’ atmosphere and a lack of clear theology and culture. Dr. Mohler’s writ- theologian, educator, and denominationa- direction for its chartered purpose, the ing is regularly featured in World maga- list, E. Y. Mullins shaped the denomina- training of young men in the agricultural zine and Religion News Service. tional consensus that, in turn, shaped and mechanical arts.”2 As a young cadet, Southern Baptist life and thought well into Mullins received lessons in both discipline the twentieth century. and leadership, and served as a cadet Born January 5, 1860 to Seth and Cor- officer. His military bearing and tall stat- rine Mullins of Franklin County, Missis- ure became life-long marks of distinction. sippi, Mullins’s most formative years The “A. and M.” experience was charged were lived during the Civil War and with both military discipline and Confed- Reconstruction. A Baptist minister with a erate memory. Jefferson Davis was invited Master of Arts degree from Mississippi to be the first president of the school and, College, Seth Mullins spent most of his though Davis declined the offer, the school ministry as both preacher and school was a powerful symbol of Southern pride teacher. When Mississippi experienced a and resistance. Though Mullins would breakdown of order during Reconstruc- later serve as a world citizen and as a tion, Seth Mullins moved his young fam- bridge to Baptists in the North, his roots ily to Corsicana, Texas. were deeply and decidedly southern. Taught largely by his father, E. Y. Mul- After graduation, Mullins returned to lins demonstrated an early love for learn- service as a telegraph operator in order to ing and reading. His first part-time job save money for a legal education. At this came at the age of eleven, and his teenage stage, Mullins planned to enter the law, vocational experiences included stints and had shown no interest in following as typesetter for the local newspaper in his father’s footsteps. and telegraph operator. Demonstrating Indeed, Mullins was not converted administrative as well as telegraphic gifts, until 1880, when he attended revival ser- Mullins took full charge of the Corsicana vices in Dallas under the preaching of telegraph office at age fifteen.1 Major William E. Penn. Shortly thereafter, At age sixteen Mullins entered the Mullins was baptized by his father at the first cadet class at the Agricultural and Corsicana church. A “definite call to the Mechanical College of Texas. In reality, the ministry” came just a few months later, and young school was neither agricultural nor Mullins departed for The Southern Baptist mechanical in focus. In general terms it Theological Seminary within the year. 4 Arriving in Louisville in 1881, Mullins and professor of theology, Boyce exerted quickly immersed himself in seminary a powerful influence on the young E. Y. studies. Southern Seminary had been Mullins.5 established just one year prior to Mullins’s When Mullins arrived as a student, birth, and had been in Louisville only four Southern Seminary had just emerged from years.3 Louisville was a new experience for its first great theological crisis. The first Mullins, whose entire life had at that point faculty member added to the founders, a been spent in the deep south and Texas, young and promising scholar, had been which at that time also reflected a distinctly forced to resign in the face of charges that southern culture. As a border city, Louis- he had accepted the conclusions of Ger- ville was an important intersection of man biblical criticism and thus rejected the influences from both north and south. full inspiration and authority of the Old Mullins chose to pursue his theologi- Testament. The young scholar, Crawford cal education at Southern Seminary Howell Toy, resigned in 1879 and was because of its academic reputation and its replaced by Basil Manly, Jr., one of the standing in the Baptist denomination. As original four faculty.6 The Toy controversy his widow later reflected, Mullins went to threatened the very existence of the young Southern Seminary because, to his mind, seminary, and Mullins arrived just as the there was “no conception of school work institution was emerging from the inten- except that it should be of the highest sity of the conflict. grade obtainable.”4 Quickly establishing himself as a leader The Southern Seminary of Mullins’s among students, Mullins was elected to student experience was a school with serve as administrator of the student’s clear theological convictions and a much- residential hall—a post that included respected faculty, which included the responsibility for purchasing food and school’s founder and faculty chairman, supplies, as well as adjudicating student . Boyce, later appointed disputes. Later, Mullins was to take satis- the school’s first president, was the most faction from the fact that no issue related formative figure in the seminary’s estab- to the hall had required faculty attention lishment and early development. A robust under his charge. and energetic figure in both thought and Mullins was recognized as a “full life, Boyce had been educated at Brown graduate” of the seminary at commence- University and Princeton Theological ment in 1885, and was chosen by his peers Seminary, and had thus received his uni- to speak at the graduation ceremony. Mul- versity and seminary education in the lins delivered an address entitled “Man- North. Nevertheless, Boyce was a commit- liness in the Ministry” and shortly there- ted southerner and the only son of one of after began service as pastor of the the South’s wealthiest families. historic Baptist church in Harrodsburg, A Charlestonian by birth and a Calvin- Kentucky. ist by conviction, Boyce shaped Southern Prior to accepting the call to the Har- Seminary into a greatly respected theo- rodsburg church, Mullins had planned to logical institution—and placed his per- serve as a missionary to Brazil under the sonal stamp on the seminary’s doctrinal charge of the Foreign Mission Board of the stance and substance. As both president Southern Baptist Convention. He had 5 written the board and indicated his will- tre Baptist Church in suburban Boston, ingness to serve, but had received no Massachusetts. Mullins—son of the South response. Mullins was aware that finan- and graduate of Texas A. and M.—now cial constraints had severely limited the found himself pastor to a prosperous, well number of missionaries the struggling educated, and cultured congregation in board could support. Later, his physician one of Boston’s most exclusive neighbor- would warn Mullins against foreign hoods. The church—identified with north- service. ern Baptists, and not the Southern Baptist Soon after arriving in Harrodsburg, Convention—also put Mullins in close Mullins married Isla May Hawley of Lou- proximity to the Newton Theological isville. She would later bear two sons, but Institute as well as Harvard College and both would die in childhood. According Boston University. Mullins thrived in the to Isla May Mullins, the Harrodsburg rich intellectual environment and enjoyed years were happy and productive, though his ministry in Boston, but his service E. Y. Mullins was prepared for a more there would last only four years. metropolitan ministry, and such an oppor- In Mullins’s absence, his alma mater had tunity would soon arise. been thrown into its second great theologi- In 1888 Mullins was called as pastor of cal crisis. This time the issue was Baptist the Lee Street Baptist Church in Baltimore, history and the claim of historic succes- Maryland. He would serve this church for sionism made by some Baptists. President seven years, learning a great deal about Boyce had died in 1888, and had been suc- the challenges of an urban church in a ceeded as president by John A. Broadus, diverse city. Like Louisville, Baltimore another of the founders and the leading was a meeting place of northern and Baptist