Baptists on the margins: minorities, borders, and controversies: Doug Weaver is professor of religion at Baylor University.

Weaver, Doug

The title of this journal edition is a powerful reminder of the nature of religious life and religious history. We are reminded of Roger Williams's understanding that "those in power never hear any music but their own."

In other words, those in dominant groups, those in power, they are the ones that tell us what to believe, what is acceptable (to them), and what it means to be inside or outside the borders.

Buddy Shurden reminded us that Baptists have had plenty of controversy. This journal issue reminds us that to understand controversy (real or potential), we must explore how borders are formed and how minorities are treated. Scholars of religious history in recent years have noted that we have an incomplete narrative unless we look at those on or outside the margins, and how they got there, and how they were kept there.

Our issue reveals the wide array of topics that can contribute to reflection of life on the margins. Scott Ryan's article on African-American E. C. Morris reminds us of the white narrative we have constructed. Power doesn't yield space easily. James Seelye's article opens a window on Baptist missionary efforts to Native Americans. The story gives us pause--I hope. Andrew Smith explores boundaries between Fundamentalism and Landmarkism with the method of "micro-history," one important way of hearing individual voices that nuance a story so long received. Nicolas Werse writes about Baptist hermeneutics in the 1960s and reveals how some authors attempted to manage borders and how some were kicked to the margins or beyond. How integrity is understood in forming borders might induce a knee-bending exercise in us all. Bracy Hill's fine study of how an English author understood Baptists reveals the importance of freedom of conscience. I am reminded that this historically indispensable core DNA to Baptists is often best understood by those on the margins.

The article by Joao Chaves on Mexican-American Baptists is especially important to studying life on the margins. Finding adequate sources on Mexican-American Baptists is an arduous and sometimes impossible task. What is striking is Chaves's word of caution that sources, when transcribed by Anglos--those in power--must be viewed with care. Why? Because Mexican Americans had reasons not to trust Anglo Christians and to be hesitant to say anything but what would be accepted. "Those in power" can even write religious history and describe religious practices by hearing what they want to hear, to paraphrase Roger Williams again. Forgetting the social causes surrounding life for Mexican-American Christians is a fatal flaw of devotional religious narrative, Chaves reminds us.

Baptists on the margins--Baptists in power--the narrative needs constant reflection. I am reminded of two very different early twentieth-century American Baptists. J. C. Massee, a major player in the Fundamentalist movement, eventually realized that "fellowship cannot be coerced.... No human being has either the right or the power (italics mine] to select a vocabulary in which my faith is to be expressed." Minorities, people on the margins, know in their context that Massee's words are especially relevant. I am also reminded of the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, that gadfly liberal Baptist who said, "If that is orthodoxy, please call me a heretic." You don't have to like Fosdick's theology to realize the real or potential role of power in religion. Those on the margins, especially minorities, have usually been told what is "orthodox," what is acceptable belief or practice. They have rarely had their voices heard and when asked, they have been hesitant to talk for fear of greater exclusion. Those pushed to the margins often have their voices put on a mute button for the common good of the more powerful. All hail the power of the grand conforming narrative? Or all hail the power of Jesus' name?

This journal issue is, we know, only a small contribution to hearing and understanding the complex factors surrounding the borders and margins. But let us always remember that those in power rarely hear any music but that which pleases them. In light of such abuse, may we see dissent as the merging of integrity and freedom of conscience--an act of faithfulness that God loves all even if we don't.

Doug Weaver

Festschrift and Miscellaneous Issue Editor