The Exiled Generations

Legacies of the Southern Baptist Convention Holy Wars

Carl L. Kell

• Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781621901334
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The Exiled Generations is a collection of poignant testimonials by individuals whose parents and relatives were purged from or left the Southern Baptist Convention in the wake of the fundamentalist takeover beginning in 1980. Building upon Professor Kell’s earlier work, Exiled, which revealed the stories of those who were themselves expurgated, this new book details the experiences of their relations—the sons and daughters who saw their moderate-leaning parents lose pastoral positions, administrative posts, missionary appointments, or seminary professorships, and who faced their own often fraught relationships with their church home.
            Until now, the stories of this “lost generation” have never been fully told. In this collection, Professor Kell presents a diverse and wide range of voices. Some are well-known Baptist leaders, while others are ordinary people caught up in the remarkable changes in Baptist life over the past few decades. Here, they recount their feelings of loss as they were severed from youth fellowships and removed from church rolls. Many describe the lingering emotional effects of the heartbreaking conflict that dominated their childhood and adolescence. Their recollections reveal the full range of responses—anger, sadness, pathos, humor, intense inner reflection—to these enormous shifts. This volume shows the extent to which this group has struggled and wandered in emotional and religious exile.
            The Exiled Generations comprises rich primary sources for scholars and students who are exploring the profound strife that has rocked the Southern Baptist Convention. These deeply moving accounts will offer invaluable assistance to researchers analyzing the impact of the seismic changes within the denomination over the past thirty-five years.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface: In Memory of Kenneth L. Chafin
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Witness to the Exile - James I. Williamson
• I Never Thought I Couldn’t Be Ordained - Kristen Redford
• The Purging - G. Wesley Shotwell
• I Was Supposed to Be a Baptist - Millie Patterson
• When Trouble Comes Home - Ken Satterfield
• She Ironed Our Underwear - Elizabeth Emerson Hancock
• The Spawn of Lavonn Brown - Nathan Brown
• The Road Back - R. Kevin Johnson
• God, Women, and Mayberry - Bailey Edwards Nelson
• Faith of Our Fathers? No Way! - R. Scott Pollard
• Two Griefs and a Hope - Denise Dinkens
• Ascending into Exile - Dave McNeely
• Twenty-first Century Churchin’ in Alabama - Stephen M. Fox
• When Identity Falls Apart - James Hill Jr
• The Winding Road Away - Brian Kaylor
• Set on Edge - Geoff Davidson
• The Day the Music Died - Mark A. Bowdidge
• A Wandering Aramean - Martin Davis
• Editor’s Notebook: From Exiled: Voices to The Exiled Generations
• Postscript: Crafting a New Baptist Narrative - Molly T. Marshall
• Appendix 1. Molly Marshall: A Woman of Faith and Courage - Pamela R. Durso
• Appendix 2. Deep in the Heart of Texas - Don Wilkey Jr.
• Appendix 3. In Memory of Duke Kimbrough McCall, the Last Denominationalist, September 1, 1914–April 2, 2013 - Bill Leonard
• Contributors
• Index