preacher of his day. When Broadus southern cultures. The city would later be died in 1895, he was succeeded in office associated with H. L. Menken, as well as by William Heth Whitsitt, whose argu- with J. Gresham Machen, who was the son ments concerning Baptist history soon set of a leading Baltimore family. off a firestorm within the Southern Bap- According to Ellis, Mullins developed tist Convention. a growing social consciousness in Balti- By 1898 the controversy had reached a more.7 Clearly, the presence of the urban fever pitch, and the seminary’s future was poor and increasing social stratification again called into question. After failing to presented challenges to Mullins’s theo- ameliorate the crisis, the seminary’s trust- logical reflection. After seven years of ees accepted Whitsitt’s resignation, effec- ministry, and the death in infancy of his tive in 1899. second son, Mullins accepted appoint- In searching for a new president, the ment as associate secretary of the Foreign trustees sought a leader who would, if Mission Board, thereby reconnecting with possible, be untouched by the Whitsitt his early missionary impulse. Neverthe- controversy. The trustees turned to E. Y. less, conflict soon developed between Mullins, who had been outside the main- Mullins and his superior, the board’s sec- stream of Southern Baptist life during his retary, R. H. Willingham. Newton Centre years, and was generally The next stage in Mullins’s ministry untouched by the Whitsitt controversy.8 was service as pastor to the Newton Cen- Mullins took office as Southern Sem- 6 inary’s fourth president as the nineteenth from 1921 to 1924, and was the primary century drew to a close and the twentieth architect of the convention’s first official century was dawning. He was quickly confession of faith, “The Baptist Faith and established as one of the most influential Message,” adopted in 1925. leaders in the Southern Baptist Conven- Mullins was also instrumental in the tion and eventually gained stature as the establishment of the denomination’s preeminent theologian. as a world-wide fellowship of Baptist con- Following the example of James P. ventions and organizations. He served the Boyce, Mullins served as professor of the- BWA as president from 1923 to 1928. ology as well as president. In later years, The previous year, Mullins had devel- his teaching would be curtailed by admin- oped a serious illness while visiting istrative and denominational responsibili- Poland. He failed to recover from the ill- ties, but Mullins would always consider ness upon his return to the seminary, and himself a theologian as well as president his failing health prevented him from at- of the institution. A prolific author of tending the Southern Baptist Convention, books and articles, Mullins’s influence though it met in Louisville. His 1928 presi- extended far beyond the Southern Baptist dential address to the Baptist World Alli- Convention. ance was delivered by his friend and Under Mullins’s leadership the semi- colleague in Southern Baptist leadership, nary grew in both enrollment and repu- George W. Truett. tation, and the faculty doubled in number. Mullins died on November 23, 1928, During the Mullins years, Southern Semi- and was buried in the seminary’s burial nary was the largest seminary in the ground in Louisville’s historic Cave Hill world, and before his death the seminary Cemetery. The monument erected by the would be relocated to a new campus, thus seminary celebrated the ministry of E. Y. allowing even further growth. Mullins as “fourth president of The South- Mullins transformed the seminary ern Baptist Theological Seminary (1899- presidency during his tenure, establishing 1928), president of the Southern Baptist the president as chief executive officer of Convention (1921-1924), president of the institution, as well as its senior aca- the Baptist World Alliance (1923-1928), demic administrator. Furthermore, he preacher, teacher, scholar, administrator, expended considerable energy in fund Christian statesman, world citizen, and raising, building the seminary’s endow- servant of God.” ment as well as the new campus—“The Beeches”— to which the seminary moved Mullins the Theologian in 1926. As president of Southern Seminary, As the Southern Baptist Convention Mullins also served as chairman of the entered the twentieth century, E. Y. Mul- faculty—a responsibility which allowed lins emerged as one of the denomination’s him to set his own teaching agenda. At most formative influences. Mullins sought the onset Mullins declared his intention and fulfilled his role as denominational to teach theology, thus returning to the statesman, and as the convention’s most example set by founding president James articulate theologian. He served the P. Boyce. Southern Baptist Convention as president But, if Mullins was determined to fol- 7 low Boyce’s example in this regard, he Mullins began explorations in the writings was also to set a decisive change in of European theologians such as Germans theological direction for the seminary. Friedrich Schleiermacher and Albrecht Boyce was a classical Calvinist in the tra- Ritschl. More directly, he was introduced dition of Archibald Alexander, Charles to the pragmatism of William James at Hodge, and the other Princeton theolo- Harvard and the personalism of Borden gians. His evangelical Calvinism was the Parker Bowne at Boston University. hallmark of theological conviction among These new streams in theology, phi- educated Baptist theologians of the day, losophy, and psychology marked a revo- and matched the convictions of grassroots lution in thought on both sides of the Southern Baptists as well. Atlantic. The last decades of the nine- Mullins greatly admired Boyce, and teenth century were the high water mark used a revised edition of Boyce’s Abstract of liberal thought in the wake of the of Systematic Theology as his textbook in the- Enlightenment. Confidence in the inevi- ology until Mullins wrote his own text- table course of human progress was abun- book, The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal dant, and a brave new world beckoned Expression, in 1917.9 This volume would as the twentieth century dawned. remain in constant use at Southern Semi- The Enlightenment’s famed “turn to nary for over 30 years. Though Mullins the subject” set the foundation for a dedicated the book to Boyce’s memory, his revolutionary emphasis on human expe- new textbook charted a course away from rience and the centrality of individual Boyce’s theological system. experience in all questions of knowledge. Through his studies under the found- Thus, for Schleiermacher, theology was ing faculty at Southern Seminary, Mullins not, in essence, the systematic expression had become thoroughly acquainted with of revealed truth, but reflection upon reli- the evangelical Calvinism Boyce and his gious experience. faculty colleagues represented and taught. Similarly, movements in psychology But in the fifteen years between his gradu- and philosophy followed similar patterns ation from the seminary and his appoint- of development. William James, whose ment as president, Mullins had been philosophy of pragmatism set the stage taking stock of other theological systems. for dramatic change in several disciplines, Most importantly, Mullins had come insisted that truth and experience were into contact with both evangelicals and inextricably linked. As Mullins would liberals in the North. His pastorates in explain, pragmatism “renounces the idea Baltimore and Boston exposed Mullins to that truths are ready made and given to the theological systems then current us independent of and apart from our among northerners—systems that had experience.”10 From Bowne, whose per- scarcely touched Baptists in the South. sonalistic idealism led to theological con- Furthermore, Mullins was also influ- flict with conservatives, Mullins gained a enced