|
Produced by The Center for Baptist
Studies, Mercer University
A Monthly EMagazine, Bridging Baptists
Yesterday and Today
Walter B. Shurden, Executive Editor, The
Baptist Studies Bulletin
Bruce T. Gourley, Editor, The
Baptist Studies Bulletin
Wil Platt, Associate Editor, The Baptist Studies
Bulletin
|
|
The Center for Baptist
Studies wishes all our subscribers
A Blessed Advent, A
Merry Christmas, and A Happy New Year. |
| |
| |
|
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I Believe . . .
: Walter B. Shurden
"What
Are You Going to Do?"
The Baptist Soapbox: John Pierce
"Blogging
at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration"
The Spirituality of Baptist Leaders in Seventeenth Century America:
Tripp Martin
"The Spirituality of Obadiah
Holmes"
My Six Favorite Books on
Southern Religion:
Wayne Flynt
Jim Wallis,
The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change.
New
York City: The New Press-Orbis Books, 1994.
BSB Book
Review: Rick Wilson
Christianity
and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century
by Walter Rauschenbusch
In Response To . . .
: Bruce T. Gourley
"Taking Christ Out of Christmas"
Dates to Note
We welcome your feedback.
Click here to tell us what you think of this
issue of the Bulletin!
Note: To print the BSB, set your printer's left
and right margins to .4 inches or less.
|
To
change / add / delete your email for the Baptist Studies Bulletin, please
click here.
|
|
Netscape users:
If
you need to increase the font size on your screen, click "view"
then "increase font."
|
Note: You are free
to duplicate and circulate the articles in BSB or to use quotations
from our articles. We would, however, appreciate a good word about where
you found your material. It makes us look good! Thanks.
|
|
| |
|
I Believe |
|
"What Are You Going to Do?"
By Walter B. Shurden
 I believe . . .
that
people ask interesting questions when one retires. As I head toward
“retirement” on 31 December 2007 and resign from my present role, the one
question I have been asked again and again is, “What are you going to do?”
That question
suggests much about our culture. We are an activist rather than a
contemplative people. We find our meaning in producing rather than in being.
I plead guilty but, candidly, without an excessive amount of guilt. “Doing”
matters. Non-doing leads to boredom and boredom births demons of many sizes,
most of which major in trivialities.
I have always
thought that Franciscan Richard Rohr got it right. He labeled the ministry he
founded in 1986 in Albuquerque as “The Center for Action and Contemplation.”
Isn’t that what our lives are to be, centers of action and contemplation?
Isn’t that the balance that we want during both our “working” days and our
“retirement” days?
“What are you going
to do?” Well, I certainly do not plan to quit “doing,” but I am going to try
to transform the mornings into my kind of contemplation, IF I am capable of
doing so. While I do not have my afternoons and evenings completely worked
out, I have my morning schedule set: get up when I wish, drink two cups of
coffee with Kay, read the Macon Telegraph, eat a bit of breakfast, walk a
couple of miles (more, I hope!), take a shower and shave (if I wish), read
some sacred stuff, read my email and some online editorials from national
newspapers, then eat lunch! Mornings are for contemplation!!
“What are you going
to do?” I am going to continue to play. Unfortunately, most people work
in order to play. All of my life my work has been my play. So, I am going to
continue to read and write and speak. Reading and writing and speaking have
been a large part of my work/play. Four institutions (First Baptist Church,
Ruston, LA, Carson-Newman College, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and
Mercer University) for whom I have worked/played have actually paid me money
to read and write and speak. I will continue to read and write and speak
because it is part of the fun of my life. During this stage, however, I will
read, write, and speak when I want to and if I want to!
“What are you going
to do?” I am going to wear gladly the face of Mercer University
wherever I go and whatever I do. I am not a graduate of Mercer University, but
twenty-five years on these grounds have made a proud Mercerian out of me.
Mercer is a unique kind of Baptist university, and I cannot imagine a better
place for me to have spent the last twenty-five years of my ministry and
professorial career.
“What are you going
to do?” We have three grown children and five (soon to be six)
grandchildren. There is much room there in the future for lots of action and
profound contemplation. And I will continue to look for you friends at Baptist
watering holes in future years.
Table of Contents
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
Soapbox |
|
The Baptist Soapbox: Invited guests
speak up and out on things Baptist (therefore, the views expressed in this
space are not necessarily those of The Baptist Studies Bulletin, though
sometimes they are).
Climbing upon the Soapbox this month is John Pierce,
Executive Editor of Baptists Today and member of the New Baptist
Covenant Communications Committee.
