Majority of Baptist churches in United States in 1894 held to "evangelical anti-Augustinianism"

"Calvinistic and Arminian Baptists have both had periods of extreme development, the former sometimes scarcely escaping fatalism and antinomianism, the latter sometimes falling into Socinian denial of the deity of Christ and Pelagian denial of original sin. The great majority of the Baptists of today hold to what may be called moderate Calvinism, or Calvinism tempered with the evangelical anti-Augustinianism which came through the Moravian Brethren to Wesley and by him was brought powerfully to bear on all bodies of evangelical Christians"

A. H. Newman, A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States. 1894. p.17

Comments

[Lydia]

What an interesting gem to uncover.

[Scott Shaver]

Definitely makes on long for "the good old days".

Wonder how Tom Nettles and his "Founders" brethren overlooked this in their unbiased history of the SBC.

[Scott Shaver]

If Southern Baptists continue to represent their history (which I seriously doubt) then the "neo-calvinism" will wane as it always has in history, expecially over here in the West.

If it couldn't take full root post Civil War in the hearts of American christians, don't give it a snowballs chance over time in the contemporary environment. Mohler and others will drop off the scene like all before them (with or without changing locks on office).

The backlash against hyper-calvinism is steadily growing among church members.

[Max]

Scott wrote "If it couldn't take full root post Civil War in the hearts of American christians, don't give it a snowballs chance over time in the contemporary environment. Mohler and others will drop off the scene like all before them (with or without changing locks on office)."

Agreed. Sadly, though, by the time New Calvinism fizzles, Dr. Mohler and colleagues will have already taken the SBC to its knees ... hmmm, not a bad place to be! When the reformed dust settles, perhaps the millions of non-Calvinist Southern Baptists will humble themselves, pray, repent, turn from their wicked ways, seek God's face, and get back on mission.

As you note, within a few years following the Civil War, Baptists in the South were distancing themselves from the Calvinist God that did not support their position on slavery. When Civil War early victories by the South turned to defeat, reformed butts and elbows were seen scurrying out of Southern Baptist churches. Hopefully, the war helped them to realize just how sinful their slave-holding ways were. Those that remained quickly distanced themselves from the theology and distorted view of God's sovereignty they thought would back them up when the bullets started flying. The "Whosoever Wills" began to outnumber the "Elected Ones" in SBC ranks and continued that way ... until New Calvinism came along, causing a once-great denomination to go around the mountain again.

[Scott Shaver]

I agree Max.

Find it humorous, if not alarming, that revisionists of Southern Baptist history these days try to draw geographic demarcation lines between the North and South in terms of the "spiritual disease" that tolerated slavery in the U.S. pre-civil war.

Historical fact is the racial bigotry, often fueled by religious doctrine, was equally abhorrent both north and south of the Mason-Dixon line and across denominational sub-cultures.

The North cried "GOD is on our side".

The South cried "GOD is on our side."

I can imagine God saying: "I've never taken sides with the BLINDNESS of MAN."

[James]

Max and Scott-
Not on Mission? The Southern Baptist do more with missions, evangelism, and meeting the needs of those needing help than any other denomination. While I am not in a Southern Baptist church I must side with them when I hear comments such as yours. Unfortunately I find Calvanists throwing their intellectual darts the norm instead of joining in and helping in the fields white with harvest.