A Choice Outstanding Academic Book

"Smith has written a richly detailed, valuable study that clearly deserves a place on the shelves of scholars of southern politics and of religion and politics."
"--American Political Science Review"

""A fascinating and well-documented study of the transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) into the single largest religious force in modern American politics.""
"--Southeastern Political Review"

By championing the ideals of independence, evangelism, and conservism, the Southern Baptist Covention (SBC) has grown into the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The Convention's mass democratic form of church government, its influential anual meetings, and its sheer size have made it a barometer for Southern political and cultural shift. Its most recent shift has been starboard-toward fundementalism and Republicanism.

While the Convention once ofered a happy home to Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, and church-state separationists, in the past two decades the SBC has become an uncomfortable institution for Democrats, progressive theologians, and other moderate voices. Current SBC member-heroes include Senators Trent Lott and Jesse Helms. Despite this seeming marginalization, Southern Baptist politicians have grown from political obscurity to occupying the four highest positions in the constitutional order of succesion to the presidency. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Senate President pro-tempore Strom Thurmond, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich are all Southern Baptists.

In its emerging Republicanism, the SBC has taken on characteristics of its more active fellow travelers in the Christian Right, forgingalliances with former enemies (African Americans amd Roman Catholics), playing presidential politics, establishing a Washington lobbying presence, working the political grassroots, and declaring war on Walt Disney. Each of these missions has been accomplished with calculating political precision.

The Rise of Baptist Republicanism traces the Republicanization of the SBC's Republicanism in the context of the rise of the Fundamentalist Right and the emergence of a Republican majority in the South. Describing the SBC's political roots, Oran P. Smith contrasts Baptist Republicans with the rest of the Christian Right while revealing the theological, cultural, and historical factors which have made Southern Baptists receptive to Republican/Fundamentalist Right influences. The book is a must read for anyone wishing to understand the intersection of religion and politics in America today.

The author argues that Baptist theologian James William McClendon Jr's articulation of the 'baptist' vision entails an account of the real presence of Christ's body and blood that is internally faithful to that vision. Furthermore, such an account of real presence suggests that the 'baptist' vision is itself a contribution of Baptists to ecumenical Christianity. The argument is set in the context of some contemporary Baptist engagement with ecumenical Christianity, particularly historic Catholic Christianity. COMMENDATION "Aaron James shows how an ecumenically minded Baptist theologian can take up this theme with creativity, grace, and an inspiring desire to lift up our hearts toward the wondrous "sacrament of unity" and "sacrament of charity". He powerfully reminds us why this may well be the most important conversation that Christians can have today." - Matthew Levering, University of Dayton, Ohio, USA

'To endure the hardships of the frontier took more than a determined pioneer spirit. It required a faith that everything would work out for the best-that something more was to come other than the meager crops they scratched out of the earth."-from "The Minutes of Salem Baptist Church"Salem Baptist Church was one of the small pioneer churches that nurtured that faith. Located near Birchwood, Tennessee, Salem Baptist Church led the community in the midst of its physical hardships from 1835 to 1941. Through the Civil War, Reconstruction, the migration of its members to Texas for cheap land, the turn of the century, and later, the depression, the small church led its community in faith.The minutes and supporting research provide not only a unique history of the families in the community, but also a unique genealogical record of over 175 families told through church action and membership records. Join Daniel Lee Roark on his journey through the history of this small pioneer church in East Tennessee. Experience the coming together of these families, turning to the Lord in difficult circumstances.

A Contoversial Spirit offers a new perspective on the origins and nature of southern evangelicalism. Most recent historians have focused on the differences between evangelicals and non-evangelicals, leading to the perception that during the "Era of Awakenings" American evangelicals constituted a united front. Philip N. Mulder dispels this illusion by examining the internal dynamics of evangelicalism. Although the denominations shared the goal of saving souls, he finds they disagreed over the correct definition of true religion and conversion. Examining conversion narratives, worship, polity and rituals, as well as more formal doctrinal statements in creeds and sermons, Mulder is able to provide a far more nuanced portrait of southern evangelicals than previously available, revealing the deep differences between denominations that the homogenization of religious history has until now obscured.

Law and Gospel in the Theology of Andrew Fuller traces the history of the modern free offer / duty faith debate to Baptist Andrew Fuller's speculative theology. George Ella provides an indepth analysis of Fuller's theology and its shortcomings as well as bringing the issues raised right up to date by reference to current Fullerite teachers and publishing. An excellent introduction to this important topic within modern evangelicalism.

