Customer Reviews

Southern Baptist Politics

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent book that concisely captures the history of the Southern Baptist denomination, from 1845 - 1991. A scholarly work with at least 3 chapters that read with all the drama of a fictional best-seller. Details the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention by the fundamentalist faction; defines "democracy" as it applies to Southern Baptists (local church autonomy, "one voice-one vote" per member); considers the effect of two major Southern Baptist traditions -- priesthood of the believer and pastoral authority; and more. The book was very engaging and, when I'd finished it, I hoped this author was working on a sequel because I want to know what's happened in the past 8 - 9 years in the SBC!

The author of this book is a sociologist and this book is intended to be a sociological piece of work. Not being in any way skilled in sociology I can not comment on Farnsley's argument in this regard. Nonetheless, this book aims to draw out the sociological conclusions from the midst of a carefully crafted historical narrative and as is therefore equally as useful as an outsider's introduction to recent Southern Baptist history. The reason for my interest in this book is because I am a keen admirer of the historical Baptist polity (eg. Smyth and Helwys) but strongly dislike contemporary (official) Southern Baptist theology/ethics. I was keen therefore to try to understand in what sense Southern Baptists are "Baptist" in the historical sense.

This book shows that the answer that the answer is, "not very much". Key facts like the revisionist interpretation of the idea of the Priesthood of all believers and the effective oligarchic centralisation of decision-making make we wonder how the SBC can in any way be labelled a Baptist denomination.

One of the interesting points in Southern Baptist Politics is how he shows that the Fundamentalist usurption of power merely relied and copied the methods used by the moderates to keep out the fundamentalists previously. On one hand it is easy to demonise the fundamentalists for their actions but they exhibit a willingless to manipulate their political power and develop consensus by excluding dissident opinions (rather than by together seeking the mind of God with all parties - as is the historic Baptist way (in theory at least) -.

After giving a narrative of the Fundamentalist takeover of the SBC gives an overview of key areas of interest such as the way the moderates have reacted which is usually by fielding biblical inerrantists themselves, the nature of authority, the role of local churches in the convention and the influence of southern culture. Overall this book was an interesting read that will be useful for those wishing to understand the mentality of the SBC.