by proximity to the faculty at Johns critical appreciation for the centrality of Hopkins University in Baltimore, and to the person as the starting point for theo- the faculties at Boston and Harvard, as logical understanding. As he explained, well as the Newton Theological Institute. personalism “takes the individual and Through these and other influences, personal life of man as its starting point, 8 the highest datum possible for any form that his theological system and his defense of philosophy.”11 of the faith would share a common start- Bowne’s personalism would become ing point with the modernists. firmly established as a central influence Mullins sought to affirm the truthful- in Mullins’s theological system, affirming ness of the Bible and its status as divinely and undergirding his shift from the Cal- inspired, without affirming any specific vinism of Boyce to a theological position theory of inspiration. He described both centered—not on revelation—but on reli- verbal and “dynamical” theories of bibli- gious experience. Bowne explained the cal inspiration and seemed to dismiss theological ramifications of his philo- both, without identifying his own under- sophical system as follows: “A world of standing. The fact of inspiration was, to persons with a Supreme Person at the Mullins, more important than any head is the conception to which we come theory of inspiration. Mullins stalwartly as the result of our critical reflections.”12 defended the supernatural elements of the All knowledge is personal knowledge, Bible and rejected those whose anti-super- and all personal knowledge comes natural bias led them to dismiss miracles through the medium of human experi- and other elements of Scripture as non- ence. Religious experience is but one form historical or untrue. of human experience, and it is the experi- On the other hand, Mullins also ence of human personality with the divine accepted a division between scientific and Personality. In order to see the dramatic religious knowledge. Scientific knowledge impact of this worldview and epistemol- deals with the “facts” of the natural world, ogy on Mullins, note this statement from while religious knowledge is concerned Mullins’s major work on revelation: “The with the “facts” of the supernatural world bases of religious knowledge lie in per- and human religious experience. Against sonality and personal relationships.”13 the anti-supernaturalists and the world- This shift from biblical revelation to view of scientific naturalism, Mullins religious experience as the starting point argued that “Religion and science do not and critical principle for theology repre- differ in the sense that science deals with sented a revolution from the influence of facts, with forms of reality, while religion Boyce and Mullins’s other teachers at has to do with mere beliefs or fancies or Southern Seminary. Though this revolu- forms of unreality.”14 Further, given his tion would not lead Mullins to reject their insistence upon the centrality of experi- doctrinal system as a whole, it did mean ence, Mullins was also able to claim that that Mullins and his teachers were start- religion “too is empirical in that it starts ing from radically different theories of from actually given data of experience.”15 knowledge and following very different Revelation is thus tied to religious theological principles. “facts” and religious experience. This is This revolution did not necessarily Mullins’s claim concerning the veracity of make Mullins a theological liberal. Indeed, biblical revelation. The religious truth in Mullins sought to be a defender of evan- the Bible is secured by divine revelation gelical conviction against liberalism and mediated through the experience of the the developing modernism. But Mullins’s biblical writers—and mediated again reliance on religious experience did mean through the religious experience of the 9 reader. Mullins explicitly removed any nothing to do with the claims concerning claim of inspiration connected to what he Jesus Christ, for such claims were beyond saw as non-religious issues. legitimate scientific inquiry. He lamented This methodological innovation left the “reduced ” and “reduced Mullins free to negotiate during the Christ” of the modernists and firmly turbulent years of the Fundamentalist- landed on the evangelical side of the Modernist controversy. The single issue Christological divide. But, in order to do most contested in that controversy was so, Mullins again insisted that no conflict evolution. Mullins’s understanding of bib- between religion and science was possible, lical revelation and authority led him to for religion was an autonomous discipline defend the divine creation of the natural free from naturalistic investigation.18 world, but also to insist that science was In the eyes of some conservatives, free to pursue its own study of the natu- Mullins was attempting to save Christian- ral world, without the necessity of con- ity from science by forfeiting its very foun- flict with biblical truth. dation of truth. J. Gresham Machen, the Mullins never declared himself on scholarly fundamentalist who fought on the evolution issue—insisting that as a the front lines of the controversy, acknowl- theologian he would deal with other mat- edged Mullins’s intention and his recog- ters of religious interest. Nevertheless, he nition that “the religious issue of the did castigate anti-evolutionists as “ill- present day is not between two varieties advised” and he was also active within of evangelical Christianity, but between the Kentucky legislature, seeking to oppose Christianity on the one hand and some- anti-evolutionary legislation. Though his thing that is radically opposed to Chris- personal position was never clear—some tianity on the other.”19 claimed by intention—Mullins seemed to Nevertheless, Machen registered seri- affirm some sort of theistic evolution, but ous concern regarding Mullins’s separa- only to the extent that such a position tion of science, philosophy, and religion would not threaten the supernatural ele- into three autonomous spheres. Most ment in the Bible, nor identify him as an urgently, Machen was certain that Mul- evolutionist.16 His position confused both lins’s principle separating science and the evolutionists and their opponents. religion would lead to the destruction of During the infamous Scopes trial, Mullins “the entire doctrinal or factual basis of the refused to assist either William Jennings Christian religion.”20 As Machen set his Bryan or Mullins’s friend Shailer Mathews, case: “This principle of the sharp separa- dean of the University of Chicago Divin- tion between science and philosophy and ity School, who assisted Clarence Darrow. religion leads, we think, logically into an That both Bryan and Mathews thought abyss of skepticism.”21 Machen was con- Mullins could be of assistance indicates the fident that this was not Mullins’s inten- opaqueness of Mullins’s position.17 tion, and that Mullins actually contradicts In his last book, Christianity at the Cross his own principle by insisting on the fac- Roads, Mullins vigorously defended the tual and historical basis of Christian doc- truth of the Church’s claims concerning trines. Religious “facts,” insisted Machen, Christ, over against the denials of the are not different in essential nature from modernists. He insisted that science has facts in any other area of life or thought. 