The investigation of Primitive Baptist Universalists -- Calvinist 'No-Hellers, ' which sounds for all the world like an oxymoron -- requires the exact type of seasoned and comprehensive field experience which Dorgan has brought to it with meticulous care and insight. -- Deborah Vansau McCauley, author of Appalachian Mountain ReligionAmong the many forms of religious practice found in the ridges and hollows of Central Appalachia, one of the most intriguing -- and least understood -- is that of the Primitive Baptist Universalists (PBUs). Popularly known as the No-Hellers, this small Baptist sub-denomination rejects the notion of an angry God bent on punishment and retribution and instead embraces the concept of a happy God who consigns no one to eternal damnation. This book is the first in-depth study of the PBUs and their beliefs.As Howard Dorgan points out, the designation No-Heller is something of a misnomer. Primitive Baptist Universalists, he notes, believe in hell -- but they see it as something that exists in this life, in the temporal world, rather than in an afterlife. For a PBU, sinfulness is the given state of natural man, and hell a reality of earthly life -- the absence-from-God's-blessing torment that sin generates. PBUs further believe that, at the moment of Resurrection, all temporal existence will end as all human-kind joins in a wholly egalitarian heaven, the culmination of Christ's universal atonement.In researching this book, Dorgan spent considerable time with PBU congregations, interviewing their members and observing their emotionally charged and joyous worship services. He deftly combines lucid descriptions of PBU beliefs with richly texturedvignettes portraying the people and how they live their faith on a daily basis. He also explores a fascinating possibility concerning PBU origins: that a strain of early- nineteenth-century American Universalism reached the mountains of Appalachia and there fused with Primitive Baptist theology to form this subdenomination, which barely exists outside a handful of counties in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia.Like Dorgan's earlier books, In the Hands of a Happy God offers an insightful blend of ethnography, history, and theological analysis that will appeal to both Appalachian scholars and all students of American religion.

Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), perhaps the most prominent Particular Baptist of the eighteenth century, has been the subject of much scholarly interest in recent years. No comparative study, however, has been done on the two biographies that give us much of our knowledge of Fuller's life. John Ryland Jr. (1753-1826), Fuller's closest friend and ministry partner, not only supervised the publication of Fuller's works, but sought to give a careful accounting of his friend's piety. But Ryland's volume stood in contrast with the less-flattering portrait painted by publisher and pastor, J.W. Morris (1763-1836). This critical edition of Ryland's 1816 biography provides contextual background and comparative analysis of the two volumes, and shows how Ryland amended his text for its 1818 republication in light of Morris' work. It also demonstrates the profound influence of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) on Ryland's biographical approach. While Edwards's influence on Ryland and Fuller is widely known, this volume shows how Edwards's biographical work, especially that of David Brainerd, influenced Ryland's aim to promote "pure and undefiled religion" through recounting the life of his friend.

The Stone-Campbell Movement, also known as the Restoration Movement, arose on the frontiers of early nineteenth-century America. Like-minded Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians abandoned denominational labels in order to be "Christians only." They called followers to join in Christian unity and restore the ideals of the New Testament church, holding authoritative no book but the Bible and believing no creed but Christ. Modern-day inheritors of this movement, including the Churches of Christ (a cappella) and the Christian Churches (independent), find much in common with wider evangelical Christianity as a whole. Both groups are committed to the authority of Scripture and the importance of personal conversion. Yet Restorationists and evangelicals, separated by sociological history as well as points of doctrinal emphasis, have been wary of each other. Evangelicals have often misunderstood Restorationists as exclusivist separatists and baptismal regenerationists. On the other hand, Stone-Campbell adherents have been suspicious of mainstream denominational evangelicals as having compromised key aspects of the Christian faith. In recent years Restoration Movement leaders and churches have moved more freely within evangelical circles. As a result, Stone-Campbell scholars have reconsidered their relationship to evangelicalism, pondering to what extent Restorationists can identify themselves as evangelicals. Gathered here are essays by leading Stone-Campbell thinkers, drawing from their Restoration heritage and offering significant contributions to evangelical discussions of the theology of conversion and ecclesiology. Also included are responses from noted evangelicals, who assess how Stone-Campbell thought both corresponds with and diverges from evangelical perspectives. Along with William R. Baker (editor) and Mark Noll (who wrote the Foreword), contributors include Tom Alexander, Jim Baird, Craig L. Blomberg, Jack Cottrell, Everett Ferguson, Stanley J. Grenz, John Mark Hicks, Gary Holloway, H. Wayne House, Robert C. Kurka, Robert Lowery, Edward P. Myers and Jon A. Weatherly. For all concerned with Christian unity and the restoration of the church, Evangelicalism & the Stone-Campbell Movement offers a substantive starting point for dialogue and discussion.

"The historian", Henry James said, "essentially wants more documents than he can really use". Indeed, the documents provide context and content, without which meaningful recounting of history may be impossible. Where documents are lacking, history becomes the telling of educated guesses and informed theories based on the mute testimony of whatever artifacts, if any, are available. There is, however, no lack of documentation for the ongoing "Fundamentalist-Moderate Controversy" in the Southern Baptist Convention. In fact, disciplined selection is necessary to keep this collection within manageable limits. The present selection is excellent: all sides are represented and the events of the ongoing SBC "holy war" are replayed by the news releases, sermons and addresses, motions and resolutions through which those events originally were played out. The documents have been changed only to fit these pages. This is not all the story, but it is a good part of the story of a people called Southern Baptists. It is a story we all need to know and remember. We cannot undo or redo what has been done. We can learn from what has happened. What is history for? Not just for the historian, but for all of us, these primary and key "documents of the controversy" tell the story. Walter Shurden's overview and introductions along with his annotated chronology set the stage, reminding us where we were when. Then the reporters and preachers, the movers and shakers, the principals and sometimes even pawns go to "Action!" and tell the story in their own words, which, after all, is the way it happened.