American Baptist Convention Research Articles

Doing the Word: Southern Baptists' Carver School of Church Social Work and Its Predecessors, 1907–1997 by T. Laine Scales and Melody Maxwell

Reviewed by: Doing the Word: Southern Baptists' Carver School of Church Social Work and Its Predecessors, 1907–1997 by T. Laine Scales and Melody Maxwell Clara Delane Tew (bio) Doing the Word: Southern Baptists' Carver School of Church Social Work and Its Predecessors, 1907–1997. By T. Laine Scales and Melody Maxwell. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2019. Pp. ix, 243. $64.00 cloth) In Doing the Word, authors T. Laine Scales and Melody Maxwell do a masterful job of illuminating the story of a school that went from providing an education for a small group of young women, supported by a women's organization, to becoming a focus of strife in the conflict over control of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. The entities involved were the Woman's Missionary Union, the Auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention [End Page 657] (WMU), the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), and the Carver School of Church Social Work. The narrative follows the school's history from its beginnings in 1907, as the WMU Training School for Christian Workers in Louisville, Kentucky, for women desiring to serve as missionaries and in social ministries. The school continued to grow under the direction of WMU leaders such as Fannie E. S. Heck. In 1958, WMU transferred the control of the school to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), becoming part of the SBTS in 1963. By this time, the school was the Carver School of Missions and Social Work. Controversy arose in the SBC in the 1980s and 1990s, as a determined group of conservatives sought to take control of the SBC and its institutions from those whom they deemed liberals. This controversy hit the Carver School when newly elected SBTS president, Al Mohler, moved to eliminate professors who did not hold to conservative theological ideology, especially the precept that women should not serve as pastors. Conservatives challenged the field of social work itself, feeling that evangelism should be the focus of all Christian ministries. This led to the resignation of the Carver School dean, Diana Garland, and many of its professors. Eventually the seminary trustees transferred the school to Campbellsville College in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Diana Garland began teaching at Baylor University and would eventually see the creation of the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor. The book concludes with an interesting epilogue discussing the legacy of the Carver School. Outside the fields of WMU and SBC institutional history, the book will be useful to scholars studying female education, development of the social work profession, and Christian involvement in social ministry. Scales and Maxwell bring a wealth of knowledge to this topic, each having researched and written on WMU and the WMU Training School previously. An impressive list of primary sources supports the conclusions, including documents from a wide pool of WMU, SBC, SBTS and several Baptist university archives. The authors [End Page 658] strengthened the material with interviews of individuals involved with the school throughout time, covering all sides of the life of the institution. The authors deftly include secondary sources to situate the narrative in the surrounding history of the time. Deep feelings remain from the conservative takeover. This is especially true for the moderates who felt cast out from their denomination. Those involved as students or employees of Carver School at SBTS continue to mourn the school that once existed. Whereas Maxwell worked at WMU, and Scales was a student at Carver School in the 1980s, one might expect a biased approach to the history. However, except for a couple of instances, the authors succeed in providing readers a balanced view of the full history of the institution. They are to be commended. Clara Delane Tew CLARA DELANE TEW teaches history at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She has written numerous articles and chapters on WMU, SBC, and church history and is currently researching organizations connected with the American Baptist Convention, USA. Copyright © 2020 Kentucky Historical Society

The first nursing school of Guangxi in modern times

In 1903, the Sida Anniversary Hospital was established in Wuzhou, Guangxi, by the American Baptist Convention. In 1909, the head nurse Leonora Swrlett was sent to Wuzhou from USA to take charge of nursing work. Considering the lack of nursing staff, Leonora Swrlett established the Primary Vocational School of Nursing Affiliated to Guangxi Sida Hospital. As the beginning of women's medical education, the establishment of the Primary Vocational School of Nursing enriched the variety of education, and introduced advanced education modes and systems, which were of great value for establishing nursing schools and had huge influence on modernization of women's education in Guangxi.