"Blogging
at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration"
By John Pierce
In response to an Associated Baptist Press survey, my
first choice for the top Baptist related news story of 2007 was the
announcement of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. Even though the
large gathering will occur early in 2008, discussions surrounding the event
were varied and ongoing throughout the past year since the day two former U.S.
presidents made the plans public.
The
Celebration is significant in terms of scope, controversy and potential
historical impact. Never has such a diverse group of Baptist leaders
cooperatively planned an event that will include such prominent Baptist
speakers.
There
was an early misunderstanding by some—in large part due to poor reporting by
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—that a new Baptist organization was being
forged. Not so. Negative reaction continues from those, particularly Southern
Baptists, who have pulled away from any form of cooperation with the larger
worldwide Baptist movement and focused on the further narrowing of their own
membership.
Southern Baptists and some other kinds, with political disagreements with
Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, have dismissed the program as having
a secular political agenda. The involvement of prominent Republicans on the
program has not ceased all accusations of
politics.
However, many of us are looking beyond the politic persuasion of individual
speakers and seeing a rich, unprecedented, interracial opportunity for
worship, fellowship and cooperative ministry that crosses geographical and
convention lines. Baptists Today looks forward to being present and to
providing timely reports. We have a team of four bloggers lined up to give
continually updated information at
www.baptiststoday.org.
Online
editor Bruce Gourley and guest blogger Aaron “Big Daddy” Weaver will do live
blogging as events unfurl. Think of them as doing “play-by-play” reporting of
the action.
Contributing editor Tony Cartledge and I will do the “color commentary,”
seeking to give interpretation and analysis of the various addresses.
Additionally, we will post or link to the varied news stories coming out of
the meeting. So we invite you to keep up with the historical gathering of
Baptists Jan. 30 – Feb. 1 at
www.baptiststoday.org.
We’ll be there whether you can make it or not.
Table of Contents
|
|
| |
|
|
The Center for Baptist Studies Presents:
The Oldest Baptist Church
in America
First Baptist Church
Providence
Rhode
Island
Founded in 1638 by
Roger Williams,
First Baptist Providence stands as a
testimony to Baptists' enduring
influence in American life.
Affiliated with
the American Baptist
Churches / USA, First Baptist is a
dynamic, active congregation.
Visit the website
|
|
Spirituality |
|
The Spirituality of Baptist Leaders in Seventeenth Century America:
This series focuses on early Baptist
spirituality, offering insight from the past for today's Baptists. This
month's contributor is Tripp Martin, Associate Pastor of Northminster Baptist
Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
"The
Spirituality of Obadiah Holmes"
By Tripp Martin
The year was 1651, and three men set out from Rhode Island to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony to proclaim the message of believer’s
baptism and to visit a fellow Baptist, William Witter. It was
a seemingly
benign mission, but Obadiah Holmes, John Clarke, and John Crandall
risked criminal repercussions, as believer’s baptism was against the
law. Obadiah Holmes, a gutsy Baptist who was led more by conviction
than formal education, was arrested and thrown in jail with his
companions during this journey. With no foresight into the lasting
effects for the cause of religious freedom, Holmes refused to pay
his fine or allow anyone else to pay it for him.
Obadiah Holmes had not always been a Baptist; his children were
baptized as infants, but his search for a deeper understanding of
God changed his view of baptism. Holmes chose believer’s baptism
because he encountered the grace of God in the power of freely
choosing to follow Christ. He believed in the power of decision as
a gift from God that fostered conviction and allowed him to
participate in the mission of God. With conviction, Holmes was
baptized as a believer, and he continued to be faithful to Christ’s
mission despite the cost.
Standing in front of the public eye, Holmes was brutally whipped
thirty times for his refusal to pay. After experiencing the
freedom of believer’s baptism, Holmes refused to have that freedom
denied or limited, since it was a freedom bestowed by God. Due
to Holmes’ conviction and actions, John Clarke was able to
illustrate the dire persecution happening in New England. This
story was documented in Clarke’s Ill Newes From New-England
and became essential leverage in lobbying for religious liberty as
Clarke petitioned for the charter of Rhode Island. Subsequently,
the charter established in 1663 maintained religious freedom for
all.
Regardless of persecution, Holmes held firmly to his conviction.
When an individual willingly participates in the mission of God, the
full power of God’s grace is unleashed, and thus, Holmes’ protest
had vast implications. He wrote that baptism is a “visible believer
with his own consent being baptized in common water.” Conviction,
conscience, and consent are words that depict the character of
believer’s baptism. These words unveil the potential of God’s
transforming love in the world because they invite people to embody
the good news of Christ.
