J. L. Dagg, Southern Baptist Theologian: An Interview

John Leadley Dagg was perhaps the leading theologian among Baptists in the south during the second half of the nineteenth century  >>>

And that so,  even though he was far from the leading intellect among southern theologians.  James Boyce, for example, could be considered, compared to Dagg, the brighter star among Baptists in the south.  Boyce's Abstract of Systematic Theology, available in print and online, engaged both sophisticated theological questions as well as the theologians themselves. 

Dagg, by contrast, quoted few, if any, theologians of repute; he simply rehearsed Scripture the way he saw it.  Perhaps that more than any other single reason stands indicative of his popularity among the masses.  An educated pulpit still remained a luxury at that time.

Dagg was pastor for almost a decade at the prestigious Fifth Baptist Church of Philadelphia before throat and vocal chord damage forced him into early retirement from preaching.  In 1836, Dagg traveled to Alabama where he served as President of the Alabama Female Athenaeum in Tuscaloosa eight years, and from there, staid his eyes on Penfield, GA to eventually lead Mercer University to historic success as both President and Professor of Theology before retiring in 1855.  His final years of life were given to writing, fortunately of which, much remains today.  He penned the first systematic theology written by and for Southern Baptists. 

By far, however, his greater contribution was his Treatise on Church Order, a lengthy manual of a nineteenth century Baptist understanding on the Doctrine of the Church. A lessor known work--nonetheless, a shameful, embarrassing one--is entitled The Elements of Moral Science.  In it, Dagg must get the darkest award among Baptist heroes of the south for the last written defense of southern slavery. 

I hold great appreciation for John L. Dagg.  But his views on slavery--though admittedly, a well-received view at that time--must repulse all Southern Baptists today.

Below is part one of a fictitious interview with Dagg, containing a particular focus on his ecclesiology.   I hope the format is helpful.  Perhaps I can offer others in the future.  Note, I reference Dagg's response by the page number in his "Treatise on Church Order."  Let's begin:

Peter:  Good evening, Mr. Dagg.  Thank you for allowing me the honor of speaking with you on such short notice.

Dagg:  You are quite welcome, my young friend.  I will attempt to answer your questions if I can.  Most of my beliefs concerning Church Order are in my manual which you stated you have read.  Know though that I sense new questions being asked today pertaining to the nature of Christ's Church, specifically concerning her Apostolic succession...Landmark, they call it.

Peter:  We'll surely get around to that, I trust.  I wanted to begin, if you don't mind, Mr. Dagg, with your interest in Church Order.  Why is it so important?

Mr. Dagg:  I was converted as a young boy at age fifteen.*  And though religion was not a vital part of my home-life, I was surrounded by Presbyterians on all sides.  My Mother was raised a Presbyterian but wasn't converted but a few years before I was. 

The first thing I was thrust into because of that was the teaching of Infant Baptism.  I went through, what I believed at the time, was an exhaustive study, finally concluding that Infant Baptism was not a New Testament practice.  As a result, I was baptized by immersion in 1812 by the Pastor of  Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rev. William Fristoe.  I look back now and see while I did not really study Infant Baptism exhaustively, I nevertheless came to a valid and proper conclusion anyway.

Peter:  Without a doubt, the largest portion of your manual on the Church pertains to Baptism.  If you could name one or two things, Mr. Dagg, that you consider the fatal blow to Infant Baptism, what would you say?

Mr. Dagg:  We have seen that the commission which Christ gave to his apostles, instituted baptism as an ordinance to be observed by his disciples to the end of the world. It becomes important, therefore, to ascertain the meaning of the word "baptizing," by which this duty is enjoined.  Thus, since the word translated "baptizing" is a participle of the Greek verb baptizo, our present inquiry is, what does this Greek verb mean?

Now, in the ordinary process of translating the writings of a Greek author, when we wish to ascertain the meaning of some word that he uses, we satisfy ourselves, for the most part, by consulting a Greek lexicon. 