Disability Advocacy in American Mainline Protestantism

SUMMARY This article provides a brief summary of the disability advocacy in seven American mainline Protestant denominations: the American Baptist Convention; Disciples of Christ; the Episcopal Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American, Presbyterian Church USA; the United Methodist Church; and the United Church of Christ. This history covers the various ministries to the disabled from the pre-1950 era to more recent events including the work of disability advocacy after denominational reorganization.

U.S. Protestant Missions in Cuba: From Independence to Castro

U.S. Protestant Missions in Cuba: From Independence to Castro

'Teach a man to fish' (Chinese proverb).

A number of commentaries have been published by physicians who have worked with Cambodian refugees. The dimensions of that human tragedy, sensationally, if tardily, emblazoned into our consciousness by the press last fall, elicited a remarkable and heartening response from the world community, a response that greatly alleviated the impact of the massive, acute starvation. Medical personnel from many countries participated in this effort. I was part of a team of two physicians and three nurses, sponsored by the American Baptist Convention, which served in Kamput, a small camp in southeast Thailand. Following are a few personal reflections on this uniquely moving experience. We arrived in Kamput in early January 1980 after the horrendous death rate due to acute starvation had abated. Some sequelae of malnutrition persisted among the Khmer Rouge who populated Kamput, but its most devastating impact was apparent only when the population pyramid of the survivors

THE TOWN AND COUNTRY CHURCH: VALID, VITAL, VICTORIOUS

International Review of MissionVolume 58, Issue 230 p. 165-171 THE TOWN AND COUNTRY CHURCH: VALID, VITAL, VICTORIOUS Paul O. Madsen, Dr Madsen is Associate Executive Secretary, American Baptist Home Mission Societies. This article has been adapted from his address delivered at the Town and Country Breakfast, The American Baptist Convention, at Boston, Mass., on June 1, 1968.Search for more papers by this author Paul O. Madsen, Dr Madsen is Associate Executive Secretary, American Baptist Home Mission Societies. This article has been adapted from his address delivered at the Town and Country Breakfast, The American Baptist Convention, at Boston, Mass., on June 1, 1968.Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1969 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1969.tb03464.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume58, Issue230April 1969Pages 165-171 RelatedInformation

Southern Baptists in the North: Movement from Sect to Church?

This paper examines one aspect of sect-to-church transition in a major Protestant denomination. Very early in the use of the concepts sect and church as ideal types of religious organizations, Troeltsch (1960) maintained that sects might be in transition toward organizations of churchly character. Pope (1942) found that surviving sects move increasingly toward the church-type, and Becker (1961) attempted to conceptualize the intermediary sect-church organization as a denomination. Weber (1947), among others, used the Baptists as an illustration of a sect group. Most contemporary observers of the United States, however, would suggest that Baptist groups are in varying degrees well on the road to form. The American Baptist Convention is perhaps most advanced while Independent and Regular Baptists remain more sectarian. Somewhat intermediate is the Southern Baptist Convention. It is the largest single religious grouping within American Protestantism, composed of over 32,000 congregations with over 10 million members. The congregational autonomy of Southern Baptists results in a great deal of diversity in which particular congregations may be sectarian in character while others are very churchly. Overall, most observers would concede that the Convention has moved considerably away from sectarianism. The Southern Baptists were originally confined to the 15 southern states. Migration out of the South prior, during, and after World War II presented a significant problem to officials. Not content with this loss of members and perhaps desiring to increase the geographical limits of the denomination, the Convention established a Pioneer to follow this migration. As a result of this Mission, hundreds of small religious groups have subsequently been established in the North and West. The Mission has had important implications for the movement of the Convention from sect to church. While the launching of the Mission was a denominational decision, the Mission itself was seen by some as a means of maintaining sectarian exclusiveness-to retain members who had migrated and, by this, to keep them from moving into other religious groups, Baptist or otherwise. On the other hand, the Mission

U.S.A.: American Baptist Convention

U.S.A.: American Baptist Convention

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: a Social Cast Study of the American Baptist Convention. By Paul M. Harrison. Pp. xx + 248. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959. 40s.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: a Social Cast Study of the American Baptist Convention. By Paul M. Harrison. Pp. xx + 248. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959. 40s. - Volume 13 Issue 2

A Catalogue of Church‐State Problems1

1Delivered before the Annual Assembly on Christian Social Progress, American Baptist Convention, Green Lake, Wisconsin, August 23, 1960.