Holmes was convinced that faith could not be borrowed; rather, it
must be owned, not just initially but on a continual basis.
Whereas Holmes proclaimed believer’s baptism, he did not place his
trust in it. In the way that believer’s baptism calls people to
participate in the mission of God, Holmes held to it firmly, but
only as it represented true conviction, conscience, and consent in
following Christ. Through conviction, people willingly choose to
follow Christ in word and deed, which allows the presence of Christ
to be manifested in them by the grace of God. For Obadiah Holmes,
the gospel of Christ was manifested in proclaiming religious liberty
as he protested the denial of that freedom.
In addition to consent in believer’s baptism, Holmes stressed the
need for personal re-examination, so that a person can continue to
listen for the presence of Christ and cultivate conviction and
conscience. He wrote, “I must tell you that it has been a most hard
and difficult lesson to learn: to know my own heart.” Believer’s
baptism is the beginning of a lifelong process of re-examination
and commitment to follow Christ. Holmes found the strength through
re-examination to speak out for religious liberty and even shoulder
persecution as he stood up for this freedom, which is granted to
everyone by God. This freedom permits the development of
conviction, conscience, and consent, inviting people to embody the
grace of God in the world.
Table of Contents
|
|
|
Flynt |
|
My Six Favorite Books on Southern Religion:
Wayne Flynt, retired Distinguished Professor of
History at Auburn University, is a world-renowned historian of the American
South whose contributions to the study of religion in the South are immense.
For the second half of 2007, Dr. Flynt shares with the Baptist Studies
Bulletin his favorite volumes on the subject of Southern Religion.
Jim Wallis,
The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change. New
York City: The New Press-Orbis Books, 1994.
By Wayne Flynt
Most readers first encountered the remarkable work of Jim Wallis
after the 2004 election when the national media “revealed” the
independent quality of his thought in God’s Politics: How the
Republicans Got It Wrong and the Democrats Didn’t Get It. But
long before the religion-charged 2004 election, Wallis had been
singing the same song, largely for socially conscious evangelicals
who treasured Sojourners magazine and believed in Wallis they
had found a prophetic voice for our times. In this earlier book,
Wallis announced most of the themes that brought him to national
prominence a decade later.
The religious right has no monopoly on morality or spirituality.
The secular left must speak to the crucial issues of personal
meaning and individual values. The old political dichotomies of
liberal/conservative, left/right have exhausted their intellectual
capital. Liberals seem bereft of any sense of personal
accountability for anything that happens in American society. Like
a character from John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, they seem
to think that there ain’t no right, and there ain’t no wrong,
there’s just things people do; and that’s as far as any man’s got a
right to say.
Conservatives, on the other hand, seem to think that all there is to
morality is what people do. Centuries of deprivation,
discrimination, and second class citizenship should count for
nothing in the great moral equations of our times. Structural
injustice and social oppression, racism, sexism, poverty, all would
melt neatly away if only people would make the correct personal
decisions. The idea that politics is in fact a selfish power
struggle between self-interested groups on the right and left, who
care little for the commonweal, seems totally lost in our public
dialogue.
America needs a new kind of politics, Wallis concludes, rooted in a
new kind of spirituality. This new kind of politics would be rooted
in biblical righteousness and would refuse to separate political
ideas from their consequences on human beings or on the rest of
creation. Social change would begin by reclaiming “the moral
values of personal responsibility, social compassion, and economic
justice.” america
suffers both from a crisis in the quality of political leadership
and a lack of compelling social vision.
Evidence for Wallis’s analysis can be seen everywhere in America: a
rate of child poverty above 20 percent; 45 million Americans without
health insurance; crumbling public schools; a huge shortage of early
childhood education; an epidemic of unwed mothers; more black males
in prison than in college; the degradation of the environment; the
consumerism of shopping mall culture; the vulgarization of mass
media to the lowest common denominator; a generation whose cultural
heroes are Beevis and Butthead. As Wallis contends, social oppression
and cultural degeneracy are the twin themes of our age, one rooted
in structural injustice and the other in the collapse of moral
values.
Wallis pleads for a new, non-ideological politics based on solving
problems. There is, he argues, neither a liberal nor a conservative
way to pick up garbage. Some ways are more efficient than others,
and garbage people serve a critical role in a community and deserve
to be paid a living wage. But beyond that, the key issue is finding
an effective, efficient way to get the job done. Of course,
political reality demands that we never underestimate the human
capacity for corruption and evil. And Christian politics requires
that we never discount the capacity for human change and
reformation.
