Yes, I'm still here...Made it thru the New Year...Planning to be back on schedule soon...

All,

I've had an incredible time off during these last several weeks. Being with the family during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years remains a refreshing experience to both body and soul. How grateful to our Lord I am I can hardly express!   >>>

Aside from the much needed time with family, I've done lots of thinking about both the history of my literary musings at SBC Tomorrow as well as the future. I'm putting together some conclusions I've come to embrace, conclusions a summary of which I'll share later. Suffice it for now to simply say I intend to refocus my literary energies back toward the original purpose of this blog I imagined in 2006--a site for historical-theological resources reflecting the rich heritage of the Christian people known as Southern Baptists.

Particularly, I'll typically cite sources which lean heavily on non-Calvinistic or modified Calvinistic theological parameters not because I'm either ignorant, unaware, or even unappreciative of the robust  Calvinistic presence within our ecclesial history. Often I've made known my awareness of the strong Calvinism of Southern Baptists' first writing theologians--Dagg, Boyce, and Mell among others. Too, I've expressed my genuine concern over anyone  denying strong Calvinism's striking presence and undeniable influence in all things Southern Baptist at the very beginning. Frankly, it seems to me one can hardly read Baptist history on any level and honestly come away denying Calvinists a hefty limb on our family tree. On the other hand, to insist strong Calvinism--systematic Calvinism--historically constituted the non-negotiable core of Baptist faith--particularly Southern Baptists' confessional faith--is just as jaundiced an historical trajectory as denying strict Calvinism an influential presence in our conventional-confessional heritage.

The truth is, along with Jeter, Johnson, Dagg, Boyce, Manly, Williams, Mercer, and Mell among others must be added Broaddus, Brantley, Dargan, Mullins, Robertson, Carroll, Cody, Scarborough, and Conner among others. To insist either "side" of the Calvinist/non-Calvinist divide to be the official "orthodox" or "historic" stance of Southern Baptists flies in the face of the historical record, camouflages our colorful Baptist heritage, and in the end becomes nothing less than historical reductionism, a scandalous sort of scissors and paste approach to history. While I claim no professional credentials in doing history, I know enough to realize doing history is a messy enterprise. Rarely is it a neat, tidy, and conclusive piece of fabric without dangling threads with which to contend. Especially is this so pertaining to the free church tradition among which Baptists arguably remain historically the substantial majority.             

Hence, I typically focus on the lessor "Reformed" sources because:

• a) the lessor "Reformed" reflects my personal theological sympathies;
• b) the lessor "Reformed" reflects the theological sympathies of the vast majority of other Southern Baptists today;
• c) there presently exists an overwhelming number of sites catering to Southern Baptists which are decidedly and strongly Calvinistic (hence, my site serves as a counter-balance to reflect Southern Baptists' broad, rich theological heritage);
• d) very few other sites which cater especially to Southern Baptists exploit the same sources as do I

I hope this assists the reader to understand better why we do what we do here. I'll share more about my blogging journey thus far in a later piece. 

 

Comments

[David R. Brumbelow]

I look forward to these future articles.
David R. Brumbelow