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Baptists in
the South and |
Addressing the Problem of A Secondary Objective?
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Baptists in
the South and |
Addressing the Problem of A Secondary Objective?
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Addressing the Problem of Baptists and the Civil War Very little has been written concerning Baptists (of any variety) in the South and the Civil War, whether from a top-down level or a bottom-up level. Indeed, the absence of an introductory volume concerning the largest Baptist and most influential Baptist group (Southern Baptists) and the Civil War is evidence of the dearth of works in this field of study. From my research, my inclination is to posit the writing of an introduction to Southern Baptists and the Civil War as a way to open the larger topic of Baptists and the Civil War to further public interest in general and academic scrutiny in particular. The writing of such a volume, however, does present some notable challenges: 1) The challenge of researching the six spheres of Baptist life across the thirteen states which comprised the Confederate States of America (see Research Matrix). 2) The challenge of writing the story of Southern Baptists and the Civil War in such a way that it resonates with both the Baptist community (academically and at large) and the Civil War academic community.
A Possible Solution Of the six spheres of Southern Baptist life, the first three (National, State and Associational) can feasibly be researched through archives. On the National level, SBC annuals represent the primary sources, and are readily accessible in many archives. On the State level, state annual minutes and state Baptist news publications represent the primary sources, and are readily accessible, although scattered throughout the South in some cases. On the Associational level, the primary resources are represented via minutes of associational meetings, and are of greater volume, but more fragmented in terms of existence and location. The last three spheres of Southern Baptist life (Local Church, Ministers, and Laypersons) pose the greater difficulty. In terms of local churches, the number of churches (in the thousands), the great bulk of potential material and the widespread and varied location of said material would prohibit a thorough, comprehensive analysis throughout the entirety of the states which comprised the Confederate States of America. In terms of individual ministers and laypersons, some primary resources (such as diaries, journals, autobiographies and other notations) are also numerous and widespread, hindering a south-wide comprehensive analysis, while others (such as letters, sermons and articles published in the various Baptist denominational publications of the Civil War era) are more readily accessible . Accordingly, an introduction to Southern Baptists and the Civil War would need to be weighed heavily towards the National, State and Associational spheres of Southern Baptist life, albeit insights from the Local Church, Ministers and Laypersons spheres would also be necessitated in a limited, systematic manner representative of the whole, as much as possible. This necessary approach, in turn, presents the challenge of crafting an essentially institutional history of Southern Baptists and the Civil War in such a way as to accurately reflect and resonate with Southern Baptists as a people and the Civil War as a pivotal era in American history. In order to address this challenge, one must first determine how to best broadly approach the subject matter: from the perspective of Southern Baptists as a people of faith, from the perspective of the battlefield, from the perspective of Southern culture, or in some other manner. Since Southern Baptists are the foremost focus of this proposed dissertation, the former option seems to be the natural approach, as such a work would be an attempt to view the Civil War through the prism of Southern Baptist thought, word, action and reaction. Next, a systematic vehicle must be employed in order to examine the Civil War through the lens of Southern Baptists. This vehicle must be academically sound yet reflective of the uniqueness of Southern Baptists on both the institutional and individual level. Following is my initial proposal of just such a vehicle, presented in brief outline form, and subject to revision: SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND THE CIVIL WAR I. Southern Baptist Prejudices and the Civil War (An Analysis of
the Presence and Growth of Each As II. Southern Baptist Distinctives and the Civil
War IV. Conclusion (How the Civil War Changed and / or Reinforced
Southern Baptists as an Institution and a The above outline, as I envision it, would serve to thoroughly analyze Southern Baptists and the Civil War from the National, State and Associational level, while providing prioritized and focused, but manageable, representative insight on the Local Church, Minister and Layperson level. Furthermore, it would provide an overall framework for further academic exploration of Southern Baptists on the Local Church, Minister and Layperson level during the Civil War era. |
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Secondary Objective? Pursuing the topic of Southern Baptists and the Civil War as outlined above would entail a considerable amount of research in archives throughout the South. As such, a byproduct of this effort could be the compilation of a "Sourcebook" for Baptists and the Civil War, whether published electronically or in hardcopy, a compilation which could further assist in the academic exploration of Baptists in general and the Civil War. Leon McBeth's, A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1990), is the model which I have in mind, in terms of format. |
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