Before it was fashionable, Wallis calls for a theology of
environmentalism and the need for some limitation on the upper
limits of American wealth. He calls for economic decentralization,
community-based economies, ecological planning, appropriate land
use, sustainable organic farming, and reasonable regional
self-sufficiency.
Probably no reader will agree with everything Wallis proposes. But
long before politicians from both parties tried to co-opt him, he
had written a manifesto that proved he would be a hard man for the
political sirens of our times to seduce no matter how sweet their
songs.
Table of Contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Baptist Studies Bulletin
Book Review:
Rick Wilson is Chair of the
Christianity Department at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia.
Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century
by Walter Rauschenbusch
HarperCollins, 2007 (376 pages)
 Christianity and the Social
Crisis in the 21st Century is
the centennial release of Walter Rauschenbusch’s Christianity and the
Social Crisis. The new volume preserves the original and makes it a
point of departure for a symposium with many of today’s most-noted
theologians. Each chapter of Rauschenbusch’s 1907 initial appeal for
Christians to consider the biblical challenges to develop a “social gospel”
is followed by a review by an heir of Rauschenbusch who reflects upon the
work Rauschenbusch did and the work yet waiting to be done.
Those who
have read Rauschenbusch over the years will revel again in his simple prose.
Newcomers to the work of Rauschenbusch will be caught by surprise to
discover that a century-old reflection of faith still is relevant.
Through seven
chapters Rauschenbusch mapped out a where-we-have-been and a
where-we-need-to-be for readers at the dawn of the twentieth century.
Looking back Rauschenbusch excavates the role of Hebrew prophets in focusing
Christian principles (chapter 1), explores how Jesus’ teaching of the
Kingdom of God was more than a “social movement” (2), recalls how the early
church had an impact upon social structures (3), and wonders why the Church
failed to develop a sustained imperative for social change (4). Looking
forward Rauschenbusch provides analysis of the social context of his day
(5), articulates a rationale for the Church’s commitments to foster social
change (6), and offers directions for “a new apostolate to meet the needs in
a new harvest-time of history” (chapter 7, 333).
Contemporary
readers of a century-old classic are in debt to Paul Rauschenbusch of
Princeton University. Paul, a great-grandson of Walter Rauschenbusch, had
wisdom to pursue a republication of Christianity and the Social Crisis
that includes voices from the dawn of the twenty-first century. Readers also
are in debt to eight interlocutors, each who reread and review a chapter
from the original. What is remarkable about the review essays is that all
refuse to take easy shots at Rauschenbusch. Their respectful responses are
models for all who read and attempt to offer critiques of theological works.
Changing times offer new insights that give contemporary readers some
advantage over pioneers who came before. At the same time, each seizes the
opportunity and directs attention to more work yet-to-be-done.
Phyllis
Trible applauds Rauschenbusch’s focus upon the Hebrew prophets and then
suggests that they, too, had blind spots. Tony Campolo confesses to being a
late-comer to the social gospel and expresses reserve about a Kingdom of God
theology that may eclipse a strong Christology. Sister Joan Chittister
praises the work of Rauschenbusch and hopes for a revival of his themes.
Surprisingly, Stanley Hauerwas applauds one of the last century’s most
“liberal” theologians. Cornel West is the most critical of the respondents
but with good cause since he comments upon Rauschenbusch’s analysis of “the
present crisis” a century ago. James Forbes, like Sister Joan, offers a
paean to Rauschenbusch’s legacy. Jim Wallis approaches West’s critical tone
by suggesting specific things Christians at the turn of the century should
be doing.
The
final thoughts from Richard Rorty–who was a grandson of Walter
Rauschenbusch–are sobering. Rorty was, by his own confession, an
“unbeliever” who still had hopes that the Church in history could have
effected social change in our world. His words, “Buds that Never Opened,”
may be read as a challenge to the Church to cultivate and water the seeds of
the Kingdom that Walter Rauschenbusch saw strewn throughout history.
Read
this book. Take up the conversations prompted by the array of interlocutors.
There remains work to be done in the name of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Table of Contents
|
|
In Response |
|
In Response to . . . :
The Associate Director of the Center for Baptist
Studies, Bruce previously served as a campus minister and professor of Church
History. In addition, he is an Internet entrepreneur and a photographer,
and is ABD in his doctoral studies in American History at Auburn University.
"Taking the Christ Out of
Christmas"
By Bruce T. Gourley
'Tis the season for many Christians to complain that Christmas is under siege
by a hostile, anti-Christian American culture.