10 Mullins sought to establish a mediat- Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments ing position in relation to the Fundamen- the record of God’s revelation of himself talist-Modernist controversy. Clearly not to his people.”24 Elsewhere Mullins would a modernist, Mullins nonetheless pursued speak of the Bible as revelation, but these friendly relations with modernists in the statements were of a more general nature. North—especially those at the University The lack of precision in Mullins’s posi- of Chicago Divinity School—until those tion has allowed variant interpretations relationships cooled in the early 1920s. and reconstructions of his view. One Within the Southern Baptist Convention’s recent interpreter judged that “The idea evolution controversy of the same decade, of inspiration played a very minor role in Mullins staunchly defended the inherent Mullins’s system of theology.”25 Another supernaturalism of the Scriptures, while argues that “Even though Mullins him- resisting those who wanted the Conven- self stopped short of arguing for the doc- tion to take an official stance on evolution. trine of inerrancy, it is extremely doubtful In relation to the authority and truth- that he would set himself against it.”26 The fulness of the Bible, Mullins affirmed the very nature of Mullins’s mediating posi- position essentially known as functional tion allows for such disparate interpreta- inerrancy, though he did not use the term. tions. In the “inerrancy” controversy that Resisting the precise formulations of the occurred within the Southern Baptist Princeton theologians, Mullins dealt Convention during the 1980s and 1990s, with the issue by means of what he iden- both conservatives and moderates tified as an “inductive method” which claimed Mullins as an ally—and both par- affirmed the truthfulness of Scripture ties could supply evidence for the claim. while acknowledging that the biblical As has already been indicated, another writers “employed the language and feature of the new theological paradigm forms of speech in common use in their Mullins developed was a shift from the own day to convey their religious message Calvinism of his teachers to a more modi- from God.”22 He further identified his fied position on doctrines such as election, inductivist position with James Orr, and atonement, and predestination. Neverthe- cited Orr to affirm that the Bible “is free less, Mullins remained within a generally from demonstrable error in its statements, Reformed or Calvinistic system. He con- and harmonious in its teachings.”23 tinued to affirm depravity, perseverance, Perhaps the most significant feature of and unconditional election. At times, his Mullins’s thought concerning Scripture is words sound almost like Boyce, as when his refusal directly to identify the Bible as Mullins asserted that “God’s choice of a revelation. This point is nuanced, but of person is prior to that person’s choice of extreme importance. The founders of God, since God is infinite in wisdom and Southern Seminary, in keeping with the knowledge and will not make the success consensus of evangelical theology, iden- of the divine kingdom dependent on the tified the Bible as God’s written revelation, contingent choices of people. God does not inspired in a manner both verbal and fling out the possibility of salvation among complete, or “plenary.” Instead, Mullins human beings, say, like a golden apple, and affirmed that the Bible is the record of rev- leave it for people to use or not to use as elation. As Mullins stated: “We have in the they will. God’s own hands are kept on the 11 reins of the divine government.”27 that God chose certain persons for salva- The turn of the new century brought tion, because of their potential influence a fervent progressivism to theology—as upon other persons.30 He rejected limited to virtually every other realm of thought atonement and appeared to reject irresist- and knowledge. Mullins was a champion ible grace—at least in part because he had of this progressivist impulse, even though redefined terms of the debate. Yet, Mullins he did not accept the anti-supernatural- was no Arminian. His continued advo- ism of the modernists. “Truth,” asserted cacy of election as a central doctrine of the Mullins, “does not change, but we appre- Christian faith demonstrates his continu- hend truth with increasing clearness.”28 ity with the Calvinistic tradition, even if This optimistic understanding of doc- this continuity was significantly modi- trinal progress led Mullins to believe fied.31 Mullins explicitly denied that elec- that he could transcend the Calvinism/ tion is based upon God’s foreknowledge Arminianism controversy. Noting the of an individual’s response of faith. He “remarkable revolution” in theology dur- affirmed that the gospel “is efficacious ing the late nineteenth century, Mullins with some and not efficacious with oth- advocated a new method and approach ers because God’s grace is operative in the to theology as a discipline. one case beyond the degree of its action Mullins thought that this new in the other.”32 approach, self-consciously influenced by Clearly, the underlying issue in Mul- Schleiermacher, would allow him to rise lins’s shift on these issues is his theologi- above the theological traditions and pat- cal paradigm’s dependence upon the terns of the past. He argued that autonomous individual and his or her religious experience. Placing experience Arminianism overlooked certain es- as the first principle of a theological sys- sential truths about God in its strong championship of human freedom. tem would necessarily shift attention As against it, Calvinism ran to away from divine sovereignty in favor of extremes in some of its conclusions human decision.33 The free human agent in its very earnest desire to safe- guard the truth of God’s sovereignty. becomes the focal point of theological We are learning to discard both consideration. God’s sovereignty is rede- names and to adhere more closely fined—but never denied—in order to than either system to the Scriptures, while retaining the truth in both accentuate the centrality of the human systems.29 decision as an act of the religious con- sciousness. Schleiermacher’s emphasis on This mediating approach left Mullins religious experience over revealed knowl- open to the charge that he attempted to edge so shaped Mullins’s theology that, resolve every theological debate by nego- though points of continuity remained, his tiating a middle position—an inherently teachers could not have recognized their unstable and unsatisfying method. His own theological system behind that of new paradigm also allowed Mullins to their student. redefine certain doctrines in order to The focus on autonomous individual- reframe long-standing traditions, includ- ism led to another theological develop- ing the Calvinist legacy. Concerning the ment that would form the central thrust doctrine of election, Mullins suggested of Mullins’s conception of Baptist identity. 12 Writing in his most influential book, The nally conservative, but the shift to a foun- Axioms of Religion, Mullins would state his dation in Christian experience would lead case in these words: “The sufficient state- to a rugged theological individualism that ment of the historical significance of the would later threaten to dissolve into doc- Baptists is this: The competency of the soul trinal ambiguity. in religion.”34 This notion of “soul com- Timothy George notes that E. Y. Mullins petency” was interpreted by Mullins to “hoped that his theology would serve the mean that each individual soul is inde- cause of irenicism and denominational pendently competent to adjudicate all unity in a time of tension and schism.”38 matters of religious importance. “Reli- In a very real sense, Mullins’s new theo- gion,” argued Mullins, “is a personal mat- logical paradigm accomplished what he ter between the soul and God.”35 Mullins intended. But his emphasis on personal even described the idea in terms of “self- experience and “” would government in religion.”36 later operate to undercut the very consen- Such a conception ruled out all hierar- sus Mullins worked so hard to achieve. chies and religious authorities, and led, Mullins argued, to congregationalism and Mullins as Southern Baptist Leader democracy in the religious life. By means E. Y. Mullins was a prominent preacher