Baptist Battles
Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention
Since 1979 Southern Baptists have been noisily struggling to agree on symbols, beliefs, and practices as they attempt to make sense of their changing social world. Nancy Ammerman has carefully documented their struggle. She tells the story of the Baptist reversal from a moderate to a fundamentalist outlook and speculates on the future of the denomination.
Ammerman places change among the Southern Baptists in the context of the cultural and economic changes that have transformed the South from its rural past into an urbanizing, culturally diverse region. Not only did the South change; Southern Baptists did as well. Reflecting this diversity, the Southern Baptist bureaucracy was relatively progressive. During the 1960s and 1970s, moderate sentiments prevailed, while fundamentalists remained on the margins. These two were, however, becoming increasingly divergent in what they considered important about being a Baptist, in their views about the Bible, in their attitudes on the origination of women, on Christian morals, and on national politics.
Late in the 1970s, a fundamentalist coalition emerged, followed by unsuccessful efforts by moderates to oppose it. The battles escalated until 1985, when 45,000 Baptists gathered in Dallas to decide between contending presidential candidates. That dramatic event illustrated the extent to which organized political resources were determining the course of the conflict. Ammerman studies these strategies and resources as well.
Examining how this tension affected Baptists, Ammerman begins with case studies of the change it is producing in Baptist agencies. But she also brings us back to the local churches and individual believers who are renegotiating their relationships within their denomination. She asks whether the denomination’s polity can accommodate an increasingly diverse group of Baptists, of whether the only way dissidents can have a voice is through schism.
With unbending fairness, Ammerman provides a historical and sociological context to unfold the historical events and issues that have dramatically changed the shape of Southern Baptists. A benchmark study of a religious body in conflict, this work is a leading authority on the present status of Southern Baptists.
Nancy Ammerman knows... of the value and worth of the lives of people who operate in intact biblical-literal cultures... She takes their conflicts seriously and tells us, without hitting us over the head, that we will have them all wrong - to our peril - if we do not listen... Her narrative style is brisk, purposeful, and unadorned.
If only this sociological evaluation of Southern Baptist life could sell five million copies - Rutgers would be astonished, Ammerman would be basking at Club Med in Phuket, and I would be ecstatic... Every movement conservative in the Southern Baptist fellowship should purchase two copies of this book.
Ammerman explores the hurts and aspirations of both sides so evenhandedly that it may be difficult for all but the most die-hard partisans to guess which side is going to get the better seats in heaven.
Analyzes fully the processes of the Fundamentalist takeover and their struggles as they begin to govern. Probably the best study available.
A splendid account of a decade of controversy. This readable volume surely ranks as the indispensable contemporary sociohistorical introduction to Southern Baptists.
Preface to 1995 Edition
Preface to First Edition
1 The Baptist Battle in Dallas
2 From English Dissent to Southern Establishment
3 Organization, Growth, and Change: The Seeds of Controversy
4 Drawing the Battle Lines: Issues Separating Fundamentalists and Moderates
5 The Social Sources of Division
6 Mobilizing the Troops: Resources and Liabilities
7 The Tasks of Governing: Fundamentalists and the Southern Baptist Bureaucracy
8 Southern Baptists and the Future: Accommodation, Reconstruction, and Innovation
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Notes
References
Index