Let's forget, for a
moment, that American Christians readily embrace the unbiblical consumerism
and materialism that characterizes the Christmas season. And, of course,
there is the slightly unsettling fact that the history of Christmas is rooted in an
ancient pagan celebration later co-opted by Christianity. These
annoyances aside, we should get upset that the religious aspect of Christmas
is sometimes downplayed by society, and when someone slights our faith, we
need to stand up and fight them. Right?
Christmas, after
all, should be a celebration of Jesus. And the Jesus of the Gospels
surely wrapped himself in a human body for the purpose of championing the pure
and undefiled among earth's inhabitants, condemning those of other faiths or
no faith, and calling down the wrath of God upon the pagan society that
characterized the Roman Empire. Thus by demanding that unbelieving
individuals and a pluralistic society bow to our wishes―or
else!―we honor the spirit of Jesus at Christmas.
Right?
As silly as it
sounds, that is exactly the message that popular Christendom is communicating
to American society: we demand our rights right now, and we'll stomp into the
ground any who stand in our way, all because we love Jesus and you don't.
Let's get real.
The biggest enemies of Christmas in modern America are those who claim the
name of Christ yet are wandering in a self-righteous wilderness, turning the Bread of Life
into stones and hurling holy rocks at unbelievers.
Is it possible that
somewhere this Christmas season, a follower of Christ will stand up and
champion equal rights for persons of other faiths or no faith in American
society? Is it possible that somewhere this Christmas season a local
Christian church will extend a hand of friendship to a nearby Hindu or Muslim
congregation? Is it possible that somewhere this Christmas season a
local newspaper's "Letters to the Editor" section will be spared the annual
chorus of complaints of "Christ" being taken out of Christmas?
This is the time of
year in which joy, hope, peace and love are celebrated in songs of faith and
the merriment of family and community gatherings. We are able to
celebrate the season because Jesus forsook his own heavenly rights and
joyfully came to live among and serve sin-ridden humanity. My hope this
Advent season is that somewhere in America, at least a few members of the
family called Christians, in addition to moving beyond the enticements of materialism and consumerism, will manage
to avoid the temptations of the wilderness of self-righteousness and instead
live as servants and light among their fellow human beings. Only then
will Christ remain in Christmas.
Visit Bruce's personal website.
Table of Contents
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Recommended Online Reading
for Informed Baptists
Compiled by Bruce Gourley
Shurden Feted at Mercer
Baptists Today Blog
Walter B. Shurden was recently honored by
Mercer University with a retirement dinner. John Pierce offers his
observations of the event.
Global Divisions Faced as Baptists Plan to Convene
by Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter, writing for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, offers his
thoughts on the upcoming New Baptist Covenant Celebration.
Religious Right Meltdown: More Fact Than Fiction
Media Transparency
Despite
rumblings in the traditional press about a religious right 'crackup,' key
conservative Christian organizations are bringing in 'more money than ever'
says Americans United for Separation of Church and State
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Dates to Note
January 30 - February 1, 2008, New Baptist
Covenant Celebration, Atlanta, Georgia. See advertisement above or
click here for
more information.
February 3, 2008, Martha Stearns Marshall
Preaching Day, sponsored by Baptist Women in Ministry.
Click here for
more information.
April 1-2, 2008, Urban Mission Workshop, McAfee
School of Theology, Atlanta, Georgia. Speakers include Rev. Joanna
Adams, Rev. Timothy McDonald, Rev. Tony Lankford and others. More
information is
available
online or by emailing Larry McSwain at
mcswain_LL@mercer.edu.
April 3, 2008, 25th Anniversary Celebration and
Judson-Rice Dinner honoring Walker Knight, Loudermilk Center, Downtown
Atlanta, 6:30 PM. Visit Baptists
Today online or call 1-877-752-5658 for more information.
May 22-24, 2008, Baptist History & Heritage
Society Annual Meeting, Mercer Atlanta campus. The theme is "Baptists
and First Amendment Issues." Visit
the BHHS website for more
information.
June 19-20, 2008, Annual Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship General Assembly, Memphis, Tennessee, Cook Convention Center.
Information
and registration.
July 16-19, 2008, British Baptist
Historical Society Centenary Conference, International Baptist Theological
Seminary, Prague. Theme: Baptists and the World: Renewing the Vision.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Bill Leonard. If you have a proposal for a short paper,
email Dr. Ian Randall at Randall@ibts.cz
by March 1, 2008. Click here for more
information and registration information.
If you know of a Baptist event that needs to be added to
this list, please
let us know. For a full calendar of Baptist events, visit the
Online Baptist Community Calendar.
Table Of Contents
|
|
| |
If
you do not wish to receive BSB any longer, please
Click Here to unsubscribe. |
