Baptists in America

Bill Leonard

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9780231501712
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

Baptists are a study in contrasts. From Little Dove Old Regular Baptist Church, up a hollow in the Appalachian Mountains, with its 25-member congregation, to the 18,000-strong Saddleback Valley Church in Orange County, California, where hymns appear on wide-screen projectors; from Jerry Falwell, Jesse Helms, and Tim LaHaye to Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Maya Angelou, Baptist churches and their members have encompassed a range of theological interpretations and held a variety of social and political viewpoints. At first glance, Baptist theology seems classically Protestant in its emphasis on the Trinity, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, salvation by faith alone, and baptism by immersion. Yet the interpretation and implementation of these beliefs have made Baptists one of the most fragmented denominations in the United States. Not surprisingly, they are often characterized as a people who "multiply by dividing."

Baptists in America introduces readers to this fascinating and diverse denomination, offering a historical and sociological portrait of a group numbering some thirty million members. Bill J. Leonard traces the history of Baptists, beginning with their origins in seventeenth-century Holland and England. He examines the development of Baptist beliefs and practices, offering an overview of the various denominations and fellowships within Baptism. Leonard also considers the disputes surrounding the question of biblical authority, the ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Supper), congregational forms of church governance, and religious liberty.

The social and political divisions among Baptists are often as dramatic, if not more so, than the theological divides. Leonard examines the role of Baptists in the Fundamentalist and Social Gospel movements of the early twentieth century. The Civil Rights movement began in African American Baptist churches. More recently, Baptists have been key figures in the growth of the Religious Right, criticizing the depravity of American popular culture, supporting school prayer, and championing other conservative social causes. Leonard also explores the social and religious issues currently dividing Baptists, including race, the ordination of women, the separation of church and state, and sexuality. In the final chapter Leonard discusses the future of Baptist identity in America.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Members of the Little Dove Old Regular Baptist Church, up a hollow in the Appalachian Mountains, contend that their “old-timey” ways validate their claim to be a New Testament community of faith. Services at Little Dove are conducted once or twice a month, attended by no more than twenty to twenty-five people, with preaching by an unpaid, bi-vocational elder (males only). They use no musical instruments, and sing in chant-like plainsong the “shaped-note” hymns of their faith.¹ The preacher holds forth for more than an hour, often abandoning the “sacred desk” (pulpit) to mingle with the worshipers, shaking hands and weeping. Some Baptists exult in their traditionalism.

Others retain traditional accoutrements but reflect new possibilities. At first glance, the Wolf Creek Baptist Church, a rural congregation off a Kentucky state highway, looks like the traditional Southern Baptist Church in its churchly observances and denominational program. Its members sing hymns, welcome “gospel quartets,” await the minister’s sermon, and call people to be “born again.” Yet before the twentieth century’s end the church ordained a woman, copastor Cindy Harp Johnson, to the Baptist ministry, a radical action for many similar churches.²

Other churches are radically different from past Baptist communions. At Saddleback Valley Church in Lake Forest, California, there are multiple services, conducted in a “worship center” that accommodates at least 5,000 people in each service. Hymns appear on wide-screen projectors across the church. Dressed casually, the minister, nationally known religious leader Rick Warren, preaches sermons that emphasize conversion and practical Christian living. Skits, film clips, and other visual aids punctuate the service in an effort to attract “seekers” who are turned off by traditional religious rituals. Begun in 1980, Saddleback Valley Church has more than 15,000 members. Some 18,000 people attend its weekly services. The church retains its Baptist connections, but with a decidedly nondenominational ambience.³

Salem Baptist Church is one of Chicago’s largest African American congregations, with more than 17,000 members. Its pastor, James Meeks, is an Illinois state senator and executive vice president of Rainbow/PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), and is the chosen successor to Jesse Jackson, the organization’s president. However, unlike Jackson, Meeks opposes abortion rights and gay rights as well. An evangelical in theology, Meeks works for spiritual and political equality in racial matters. His church anticipates a $32 million construction program involving a 10,000-seat sanctuary “combined with a seven thousand seat sports arena” in inner-city Chicago.⁴ Meeks and his church may reflect old/new Baptist traditions.

Jerry Falwell is a Baptist. So is Jesse Jackson. And don’t forget Billy Graham. Their assessments of the state of the American Union are often radically dissimilar.⁵ Bill Clinton is a Baptist. So is Jesse Helms. American political life has hardly known two more different public figures. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist. So was Strom Thurman. In symbol and substance those two individuals personified the American conflict over race and civil rights. Tim LaHaye is a Baptist. So is Maya Angelou. Their books are best sellers; their approaches to life essentially antithetical. Baptists are a diverse lot, claiming common and contradictory beliefs and practices. This book documents the faith, practice, and variety of Baptist churches and individuals.

