Christian Book Notes

Wills, Gregory A.  Democratic Religion: Freedom, Authority, and Church Discipline in the Baptist South 1785-1900.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.  208 pp.  $35.00.  Purchase at Amazon for $28.50 or less.

Introduction

Recently, Gregory A. Wills, Professor of Church History at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote an excellent volume on the history of the aforementioned seminary (you can read my review here).  Twelve years prior to the publishing of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859-2009, Dr. Wills wrote Democratic Religion.  In this volume, he looked at church ecclesiology (government) in the Baptist South from 1785-1900.

Summary

Wills intentionally has kept his research centered on the Baptist South.  Specifically, the state of Georgia near the east coast (think Savannah).  The main thrust of this book is to take a look at how Southern Baptist churches governed themselves apart from local and federal governments.  Using primary source material, Wills portrays a seemingly harsh government within the local church while detailing how everything done was supported by Scripture.

He looks at the authority of the church in the lives of the men and women in the congregation.  Women and slaves were granted voting privileges in many cases involving matters of fellowship and egregious sinful behavior.  More often than not; however, it was the white males who were on the wrong side of the church discipline. (Yes, many were disciplined over dancing!)

In an interesting few chapters, Wills looks at the essential doctrines of the faith to include soteriological (matters of salvation) Calvinism.  If anything, Southern Baptists were a creedal denomination.  The creeds were often used as a means of implementing church discipline.  However, towards the end of the 19th century, the democratic religion that was known as the Baptists of the South began to change.  It is a fascinating study of not only Baptist history, but American history as well.

Review

I appreciated the primary resources used in the research of this book.  Not only was the story accurately and descriptively told of the first 150 years (if you will) of the Southern Baptists, but it was well researched and not dry! I found it refreshing to read about how joining a church was a big deal in the community because of their democratic nature in matters of discipline within the congregation.  Oh, that we would return to biblical church discipline in our churches today!

What I found to be most appealing about Democratic Religion is that Wills does not hide anything from the reader.  He shows the churches in their good times and their bad times.  He does not shy away from controversial issues that would today be frowned upon while also showing how everything the churches did was rooted in the Bible–something that unfortunately cannot be said as much today as it was then.

Recommendation

To read Democratic Religion is to gain a keen insight into Baptistic ecclesiological roots.  To go back in time and understand how joining a Southern Baptist church was such a big deal to the community whereas today it is perhaps the easiest thing to do.  Wills has done a major service to the Southern Baptist denomination by writing this book.  It is my hope that those who want to know more about Southern Baptist beginnings would look to Democratic Religion as an excellent starting point.