W. A. Criswell envisioned the emergence of a new conservatism that would become the new religious right. In his most famous and revealing sermons, including "Segregation and Society" (1956) and "The Church of the Open Door" (1968), Criswell proclaimed that opposition to evangelical truths sprang from two sources: Darwin's Origin of Species and the vast inroads of German higher criticism and rationalism that explained away the miracles of the bible and reduced them to humanistic fiction. Towns's book examines selected speeches from 1956 to 2002, revisiting events that provoked the rhetorical situations of the era and exploring speaker-leader propositions and perspectives. Criswell's leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention was dynamic and unifying, and his paradigm for social responsibility in his preaching, speaking and writing can best be entailed in the following encapsulation: "Be anchored to the book and geared to the times."

The Baptist tradition stands in great peril of losing the cherished principles of the free exercise of religion, the freedom from political interference with faith, and the right of self-determination in all matters related to religion. It is God to whom we are ultimately responsible. Soul freedom, all freedom, and responsibility is Gods supreme gift to humanity. The dignity and respect afforded to persons comes from God as revealed in Scripture. Soul Freedom is composed of a series of essays that examine considerably controversial issues. This book comes at a time when the Baptist commitment to soul freedom feeds the deeper hunger of the hearts of millions of persons seeking authenticity in religion.