of this principle of soul competency, and pastor for the nearly fifteen years Mullins even claimed to have taken the prior to his election as Southern Seminary principle of justification by faith “far president, but his years in Baltimore and beyond the dreams of Luther and other Newton Centre had taken him out of the reformers.”37 center of Southern Baptist life. This was Mullins’s influence on these issues was especially true of his Boston pastorate, for not limited to the classroom, or to his theo- the church was not even affiliated with the logical writings. His role as chairman of Southern Baptist Convention. Further- the committee which presented the 1925 more, his brief experience with the SBC “Baptist Faith and Message” statement as Foreign Mission Board had ended in dis- the Southern Baptist Convention’s first appointment. official confession of faith furthered the Given these conditions and his cosmo- process of shifting from a Calvinistic to a politan interests, Mullins could well have more modified position, indicating the remained among northern Baptists, and shift of authority toward the individual. would certainly have gained influence This was accomplished by basing the and prominence. Actually, even after his “Baptist Faith and Message” on the New return to Southern Baptist life, Mullins Hampshire Confession of Faith rather would be sought for prestigious positions than the Philadelphia Confession, which in the North, including posts at the Uni- was more thoroughly Calvinistic. versity of Chicago Divinity School and At base, however, it was the totality of Rochester Theological Seminary. Mullins’s theological system that was in Mullins’s 1899 election as president of large part responsible for the theological The Southern Baptist Theological Semi- consensus that shaped the Southern Bap- nary marked his immediate rise to the top tist Convention well into the twentieth ranks of leadership in the denomination. century. That consensus would be doctri- Established as the convention’s dominant 13 theological institution—and, at the time of identity as a denomination. of Mullins’s election, its only seminary— In order to accomplish this goal, Southern’s reputation and influence were Mullins translated key commercial terms carefully borne by its president. and values into denominational life. Chief Within the first several years of Mul- among these was the ideal of “efficiency,” lins’s tenure, he had delivered the con- which emphasized focus, planning, and vention’s annual sermon and served on strategic processes. Mullins was very prominent convention committees. From much at home with these notions, and the onset of the twentieth century until his through his leadership he forged an alli- death, Mullins would never be far from ance to press these issues throughout the center of Southern Baptist life—nor Southern Baptist life. outside its highest leadership. As Albert Historian Dewey Grantham suggests McClellan, an astute observer of South- that “A new spirit was evident in the ern Baptist life, remarked, Mullins “burst South during the early years of the twen- into Southern Baptist life like a comet, to tieth century. After a generation of disrup- burn brightly for twenty-eight years.”39 tive change, social disorder, and political Mullin’s denominational prominence is uncertainty, southerners had reason to evident in his chairmanship of important anticipate a more satisfying future.”40 convention committees, his many articles Mullins wanted to pull Southern Baptists published in the denominational press, out of their legacy of Reconstruction and his speaking at the convention’s assem- defeat into a new age filled with possibili- blies and preaching in the major pulpits ties for expansion and development. In of the denomination, and his influence this way, Mullins functioned as a South- on younger ministers. But Mullins’s full ern Progressive—pushing for the rise of a impact cannot be measured in quantifi- new Southern Baptist Convention in a able terms, for his greatest influence was New South. often exercised outside official channels, Mullins was driven by this vision of where he exerted his influence through a new denomination for a new era. He intellectual argument and persuasion. served on the strategic “Committee on A child of war and Reconstruction, Denominational Efficiency” which dealt Mullins was a southerner who clearly with both the structure and the con- desired for the South to follow the lead of victions of the Southern Baptist Conven- the North in industrialization and pro- tion. The committee’s 1914 report gressive change. He translated this goal included a theological section written by to the Southern Baptist Convention as Mullins. This statement, intended to iden- well, and he became the leading figure in tify denominational distinctives, was the the denomination’s second great and for- first confessional statement adopted by mative generation. Mullins’s generation the Convention.41 would lead a transition of the Southern Religious liberty concerns—raised by Baptist Convention from a loose assem- difficulties Southern Baptists faced in min- bly of churches to a powerful denomina- istering to soldiers during World War I— tion with an executive committee, led to the establishment of a committee coordinated planning, a central denomi- charged to develop a statement opposed national budget, and a much clearer sense to Christian union movements that down- 14 played denominational convictions. With the early 1920s. Mullins as chairman, the committee The mediating course Mullins charted drafted and released the “Fraternal for himself—and for the denomination— Address of Southern Baptists” in 1920. led him to avoid including any reference The statement became an important to evolution in the “Baptist Faith and Mes- hallmark of Baptist conviction, and it sage” statement, but he did make a clear demonstrated Mullins’s defining influ- statement through a statement on “Science ence as both theologian and denomina- and Religion” appended to the com- tional statesman. mittee’s report and made a part of Mul- This role was to be expanded in 1924, lins’s presidential address in 1923.44 In this when Mullins was designated as chair- statement Mullins called for “unwavering man of a committee charged “to consider adherence to the supernatural elements in the advisability of issuing another state- the Christian religion.”45 Affirming the ment of the Baptist faith and message.”42 very doctrines rejected by the modernists, Mullins fought a two-front battle during the statement affirmed the virgin birth, the his chairmanship of this committee. Once deity of Christ, the historicity of the the decision to formulate and recommend miracles, the bodily resurrection, vicarious a confessional statement had been made, atonement, and the bodily return of Christ Mullins was pressured by conservatives, in glory. who wanted issues such as evolution Furthermore, the statement affirmed addressed in the statement, and by non- “freedom of research” for teachers in Bap- confessionalists, who would fight any tist schools, but warned that “ . . . we do confession put forth. insist upon a positive content of faith in Mullins led the committee to adopt and accordance with the preceding statement recommend a revised version of the New as a qualification for acceptable service in Hampshire Confession (1833) rather than Baptist schools.”46 the more Calvinistic Philadelphia Confes- With focus and force, the statement sion of Faith (1742).43 Though the New concluded: “The supreme issue today is Hampshire confession did not reject any between naturalism and supernaturalism. Calvinistic doctrine, it attenuated and We stand unalterably for the super- modified these convictions in a way that natural in Christianity. Teachers in our suited both Mullins and the populist char- schools should be careful to free them- acter of the denomination in the 1920s. selves from any suspicion of disloyalty on Serving as president of the Southern this point. In the present period of agita- Baptist Convention from 1921 to 1924, tion and unrest they are obligated to make Mullins charted a course that he felt their position clear. We pledge our sup- would maintain theological convictions, port to all schools and teachers who are while remaining open to new develop- thus loyal to the facts of Christianity as ments. His tenure as convention president revealed in the Scriptures.”47 coincided with the fundamentalist-mod- Though controversies continued, the ernist controversy then raging in the “Baptist Faith and Message” became a northern denominations, and the less central representation of the denomina- momentous, but still critical controversies tional consensus that developed during that shaped Southern Baptist life during the early years of the twentieth century. 