The Forthcoming Role of the Non-Christian Religious Systems as Contributory to Christian Theology

The author of this article, the Rev. Herbert C. Jackson, Ph.D., will on July 1, 1961, become the new Director of the Missionary Research Library (see MRL News). Dr. Jackson is now Professor of Comparative Religion and Missions and Chairman of the Historical Division, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. He studied at William Jewell College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at Yale University. He is an ordained minister of the American Baptist Convention and served as a missionary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in India for six years. Recently he spent a year on faculty fellowship, studying at the University of Ceylon and travelling throughout Asia. Professor Jackson has taught missions at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary since 1954. He is a member of the North American Advisory Committee of the International Missionary Council. Dr. Jackson's stimulating study of the relation of non-Christian religious systems to Christian theology was given as an address at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in September, 1960. - Ed.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention. By Paul M. Harrison. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1959. 248 pp. $5.00.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention. By Paul M. Harrison. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1959. 248 pp. $5.00. - Volume 29 Issue 3

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention.Paul M. Harrison

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAuthority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention. Paul M. Harrison Imogen SegerImogen Seger Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 65, Number 6May, 1960 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/222804 Views: 1Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Policies and Rationale Underlying the Support of Colleges Maintained by the Baptist Denomination

Twenty-four Baptist institutions located in the Southern states make some contribution to the education of the denominational constituency. These institutions, however, are interdenominational in student body and faculty. They fall into two main categoriesstandard and substandard. The standard or stronger colleges are those related to the American Baptist Convention and receive some support from that source. The colleges related to the American Baptist Convention are those that have received recognition by the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, three of whichMorehouse, Spelman, and Virginia Union University-have been admitted to full membership in the Association. The other four are on probation because of failure to meet one or more requirements. The colleges are located as follows: Benedict College, Columbia, S. C.; Bishop College, Marshall, Texas; Florida Normal and Industrial College, St. Augustine, Fla.; Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga.; Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C.; Spelman College, Atlanta, Ga.; and Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va. American Baptists through their Home Mission Society provided most of the operating expenses of these colleges over a period of more than sixty years. Later, when the schools had some endowment which was held for them by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, special grants and loans were made in addition to the income from endowment. In the meantime some of the institutions were gradually moving toward the stature of educational institutions rather than remaining purely missionary projects.

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention

Authority and Power in the Free Church Tradition: A Social Case Study of the American Baptist Convention

The Furnishings of a Healthy Mind

I am happy, as a past president of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and as the current president of the American Baptist Convention, to bring greetings and congratulations to Virginia Union University on the occasion of this significant academic convocation. American Baptists are proud of the record of this university. I am not a stranger to this campus. During the brief time I was a pastor in this city, I was a frequent visitor to this school, and on several occasions was inflicted on the students as a chapel speaker. I am proud, too, of the concern the American Baptist Home Mission Society has shown through the years for Negro education, particularly the Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society. Such names as Spelman, Morehouse, Shaw, Benedict, Florida Institute, Selma, Virginia Union and others bring a thrill of pride to American Baptists whenever they are mentioned, because they have had a part in the founding and in the history of these schools. I am proud also to have had some connection with Storer College which unhappily, for the time being at least, has had to be closed, but through my association with its board of trustees, I have been made somewhat conversant with the problems Negro education faces in our day.