Baptists in America: A Sectarian Establishment

There are more than thirty million Baptists in the United States of America.⁶ They represent the largest Anglo-Saxon and African American Protestant denominations in the nation. And, as historian Walter Shurden wrote decades ago, they are “not a silent people.”⁷ Baptists do not hesitate to make their theological and ethical opinions known in their churches and in the world at large. Indeed, Baptists often seem the quintessential American dissenters, challenging the moral, ecclesiastical, and political status quo, making their opinions known in pulpits, sit-ins, and on Larry King Live. In their rhetoric and public presence, whether supporting civil rights or opposing abortion rights, Baptists sound unceasingly sectarian in their efforts to maintain distinctive theological and moral boundaries.

At the same time, Baptists may appear to be a de facto religious establishment, dominating large segments of the religious landscape with their considerable numbers, their defense of the status quo, and their efforts to achieve a kind evangelistic hegemony that “conquers the nation for Christ.” They are at once the “culture despisers” and the “culture promoters,” ever critiquing and appropriating selected segments of American society. Baptist churches and denominations represent varying degrees of sectarian and establishment tendencies in American life.

In theology and practice they are a study in contrasts. At first glance, Baptist theology seems classically Protestant in its emphasis on doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, salvation by faith alone, the priesthood of believers, an ordained ministry, baptism by immersion and the observance of the Lord’s Supper, all held together in a congregational form of church government. Yet the interpretation and implementation of these beliefs have made Baptists one of the most fragmented denominations in America, often characterized as a people who “multiply by dividing.” For example, Baptist interpretations of Protestant orthodoxy cover a broad spectrum from Arminian to Calvinist, from free will to predestination. Arminian or Free Will Baptists believe that Christ died for the whole world (general atonement), that all persons have the free will to choose or reject salvation, and that salvation can be secured by repentance and faith. It is also possible for Christians to turn away from salvation by “falling from grace.” Calvinist Baptists, on the other hand, insist that Christ died for only an “elect” chosen by God before the foundation of the world and that the saved will persevere in faith to the end. Still other Baptists combine elements of both of these traditions. Baptist worship practices also reflect great diversity, extending from rural meetinghouses to cathedral-like “sanctuaries” to megachurch “worship centers.” While some Baptist ministers have advanced academic degrees, others have little formal education. Some receive salaries in full-time positions, while others are “bi-vocational,” working in the secular world on weekdays and serving a church on Sundays. Baptist polity runs the gamut from congregational autonomy to elaborate denominational cooperation and connection, from rabid individualism to a powerful sense of community.

Socially and politically, the contrasts are dramatic. During the early twentieth century, Baptists were at the forefront of both the modernist and the fundamentalist movements. Some Baptists promoted the Social Gospel movement while others vehemently opposed it. The civil rights movement began in African American Baptist churches, only to be opposed by Anglo-Saxon Baptists, particularly in the South. While Baptists have long been outspoken supporters of religious liberty and the separation of church and state, many are advocates of prayer in schools, the public display of the Ten Commandments, funding for private school vouchers, and other forms of government aid to “faith-based” communities. Some are strong supporters of the ordination of women to the ministry, while others resist such actions as a violation of basic biblical teachings.

There are certain commonalities, however. Indeed, in many parts of the United States growing up Baptist once seemed relatively easy. For much of the twentieth century, a variety of Baptists north and south, black and white, carried out “common programs [that] created a surprising uniformity among an otherwise diverse and highly individualistic constituency.”⁸ On any given Sunday, members set out for church armed with the three great symbols of Baptist faith: A King James Version (KJV) of the Bible (zipper edition), a Sunday school “Quarterly” outlining the standard Bible lesson, and an offering envelope containing the weekly “tithe.”⁹ The envelope required that individuals “check off” boxes delineating their faithfulness, with points given for attendance, being on time, preparing the lesson, bringing a Bible, giving an offering, and attending worship. The best Christians were those whose box scores totaled 100 percent each week.

Varying styles of worship reflected the diversity, however. Some “pipe organ churches” developed more elaborate “orders of worship,” with robed choirs, anthems, and ministers who offered erudite sermons energetically but tastefully presented. Others included livelier “special music” from gospel choirs or quartets, in services where self-taught preachers belted out brimstone, sweating as if they had been to hell that morning and had come back to tell about it.

Growing up Baptist often meant (and in some cases still means) adherence to a clearly defined moral code that forbade dancing, card playing, immodest dress, movies, and other “worldly” practices. Churches frequently held annual revivals, at which traveling evangelists preached dramatic sermons aimed at bringing people to faith in Christ. Baptisms were conducted in creeks and rivers, or in heated baptismal pools (baptisteries) inside the church buildings. It was a rather clear-cut identity with well-established theological and practical boundaries.

As the twenty-first century got under way, many Baptist churches kept continuity with their past. Indeed, certain rural or county-seat Baptist churches in the United States may seem like a time warp, maintaining traditional practices in worship and overall church life.

