Before the Bible Belt fastened itself across the South, competing factions of evangelicals fought over their faith's future, and a contrarian sect, self-named the Primitive Baptists, made its stand. Joshua Guthman here tells the story of how a band of antimissionary and antirevivalistic Baptists defended Calvinism, America's oldest Protestant creed, from what they feared were the unbridled forces of evangelical greed and power. In their harrowing confessions of faith and in the quavering uncertainty of their singing, Guthman finds the emotional catalyst of the Primitives' early nineteenth-century movement: a searing experience of doubt that motivated believers rather than paralyzed them. But Primitives' old orthodoxies proved startlingly flexible. After the Civil War, African American Primitives elevated a renewed Calvinism coursing with freedom's energies. Tracing the faith into the twentieth century, Guthman demonstrates how a Primitive Baptist spirit, unmoored from its original theological underpinnings, seeped into the music of renowned southern artists such as Roscoe Holcomb and Ralph Stanley, whose ""high lonesome sound"" appealed to popular audiences searching for meaning in the drift of postwar American life. In an account that weaves together religious, emotional, and musical histories, Strangers Below demonstrates the unlikely but enduring influence of Primitive Baptists on American religious and cultural life.

EVER since I wrote By the Still Waters, while a country pastor, I have longed to write more in the same vein. Friends who say they were blessed by those rustic sketches have encouraged me to write a companion volume, but a city pastorate of five years and many preaching journeys over the land have not provided a suitable setting for rural reflections. One cannot write of these things in a hotel room. It has become possible through circumstances, evidently the Lord's leading, to spend a few autumn weeks in the old home in the hills. No sooner had this opportunity opened before me than I felt impressed to return to my first love and resume the trail of reflections I left in the Carolina lowlands. Then it was the low country, and now it is the hills, but both are Carolina and both are "countrified" and I trust the theme in both cases is common to hearts everywhere. A few of these sketches were published with some changes in the Charlotte (N. C.) Observer, and grateful acknowledgement is hereby made for permission to reprint them. But all of them are FOREWORD A skin, and in these simple matters that abide time makes little difference. They are sent forth to the glory of our Lord Who spoke the colorful language of the outdoors and Who bade His disciples of old, "Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile." V. H. Greensboro, N. C.

God's Word says, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15). Rightly dividing or being able to understand God's Word will require study. This book is designed to assist you in studying God's Word. Fifty-two major doctrines of the Bible are outlined in four separate books. Each chapter examines a different Bible doctrine. The chapters are written in such a way to help you thoroughly understand the doctrines--without needing a seminary degree. If you want to be an approved workman unto God, this book will help you accomplish that goal The thirteen chapters of Book Three covers: Hell, Trinity, God the Father, God the Son (2), God the Holy Spirit (2), The Gift of Tongues, Bible Memorization, Sanctification, Angels (2), and The Second Coming of Christ.

This is an excellent set for the preacher who aspires to be true to the Word and who wishes to enrich his preaching ministry. It is an invaluable aid for the teacher who seeks to guide his class to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of God's Revelation to us. It is an ideal set for any student of the Bible who desires to hear what God has to say to him. This is more than a commentary. It is rightly called an interpretation.

At the time of its publication this set was acclaimed to constitute "the greatest commentary on the English Bible ever published" (Baptist and Reflector). It remains to this day a reliable guide to a thorough understanding of the Scriptures. This is an excellent set for the preacher who aspires to be true to the Word and who wishes to enrich his preaching ministry. It is an invaluable aid for the teacher who seeks to guide his class to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of God's Revelation to us. It is an ideal set for any student of the Bible who desires to hear what God has to say to him. This is more than a commentary. It is rightly called an interpretation.

At the time of its publication this set was acclaimed to constitute "the greatest commentary on the English Bible ever published" (Baptist and Reflector). It remains to this day a reliable guide to a thorough understanding of the Scriptures. This is an excellent set for the preacher who aspires to be true to the Word and who wishes to enrich his preaching ministry. It is an invaluable aid for the teacher who seeks to guide his class to a deeper knowledge and appreciation of God's Revelation to us. It is an ideal set for any student of the Bible who desires to hear what God has to say to him. This is more than a commentary. It is rightly called an interpretation.

These messages have been given all over the land and some have appeared in various Christian publications. They endeavor to strike the same note the writer has tried to sound through the years, and it is hoped that at no point will the trumpet give an uncertain sound, for it is high time that every soldier of Christ prepare himself for the battle. It is an age of itching ears. What we need is burning hearts. We need a heart-warming Greensboro, N. C. V. H.