Also, the laws of interpretation require us to take the primary signification of words, unless there be something in the context, or nature of the subject, inconsistent with this signification.  As there is no such difficulty in the present instance, our first decision, if we follow the lexicons, must be in favor of the sense to immerse (p.21). 

I would add to that, no trace of Infant Baptism can be found previous to the time of Justin Martyr.  That's universally accepted.  Couple such with the absence of Infant Baptism in the Bible where only those were Baptized who gave credible professions of faith, and one can safely conclude against Infant Baptism (p.200). 

Peter:  That brings us to an interesting question, Mr. Dagg:  Who, then should we baptize?

Mr. Dagg:  Those only are proper subjects of baptism who repent of sin and believe in Christ (p.68).  "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them."  In executing the commission, the Apostles and their fellow laborers required repentance and faith as qualifications for baptism (p.69).   

Peter:  And the design, then? 

Mr. Dagg:  You mean of baptism? 

Peter:  Yes.  What was its design? 

Mr. Dagg:  Well, in short, baptism was designed to be the ceremony of Christian profession, whose duty it became for Christ's followers to propagate the religion of Christ to the whole world.  The profession of renouncing the world and devoting ourselves to Christ could have been in mere words alone, that is true.   

But God judged better to give us a formal and significant act appointed for this specific purpose.  That act is baptism.  The immersion of the body signifies our burial with Christ; and in emerging from water, we enter on a new life.  We put off the old man and put on the new.  That said, none but baptized persons can be admitted to Church membership (p.70-73). 

Peter:  Does the New Testament teach a regenerate Church membership?   

Mr. Dagg:  Actually, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit, do you not think? 

Peter:  What do you mean? 

Mr. Dagg:  Before we can legitimately speak of Church membership, we must first, do you not agree, speak of the Church, her nature, what constitutes a New Testament Church, etc? 

Peter:  I think you've got a very good point, Mr. Dagg.  Let's break for an evening cup of Old Whaler's blend** and an Ellijay fried apple pie.  Afterward, we shall pick this conversation up.

Mr. Dagg:  Let's. 

With that, I am...

Peter

* The biographical data is taken from the helpful entry on Dagg by Mark Dever in "Baptist Theologians."

**Old Whaler's blend is a delicious bean mixture created by San Francisco Coffee Roasters, Atlanta, GA

Comments

[Benji Ramsaur]

Peter,

I hope you are doing well.

Funny you should bring up Mr. Dagg. It was not long ago when I was reading both him and Gill in the area of ecclesiology.

I liked reading both of them and comparing what each had to say on different topics.

I hope you will ask Mr. Dagg about ministerial succession.

In Christ

Benji

[Tim G]

This is good stuff. I like the approach and I like the topic and yes I like the position of the topic.

[Byroniac]

I especially like the part concerning infant baptism.

[volfan007]

boy, dagg sure looks happy in his photo, does he not? reminds me of dracula.

david

[Byroniac]

Every good dead theologian probably would. ;)

[Byroniac]

I remember reading that the issue of slavery was one of the primary reasons for the founding of the SBC. The SBC itself then was in general agreement in favor of the practice. Fortunately, this is not the case today, as the SBC has disavowed its old position and publicly apologized for it. Personally, I do not see slavery as forbidden by the Scriptures, but I believe that it is antithetical to the freedom given in Christ among Christian brethren, and I would like to think that wherever Christianity is, slavery should be minimized or completely abolished due to the compassion and mercy of Christian souls.

[Richard Coords]

I'd hate to meet that guy in a dark alley. Did he not have any happy photos?

[Bob Cleveland]

Just checked your website and I particularly like the separate blogroll page. You might want to note, thought, that Emily Hunter spells her last name McGowIn.

Figured you'd want to correct that.

[Joe Stewart]

Fascinating, when do you think the interview might continue?