This is a good time to publish a book on Baptists in America, for a number of reasons. First, Baptists have been exceedingly public in American life during the last twenty years. Internal controversies among Southern and African American Baptists, Baptists’ participation in both the Religious Right and the civil rights movement, and debates over the ordination of women and gays have brought Baptists to the attention of the broader American culture. Second, Baptists themselves are experiencing a time of permanent transition in their own sense of churchly and denominational identity. As old denominational systems change, even break down, Baptist churches and individuals are struggling with the foundations of their historical and theological distinctiveness. Many men and women who join Baptist churches have little or no knowledge of Baptist history and beliefs and no particular desire to call themselves Baptist. Some congregations have dropped or distanced themselves from the name “Baptist” in order to attract a constituency including those who are suspicious of or bored with denominational ties. Third, this book offers an opportunity not only to describe Baptist history and beliefs but also to examine the relationship of Baptist groups and individuals to a variety of issues confronting the larger American culture. Because of their numbers and their diversity, Baptists may well offer an intriguing case study in the interaction of religion and culture in the recent history of the United States. The issues discussed in this book are representative rather than definitive or all-inclusive. While every effort is made to identify as many Baptist subgroups as possible, the work of many of those groups is not explored in great detail. Rather, the book traces the basic history of the denomination and then explores specific topics that have galvanized Baptist churches and individuals in the latter third of the twentieth century. Chapters 2 and 3 detail historical developments from the beginning of the movement in seventeenth-century Holland and England through much of the last century. Chapter 4 provides a survey of Baptist doctrines and theologies, with particular attention to various confessions of faith used by churches and denominations in England and the United States. Chapter 5 offers an overview of many of the Baptist denominations or fellowships found in the United States. Chapter 6 explores some of Baptists’ most enduring internal debates, including biblical authority, the ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and their congregational forms of church government.

Chapter 7 examines ideas and controversies related to Baptists and religious liberty, one of the most enduring concerns of the Baptist tradition. Chapter 8 gives some attention to ethnic and racial responses and tensions in Baptist life. Chapter 9 looks at the role(s) of women in Baptist churches and the responses of various Baptist traditions to women’s activities in church and home. Chapter 10 pursues the varying ways in which Baptists relate to certain aspects of American culture.

Baptists in America may declare that this world is not their home, they are just passing through, but any survey of their history illustrates that Baptists are a right worldly community of Christians. Their long-term commitments may be in heaven, but they are ever trying to change the state of things in this world as well. And, through it all, the diversity, unity, and overall messiness of the people called Baptists seem evident, past, present, and future.

CHAPTER TWO

Baptist Beginnings

Amid multiple theories of origin, Baptist beginnings are relatively easy to discern. The movement was born of the upheavals that descended on the British church during the seventeenth century and the accession of the Stuart monarchy, which began with the reign of James I in 1603. The first identifiable Baptist group began in 1608/1609 with a band of Puritan Separatists exiled in Amsterdam. Led by John Smyth (ca. 1570–1612) and Thomas Helwys (ca.1550–1615), this band of dissenters originated in England among those Puritans who were convinced that the Church of England had been completely corrupted by Romanist and establishmentarian tendencies. They insisted that Anglicanism could not be reformed and that true believers should separate from it.

These separatist sentiments were present in various “conventicles” that were “gathered” throughout England, one of which was served by John Smyth in the town of Gainsborough. Increasing persecution forced a portion of the members to move to Scrooby under the leadership of John Robinson (1572–1625). Some later moved to Holland, first to Amsterdam and then to Leyden. In 1620, led by William Bradford and William Brewster, they boarded the Mayflower for America. These “Pilgrims” arrived at Plymouth, founding the first Separatist congregation (not Baptist) in the New World.¹

Early Baptist Groups

General Baptists

John Smyth and Thomas Helwys took another faction from the Gainsborough church to Amsterdam to escape persecution by the Stuart monarchy. As Separatists they were committed to a church of believers, gathered around a covenant with God and one another. In Amsterdam they became convinced that baptism should be administered only to those who could testify to a work of grace in their lives and that infant baptism had no precedent in the New Testament church.

John Smyth led the little band in repudiating their previous (infant) baptism in the Church of England and accepting a new baptism administered after each individual professed faith in Christ. They united on the basis of a covenant, an agreement that they would walk circumspectly with God and one another in faith, fellowship, and discipline. One source describes the momentous event:

Pastor and deacons laid down their office, the church disbanded or avowed itself no church and all stood as private individuals, unbaptized. All being equal Smyth proposed that Helwys their social leader should baptize them, but he deferred to his spiritual leader. Smyth therefore baptized himself, then baptized Helwys and the others.²

Smyth thus performed a se-baptism (self-baptism) and then administered the rite to Helwys and the ...