15 To a remarkable degree, this denomina- turmoil and crisis of the Whitsitt years had tional consensus was the work and legacy taken a toll, and the seminary was in dan- of Edgar Young Mullins. More than any ger of losing credibility in some denomi- Baptist of the era, Mullins was able to de- national circles. fine the issues, assert his own influence, Further, rumblings of a new seminary and create a majoritarian compromise, to be established in Texas represented a even when the issues remained at least new threat to Southern Seminary’s solitary partially unresolved. place in the Southern Baptist heart—and The denominational consensus forged offering plate. Soon after taking office, in the early decades of the twentieth Mullins set out to regain ground lost to the century lasted well into the years follow- seminary during the recent controversy. ing World War II. The adoption of the His mediating purpose was soon evi- “Baptist Faith and Message,” as well as dent as Mullins worked within the insti- the development of the Cooperative Pro- tution to rebuild the faculty and externally gram and the Executive Committee of the to establish and nurture critical support. Southern Baptist Convention, helped The faculty Mullins called together was forge this consensus, and helped to grant so young that some called the teachers theological stability to the growing “Mullins’s Boys Brigade.” The curriculum denomination. was slowly changed to meet the needs of Mullins’s legacy as denominational the modern ministry, and the complexi- statesman extended beyond the Southern ties of ministerial specialization. Early Baptist Convention, however. His influ- programs in religious education (Sunday ence was determinative in the develop- School pedagogy) and world missions ment of the Baptist World Alliance as a drew students and expanded the sem- worldwide fellowship of Baptists. His role inary’s prestige and influence. as a bridge between northern and south- Mullins also redefined the role of the ern Baptists was also critical as the two president. Until the closing years of his conventions shifted from separation to life, Boyce had been merely Chairman of competition. the Faculty and Professor of Theology. In Throughout his ministry, Mullins con- an official sense, at least, Boyce was first sidered his Baptist identity to be central to among equals. Mullins transformed the his personal identity. His climactic decla- office and functioned as chief executive— ration of Baptist principles, The Axioms of a fact that clearly rankled some of the Religion, was as much a personal anthem faculty. as a denominational interpretation. More Familiar with developments in the busi- than any other individual, E. Y. Mullins ness world, and conscious of the growing shaped the Southern Baptist mind during complexity of the president’s role, Mullins the first half of the twentieth century. single-handedly asserted executive author- ity and represented the seminary to both Mullins as Seminary President the denomination and the larger world. By 1899, Southern Seminary had estab- During most of his presidency, the identi- lished a national reputation for academic ties of Mullins and his beloved seminary rigor and had developed support ade- were effectively merged. quate to face a promising future. But the The relocation of the seminary to a new 16 campus on Lexington Road was Mullins’s ported. An institutionalist by calling, he last great project. Aware that the down- came to denominational leadership as the town campus could not be sufficiently great wave of progressivist organization- modernized or expanded, Mullins put his alism swept the nation. A theological edu- full force and authority behind the risky cator by assignment, Mullins took a and expansive move. The wisdom of his nineteenth century theological seminary vision was verified over the next several and brought it to the forefront of devel- decades, as the beauty and utility of the opments brought with the new century. stately campus grew. But his vision— Mullins—more than any other writing largely built with borrowed funds—almost theologian among Southern Baptists— brought the seminary to ruin, when after remains the one figure against whom his death the Great Depression led the almost any other theologian is compared. seminary to the brink of financial default. His legacy continues to the present, and The legacy of E. Y. Mullins to Southern his tradition is claimed by persons and Seminary is beyond calculation. His lead- movements with divergent theological ership through years of crisis and contro- approaches and variant understandings of versy and his vision to make the school a Mullins’s intention. world-class institution propelled and in- What is the Mullins legacy? Historian fluenced the seminary well after his death. Martin E. Marty sees Mullins as Southern Baptists’ “most thoughtful theologian,” Mullins in Retrospect but a figure hopelessly mired in a south- Historian John Milton Cooper, Jr. has ern form of culture-.49 reflected that, for America, “the first two Literary critic Harold Bloom identified decades of the twentieth century marked Mullins as “the most neglected of major a turning point. During these twenty years American theologians,” and “the Calvin a political, economic, social, and cultural or Luther or Wesley of the Southern agenda was set that still dominates Ameri- Baptists.”50 can life as we enter the century’s final For Bloom, who argues that Americans decade.”48 In a similar manner, a theologi- are prone to a Gnosticism through self- cal agenda was set as well. worship, Mullins is the pioneer of the For Southern Baptists, that agenda was Southern Baptist tradition taken up by largely set by one man—Edgar Young moderates in the inerrancy controversy, Mullins. Though he was assisted (and “the definer of their creedless faith.”51 sometimes opposed) by other Baptist According to Bloom, Mullins’s doctrine luminaries such as B. H. Carroll, Lee of soul competency so focuses all mean- Scarborough, and George W. Truett, ing and truth in the autonomous indi- Mullins was more influential than any vidual—“sanctioning endless interpretive other individual as Southern Baptists possibilities”—that all religious authority negotiated the turbulent early decades is vaporized, even the authority of Scrip- of the twentieth century. ture.52 He was a man incredibly well fitted for Mullins has been portrayed as a bold his times. An individualist by nature, he progressivist seeking to bring enlighten- came to prominence as individualism was ment to Southern Baptists, but thwarted openly celebrated and ideologically sup- by insularity and conservative opposition; 17 and as a calculating denominational poli- reluctant to advocate some of his more tician, who changed his colors in order conservative doctrinal affirmations and to save his seminary and his personal his role in establishing the “Baptist Faith leadership. and Message.” Russell Dilday, former president of On the other hand, Southern