Did you know?
Weaver, Doug
Did you know that one of the two most popular nineteenth-century
evangelists before the era of D. L. Moody was a Northern Baptist named
Absalom Earle, and that he crisscrossed the country preaching as an
itinerant evangelist, frequenting not only San Francisco, California,
but also Raleigh, North Carolina?
Did you know that John Q, Adams was a Baptist, not the Adams who
was the sixth president of the United States but a Baptist minister in
New York during the mid-nineteenth century who promoted sanctification
as a second blessing? In other words, he was a "holiness"
Baptist.
Did you know that John Roach Straton, the prominent fundamentalist
Baptist minister of New York who responded to Harry Emerson
Fosdick's famous sermon, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?"
with the rebuttal, "Shall the Funnymonkeists Win?" had healing
services at his church?
Did you know that Aimee Semple McPherson, the most famous
evangelist of the early twentieth century (other than Billy Sunday) and
founder of the Pentecostal body, the International Church of the
Foursquare Gospel, was actually ordained as a Baptist minister by First
Baptist Church of San Jose, California, and its
"Spirit-filled" Baptist pastor?
Did you know that two of the most famous Independent Baptists of
the twentieth century--John R. Rice and J. Frank Norris--were originally
close associates but that as they split apart they both accused each
other of believing in faith healing?
It is not hard for any of us to pick out a few rare (or you might
think obscure) details and stump others in a quiz bowl-type game.
That's not my goal, here. And it is certainly not an insult to say
you don't know these tidbits above, even if you have taken a
Baptist history course or read Baptist history textbooks--for these
tidbits are not part of the normal telling of the Baptist story, even if
diversity has become part of the way we describe Baptists. All of us
don't need reminding, I hope, that there are Baptist Ways, to use
Bill Leonard's phrase.
But it is good to remember that some focus on "other
Baptists"--the theme of BHHS' recent annual meeting in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota--can teach us several things about our Baptist and
Christian heritage.
First, let's simply be reminded that Baptist stories of
freedom and diversity are still out there to be discovered, to be placed
in our mosaic so that our portrait is more inclusive, not less.
Attempting to dumb down the Baptist story really doesn't work.
There is still more to learn, more to study, more to research.
Second, putting some emphasis on the "other" actually
reflects a current trend in historical work that says stories or
traditions with dominant voices must be reread in light of newer work on
women, minorities, or groups often seen by the majority as "on the
fringe." Readers might not always like some of the diversity in the
newer story, but "nuance" is a word historians must learn to
use to describe faith traditions.
Third, as we look at "other Baptists," I expect we will
find that "others" have some or lots of things in common with
the "traditional" narrative of Baptist life. But we will also
find things that push us and mess up our tidy PowerPoints. I've
always taught that John Roach Straton was Harry Emerson Fosdick's
fundamentalist arch-enemy. He was. But identifying Straton as a
fundamentalist and a healer and a Baptist shifts the way I describe
early twentieth century-Baptist fundamentalism some!
Finally, just as we focused a bit more on Baptists of the Midwest/
West at our annual meeting, we were reminded how "other
Baptists" were influenced by other Christian groups and we learned
how these Baptists influenced others. The Baptist story--any story for
that matter--should remind us that we don't just receive from
others or we don't just give to others, but there is an interaction
of give and take in Baptist identity.
Doug Weaver
Festschrift and Miscellaneous Issue
Editor
Doug Weaver is professor of religion at Baylor University.
