History of religion Books

Book SynopsisScholars and journalists have paid significant attention to the contemporary Fundamentalist tendencies of southern Protestantism. However, many studies neglect to consider how the Fundamentalist controversies that roiled the Baptists and Presbyterians of the North during the 1920s affected the Southern Baptist Convention schism of 1970–2000. Fundamentalism, Fundraising, and the Transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1919–1925 explores the scope and character of the interaction between Southern Baptists and early Fundamentalism during the late 1910s and early 1920s. By focusing more closely on the Southern Baptist Convention, Andrew Christopher Smith examines the interaction between the northernFundamentalist movement and southern religion during the era. Though scholars agree that Fundamentalism is not native to the South, no book thus far has considered the effects of the Fundamentalist movement and how it influenced southern Protestant denominational organizations, independent of southern rejection of Fundamentalist-sponsored interdenominational evangelistic and educational institutions. Smith proposes that Fundamentalist ideas, lingering in the atmosphere of the South after wafting there through hearsay, national religious periodicals, and the secular press,likely influenced Southern Baptist self-understanding during this critical period.Examining documentary evidence, Smith explains that following the First World War, Southern Baptists pushed toward bureaucratization. The “Seventy-Five Million Campaign,” a fundraising and organization-building drive that the convention approved in 1919, was the denominational movement through which the selective appropriation of Fundamentalist ideas occurred. Exploring the interplay of Southern Baptist claims and northern Fundamentalist precepts, Smith fills a void in scholarly examination of early-twentieth-century Baptist history.

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Book SynopsisJames A. Patterson's groundbreaking study of the life and mind of James Robinson Graves explores the history of Landmarkism in the nineteenth century. Under this doctrine, Graves proposed that 'true' Baptists should be able to trace their lineage directly to the early church, rather than through the strands of Protestantism. Controversial in its day, and often poorly understood now, Landmarkism, in Patterson's nuanced interpretation, is important for understanding an essential feature of Baptist life to the present day: how do Baptists stake out their identities in reference to other Baptists and to members of competing denominations? While Graves has been widely dismissed by recent historians, in Patterson's skillful revision, this figure draws much nearer to central concerns of Baptist thinking since the First Great Awakening.This addition to the America's Baptists series blends biographical insight with a thematic approach that focuses primarily on Graves's controversial beliefs about ecclesiology, Baptist history, and eschatology. Patterson divides this work into seven chapters that progress chronologically, and this updated edition includes an expanded discussion of Christian republicanism, elaborates on the question of Graves and race, and features a longer epilogue to account for recent scholarship on Graves and Landmarkism.James Robinson Graves is an accessible introduction to the significant albeit disputed role that the Landmark tradition played in the shaping of Southern Baptist life and thought. Seminary students and scholars of nineteenth-century Southern Baptist history will find a rich new interpretation of this misunderstood figure.Trade ReviewNo student of the nineteenth century South will be able to find a better working introduction to the Landmark phenomenon than that offered here." - Andrew C. Smith, author of Fundamentalism, Fundraising, and the Transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1919-1925

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Book SynopsisIn Mainstreaming Fundamentalism: John R. Rice and Fundamentalism's Public Reemergence, Keith Bates embarks on a thematic and chronological exploration of twentieth-century Baptist fundamentalism in postwar America, sharing the story of a man whose career intersected with many other leading fundamentalists of the twentieth century, such as J. Frank Norris, Bob Jones Sr., Bob Jones Jr., and Jerry Falwell.Unique among histories of American fundamentalism, this book explores the theme of Southern fundamentalism's reemergence through a biographical lens. John R. Rice's mission to inspire a broad cultural activism within fundamentalism - particularly by opposing those who fostered an isolationist climate - would give direction and impetus to the movement for the rest of the twentieth century. To support this claim, Bates presents chapters on Rice's background and education, personal and ecclesiastical separatism, and fundamentalism and political action, tracing his rise to leadership during a critical phase of fundamentalism's development until his death in 1980.Bates draws heavily upon primary source texts that include writings from Rice's fundamentalist contemporaries, his own The Sword of the Lord articles, and his private papers - particularly correspondence with many nationally known preachers, local pastors, and laypeople over more than fifty years of Rice's ministry. The incorporation of these writings, combined with Bates's own conversations with Rice's family, facilitate a deeply detailed, engaging examination that fills a significant gap in fundamentalist history studies.Mainstreaming Fundamentalism: John R. Rice and Fundamentalism's Public Reemergence provides a nuanced and insightful study that will serve as a helpful resource to scholars and students of postwar American fundamentalism, Southern fundamentalism, and Rice's contemporaries.

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Book SynopsisIn The Power of Mammon, Curtis D. Johnson describes how the market economy and market-related forces, such as the media, politics, individualism, and consumerism, radically changed the nature of Baptist congregational life in New York State during three centuries. Collectively, these forces emphasized the importance of material wealth over everything else, and these values penetrated the thinking of Baptist ministers and laypeople alike. Beginning in the 1820s, the pastorate turned into a profession, the laity’s influence diminished, closeknit religious fellowships evolved into voluntary associations, and evangelism became far less effective. Men, being the most engaged in the market, secularized the more quickly and became less involved in church affairs. By the 1870s, male disengagement opened the door to increased female participation in church governance. While scientific advances and religious pluralism also played a role, the market and its related distractions were the primary forces behind the secularization of Baptist life.The Power of Mammon is history from the ground up. Unlike many denominational histories, this book emphasizes congregational life and the importance of the laity. This focus allows the reader to hear the voices of ordinary Baptists who argued over a host of issues. Johnson deftly connects large social trends with exhaustive attention to archival material, including numerous well-chosen records preserved by forty-two New York churches. These records include details related to membership, discipline, finance, and institutional history. Utilizing statistical analysis to achieve even greater clarity, Johnson effectively bridges the gap between the particularity of church records and the broader history of New York’s Baptist churches.Johnson’s narrative of Baptist history in New York will serve as a model for other regional studies and adds to our understanding of secularization and its impact on American religion.Trade Review“Curtis D. Johnson’s sweeping, detailed, and convincing narrative of Baptist history in New York makes an important contribution to Baptist history. Because New York was a major center of Baptist life during the period of Johnson’s study, his book promises to be required reading for anyone interested in Baptist history in the northern United States.”- Amanda Porterfield, author of Corporate Spirit: Religion and the Rise of the Modern Corporation

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