Baptist Southwestern Baptist Theological Semi- conservatives have also laid claim to nary, judged Mullins to be a unique South- Mullins’s legacy, but with equal unease. ern Baptist apologist, whose “views were Russ Bush and Thomas J. Nettles argue instrumental in settling controversies and that Mullins stood almost alone in terms were even adopted by other groups such of influence among Southern Baptist lead- as the Northern Baptists.”53 Dilday also ers of his day, but his influence has pri- claimed Mullins for SBC moderates— marily been the infusion of pragmatism those of the 1980s as well as the 1920s. At into Southern Baptist theology. Neverthe- the height of the SBC inerrancy con- less, Bush and Nettles resist efforts to troversy, Dilday argued that Mullins’s blame Mullins for the shallowness of “scholarly, conservative centrist method much contemporary modern Baptist the- of dealing with [controversial issues] pro- ology: “Whether or not Mullins can be vides a timely model for present denomi- faulted as being the root source of the shal- national leaders. His method represents lowness of experientialist theology among the unique theological approach which some Baptists, it is certainly not correct to has historically characterized mainstream read that modern approach back into Baptist life through the years.”54 Mullins himself.”58 A similar approach is taken by Bill J. Clearly, Mullins’s greatness as a figure Leonard, who argued that E. Y. Mullins in Southern Baptist history is secure. He “personifies the Grand Compromise that stands as the epitome of his generation— characterized the SBC throughout most of the Transitional Generation—in Southern the twentieth century.”55 Leonard contin- Baptist development. Largely as a result ued: “As few other Southern Baptist lead- of his efforts and leadership, Southern ers, Mullins represented the nature of Baptists emerged in the twentieth century denominational compromise. In his role as a vital, growing, and ambitious as preacher, professor, and theologian he denomination. By the time of Mullins’s helped shape Southern Baptist public, if death, Southern Baptists had left their lack not popular, theology.”56 of direction during Reconstruction and its In Leonard’s estimation, Mullins stands aftermath far behind, and faced the new as the master of a theological compromise century with a boldness hardly imagin- that enabled Southern Baptists to emerge able as the nineteenth century ended. from the controversies of the 1920s with- That Mullins stands as a model of out breaking apart. Leonard acknowl- denominational leadership for so many edges that Mullins was a complex figure, modern Baptists should not come as a whose theology “was constructed in a surprise. His stately demeanor, impressive denomination founded on precarious appearance, stately bearing, scholarly compromise.”57 Moderate historians have attainments, and gifted leadership would been champions of Mullins’s emphasis on place him at the forefront of any genera- religious liberty and soul competency, but tion. 18 In the end, however, Mullins’s denomi- experience is diverse by its very nature. national leadership and place in Baptist Personalism, on the other hand, is dan- history cannot be severed from his theo- gerously reductionistic, denying the logical legacy. This evaluation is far more importance (if not the existence) of any complicated, and more contested. truth not rooted in personality. The central thrust of E. Y. Mullins’s The influence of Schleiermacher is also theological legacy is his focus on indi- problematic. Schleiermacher’s theological vidual experience. Whatever his intention, revolution swiftly became Protestant lib- this massive methodological shift in the- eralism, with the supernatural elements ology set the stage for doctrinal ambigu- of the faith discarded because they were ity and theological minimalism. The not required by religious experience. compromise Mullins sought to forge in the Though Mullins was no liberal in terms 1920s was significantly altered by later of doctrine, he stood near the liberals in generations, with personal experience terms of method. The generations to fol- inevitably gaining ground at the expense low would be tempted to make the shift of revealed truth. in doctrine, as well as method.59 Once the autonomous individual is Mullins’s attempt to forge a mediating made the central authority in matters of theological paradigm for Southern Bap- theology—a move made necessary by tists eventually failed because mediating Mullins’s emphasis on religious experi- positions are inherently unstable. Delicate ence—the authority of Scripture becomes compromises established in one genera- secondary at best, regardless of what may tion are often abandoned in short order be claimed in honor of Scripture’s preemi- as new generations assume leadership. nence. Either personal experience will be The emphasis on soul competency is, submitted to revelation, or revelation will as Mullins must have both hoped and be submitted to personal experience. expected, the most enduring element of There is no escape from this theological Mullins’s legacy. The concept does under- dilemma, and every theologian must score the necessity of personal religious choose between these two methodologi- experience—including repentance and cal options. The full consequences of a faith—to the Christian life. But soul com- shift in theological method may take gen- petency also serves as an acid dissolving erations to appear, but by the 1960s most religious authority, congregationalism, Southern Baptists were aware of a grow- confessionalism, and mutual theological ing theological divide within the denomi- accountability. This, too, is part of Mul- nation, and especially its seminaries. lins’s legacy. As American Baptist church Mullins greeted the new philosophical historian Winthrop S. Hudson asserted: currents of his day with enthusiasm. Prag- “The practical effect of the stress upon matism and Personalism were particu- ‘soul competency’ as the cardinal doctrine larly attractive to Mullins, and both were of the Baptists was to make every man’s grafted into his theological method. But hat his own church.”60 Pragmatism is an unstable basis for Thus, E. Y. Mullins stands as one of the religious experience, much less religious most important figures in Baptist history, authority. Pragmatism’s test of truthful- and a figure that raises some of the most ness leads to relativism, for personal important questions facing contemporary 19 Baptists. He deserves our historical appre- Inspiration, Library of Baptist Classics, ciation and respect, and our most careful ed. Timothy and Denise George (Nash- consideration and analysis. ville: Broadman & Holman, 1995). 7 See the work by Ellis listed above. ENDNOTES 8 Interestingly, Mullins had supported 1 Isla May Mullins, Edgar Young Mullins: Whitsitt in articles published in The An Intimate Biography (Nashville: Sunday Southern Baptist, and Mullins held virtu- School Board of the Southern Baptist ally the same view of Baptist history as Convention, 1929) 11. Isla May Mullins, that of Whitsitt. Commenting on this fact wife of E. Y. Mullins, wrote this biogra- in the seminary’s centennial history, Wil- phy within a year of Mullins’s death. It liam Mueller stated, “As one reflects on stands as one of the most important the circumstances preceding the election sources for information on Mullins’s of Dr. E. Y. Mullins in July, 1899, one can- early years. not help wondering about the strange 2 William E. Ellis, “A Man of Books and a ways of God and man.” See William A. Man of the People”: E. Y. Mullins and the Mueller, A History of Southern Baptist Crisis of Moderate Baptist Leadership Theological Seminary (Nashville: Broad- (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, man Press, 1959) 179. 1985) 11. 9 E. Y. Mullins, The Christian Religion in Its 3 Established in Greenville, South Caro- Doctrinal Expression (Nashville: Sunday lina in 1859, the seminary moved to Lou- School Board of the Southern Baptist isville in 1877 in order to escape the Convention, 1917). impoverishment of its birthplace in the 10E. Y. Mullins, “Pragmatism, Humanism, wake of the Civil War. and Personalism—The New Philosophic 4 Isla Mullins, 13. Movement,” Review and Expositor 5 5 The Library of Baptist Classics features (1908) 503. a volume including Boyce’s seminal 11Ibid., 510. address, “Three Changes in Theological 12Borden Parker Bowne, “Personalism,” in Education,” which was the Magna Carta American Protestant Thought in the Liberal for the establishment of The Southern Era, ed. William R. Hutchison (Lanham, Baptist Theological Seminary. See James MD: University Press of America, 1968) P. Boyce, “Three Changes in Theologi- 87. cal Education,” in Treasures from the Bap- 13Edgar Young Mullins, Freedom and Au- tist Heritage, Library of Baptist Classics, thority in Religion (Philadelphia: ed. Timothy and Denise George (Nash- Griffith and Rowland, 1913) 4. ville: Broadman & Holman, 1996) 103- 14Ibid., 213. 138. 15Ibid. 6 Manly was charged by Boyce to make 16Space does not allow an adequate treat- clear the seminary’s fidelity to a verbal ment of this issue. For further reading, plenary doctrine of biblical inspiration. see the work by Ellis listed above. Manly’s assertion of biblical inspiration, 17Mathews provided Mullins’s name to inerrancy, and authority is now available Darrow as one who would defend evo- in the Library of Baptist Classics. See lution. Mullins responded with an Basil Manly, Jr., The Bible Doctrine of immediate and unqualified rejection of 20 evolution, and claimed that he was clear: “Does God choose men to sal- elected, Mullins preached the con- “not a theistic nor any other kind of vation because of their good works vention sermon in 1901 and from evolutionist.” He affirmed the same or because he foresees they will that time was never far from the to Bryan. See Ellis, 195. believe when the gospel is preached center of convention activities. Dur- 18E. Y. Mullins, Christianity at the Cross to them? Beyond doubt God fore- ing the first three decades of the new Roads (New York: George H. Doran, sees faith. Beyond doubt faith is a century, few matched his influence 1924). condition of salvation. The question in the defining of the denomina- 19J. Gresham Machen, “The Relation is whether it is also the ground of tion.” See Jesse C. Fletcher, The of Religion to Science and Philoso- salvation. The Scriptures answer Southern Baptist Convention: A Ses- phy,” A Review of Christianity at the this question in the negative.” quicentennial History (Nashville: Cross Roads by E. Y. Mullins, Prince- 33This is well described by Thomas J. Broadman and Holman, 1994) 108. ton Theological Review 24 (January Nettles: “Emphasis on human con- 40Dewey W. Grantham, Southern Pro- 1926) 38. sciousness and experience so pre- gressivism: The Reconciliation of 20Ibid., 46. dominate in Mullins’s theology that Progress and Tradition (Knoxville, 21Ibid. human decision and freedom even- TN: University of Tennessee Press, 22Mullins, Freedom and Authority, 380. tually overshadow and crowd out 1983) 3. Grantham cites E. Y. Mullins 23Ibid., 381. effectual divine activity. This is on p. 15, fn. 34. 24Mullins, Christian Religion, 140-141. evident in his view of Scripture, jus- 41“Pronouncement on Christian 25Dwight A. Moody, “The Bible,” in tification, and the panorama of the- Union and Denominational Effi- Has Our Theology Changed? Southern ology, but is especially clear in his ciency,” Annual of the Southern Bap- Baptist Thought Since 1845, ed. Paul exposition of the doctrine of elec- tist Convention, 1914, pp. 73-78. A. Basden (Nashville: Broadman tion.” See Thomas J. Nettles, By His 42Annual of the Southern Baptist Con- and Holman, 1994) 17. Moody also Grace and For His Glory: A Historical, vention, 1924, p. 95. Thus, the name stated: “Mullins had virtualy [sic] Theological, and Practical Study of the chosen for the confession of faith nothing to say in reference to the Doctrines of Grace in Baptist Life adopted in 1925, “The Baptist Faith inerrancy of Scripture” (25). (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, and Message,” was taken directly 26Tom J. Nettles, “E. Y. Mullins—Re- 1986) 247. from the motion establishing the luctant Evangelical,” Baptist Review 34E. Y. Mullins, The Axioms of Religion: committee in 1924. of Theology 5 (1995) 84. A New Interpretation of the Baptist 43For the text of these confessions, see 27E. Y. Mullins, (1912; Faith (Philadelphia: The Judson Baptist Confessions, Covenants, and reprint, Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1908) 53. Catechisms, Library of Baptist Clas- Press, 1925) 26. 35Ibid., 54. sics, ed. Timothy and Denise George 28Mullins, Christian Religion, vii. 36Ibid., 55. (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 29Ibid. 37Ibid., 58. 1996). 30Ibid., 352-353. 38Timothy F. George, “Systematic 44E. Y. Mullins, ”The Dangers and 31This brief consideration of Mullins’s Theology at Southern Seminary,” Duties of the Present Hour,” pam- theological system does not allow Review and Expositor 82 (1985) 39. phlet published in 1923. for a more extended treatment of his 39Albert H. McClellan “The Leader- 45Robert A. Baker, ed., A Baptist comprehensive system, which cov- ship Heritage of Southern Baptists,” Sourcebook: With Particular Reference ered virtually every doctrine, except Baptist History and Heritage 20 (Janu- to Southern Baptists (Nashville: the doctrine of the church, an omis- ary 1985) 12. In his recent history of Broadman Press, 1966) 205. sion of great importance. the Southern Baptist Convention, 46Ibid. 32Mullins, Christian Religion, 343. The Jesse C. Fletcher noted: “Almost un- 47Ibid. preceding section makes the point known to Southern Baptists when 48John Milton Cooper, Jr., Pivotal 21 Decades: The United States, 1900-1920 talize a decadent Christianity” (p. 6). (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990) xiii. 60Winthrop S. Hudson, Baptists in 49Martin E. Marty, Modern American Transition: Individualism and Chris- Religion, Vol. 2, The Noise of Conflict tian Responsibility (Philadelphia: 1919-1941 (Chicago: University of Judson Press, 1979) 142. In a signifi- Chicago Press, 1991) 206. cant development, a group of 50Harold Bloom, The American Reli- moderate Southern Baptist academ- gion: The Emergence of the Post-Chris- ics has released a statement that tian Nation (New York: Simon and includes a charge that Mullins Schuster, 1992) 199. “embraced modernity by defining 51Ibid. freedom in terms of the Enlighten- 52Ibid., 206. ment notions of autonomous moral 53Russell Hooper Dilday, “The Apol- agency and objective rationality.” ogetic Method of E. Y. Mullins” See “Re-Envisioning Baptist Iden- (unpublished Th.D. dissertation, tity: A Manifesto for Baptist Com- Southwestern Baptist Theological munities in North America,” Bap- Seminary, 1960) 5. tists Today, 26 June 1997, 8-10. 54Russell H. Dilday, “E. Y. Mullins: Shaper of Theology,” Pamphlet published in the Shapers of South- ern Baptist Heritage series (Nash- ville: Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1987) n.p. 55Bill J. Leonard, God’s Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the South- ern Baptist Convention (Grand Rap- ids: Eerdmans, 1990) 49. 56Ibid. 57Ibid., 51. 58Russ Bush and Thomas J. Nettles, Baptists and the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980) 296. 59Mullins’s engagement with Schlei- ermacher is complex. Though he acknowledged and demonstrated Schleiermacher’s influence in his Christian Religion in its Doctrinal Expression (1917), in Freedom and Authority in Religion (1912) he rejected Schleiermacher’s subjectiv- ism as “inadequate for the religious life of man, although it sprang from a high motive and sought to revi- 22