A Brief Biography of J. Louis Guthrie

“For Preachers and Christian Workers”: a Biography of Jeremiah Louis Guthrie

Beginnings

Jeremiah Louis Guthrie was born May 20, 1877 in Appanoose County, Iowa. He is the son of Creed T. Guthrie (1848-1928) and Emily Jane Evans (1848-1920). Guthrie was initially educated in the rural schools of Seymour, Wayne County, Iowa. His higher education includes:[i]

• 1902, Bachelor of Oratory Degree from the Chillicothe Normal School, Chillicothe, Missouri[ii]
• 1902, Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Chillicothe Normal School, Chillicothe, Missouri[iii]
• 1911, Bachelor of Arts Degree from William Jewel College, Liberty, Missouri
• 1916, Master of Arts Degree from William Jewel College, Liberty, Missouri (Greek & Latin)
• 1933, Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Peoples National University, Atlanta, Georgia (later called Webster University)[iv]

J. Louis Guthrie was a preacher, but he is remembered primarily as an educator. He taught school in Iowa from 1895 to 1899, when he then enrolled in the Chillicothe Normal School and Business Institute in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri. He taught in public schools in Missouri, and then served as Professor of Elocution and Oratory at the Chillicothe Normal School 1904-05. He removed to and studied at William Jewell College from 1906-11.[v] In 1907-11, he was a student teacher at William Jewell College, as well as the business manager of the Glee Club (1906-07). His career track followed with teaching at Union University, Jackson, Tennessee, 1911-13; President of Laneview College, Laneview, Gibson County, Tennessee, 1913-15; teaching at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma, 1915-1926; and President of Caledonia Baptist Academy, Caledonia, Union County Arkansas, 1926-28.[vi] Guthrie participated in band in most of these institutions, including “leader of the college band in the Oklahoma Baptist University.”[vii] 

Guthrie attended, worked at, and participated in Southern Baptist Convention institutions until 1932. “In 1932 the Guthrie family became members of the Liberty Baptist Church in Shawnee, thereby breaking affiliation with Southern Baptist work and beginning affiliation with Missionary Baptist Churches.”[viii] He served as state missionary of the Baptist General Association of Oklahoma in 1933, as well as an associate editor of the Oklahoma Missionary Baptist.[ix] “While he participated in helping many colleges and conducted ‘Bible Schools’ in various churches, his crowning endeavor was what is now the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock (begun in 1934). Its first president was J. Louis Guthrie, Ph.D., who knew seven languages and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible.”[x] “The need for a sustainable, credible Bible School moved the church to call Dr. J. Louis Guthrie, a Baptist preacher and educator, to serve as the founding President. Dr. Ben Bogard, the pastor of the church, and Dr. C. N. Glover of Sheridan, with Dr. Guthrie organized the seminary to give affordable yet excellent Bible teaching and ministerial training.”[xi] From 1934 until his death in 1945, Guthrie served as President of the Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock.[xii]

Union University, faculty picture, 1912

American Baptist Association

There was a great deal of upheaval in Oklahoma Baptist life in the 2rd and 3rd decades of the 20th century. Perhaps this created the atmosphere in which Guthrie left Oklahoma Baptist University. There is a newspaper record that he filed a civil case for damages against the Oklahoma Baptist University in 1926.[xiii] How that was resolved is unknown to this author. Along with other Missionary Baptists, he participated for a time with the Orthodox Baptist Fellowship, guided by former OBU teacher W. Lee Rector.[xiv] Nevertheless, he seems to have passionately settled in to the work of the American Baptist Association. Known pastorates of Guthrie include North Baptist Church, Shawnee, Oklahoma; Clayton Avenue Baptist Church, Hugo, Oklahoma; and First Baptist Church, Nash, Oklahoma. J. Louis Guthrie produced at least the following works:

• The Didache of the Twelve Apostles, Or, The First Church Manual Ever Written (translator, editor), Little Rock: J. Louis Guthrie, 1938
• Acts 2:38 and the Greek Preposition “Eis” Translated, Explained, and Exposed, Little Rock: J. Louis Guthrie, 1940
• A Short History of the Baptismal Salvation Heresy, Little Rock: J. Louis Guthrie, 1940[xv]
• The Bible in 8 Periods, Little Rock: J. Louis Guthrie, 1940[xvi]
• Creation of the Heavens and the Earth, Little Rock, AR: M. B. I. Printery, 1943
• Christ in Creation, Texarkana, TX: Seminary Publications, 1975[xvii]

No doubt there are other writings by Guthrie that this writer has not located. Through his ministry at the Missionary Baptist Seminary of Little Rock, Guthrie exerted influence on the theology of Missionary Baptists. For example, Tom McElmurry writes that the “Gap Theory” of creation “entered our ranks largely through the brilliant, fertile mind of Dr. J. Louis Guthrie.”[xviii] Further, he influenced Missionary Baptist Bible schools, institutes, and seminaries to follow a curriculum based upon a study of the Bible in the original languages. With his booklet Acts 2:38 and the Greek Preposition “Eis”, he engaged the baptism debate with the churches of Christ (Stone-Campbell movement). By producing a translation from the Greek, he introduced an early church document, the Didache, to Missionary Baptists. J. Louis Guthrie promoted an idea of church-sponsored religious education with seminary as a religious rather than secular institution. He wrote:

“This school [at Antioch MBC in Little Rock] must serve a definite purpose and that purpose to be entirely for preachers and Christian workers. Anything that might be worldly in its plans and programs or that might be seized on by any self-seeking individual to further his own interests is to be left out of consideration in the establishment of this school. And further, anything that can be seized on by the secular school systems of state or denominations shall be left entirely out of consideration in this school.”[xix]

The Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock continues to operate on the pattern established by J. Louis Guthrie, Ben M. Bogard, and C. N. Glover in 1934. The majority of the students of the school come from Missionary Baptist churches in Arkansas, but the student body also includes people from other states and foreign countries.

Early in his ministry, Guthrie advanced the need of strong missionary work in destitute towns in Missouri, urging Baptist people to “organize forces…and ‘lift high his royal banner,’ and conquer these places for Jesus.” He continues:

“I saw pitiful sights in Eliott. Young women in their teens watching a Sunday baseball game and yelling, waving parasols and handkerchiefs like savages; children that ought to have been in Sunday school running in the streets and learning to profane God’s holy day. I was impressed and cannot soon forget this terrible Sabbath-breaking, heathenish recreation which men take is damning their souls to everlasting perdition.”[xx]

The Missionary Baptist Seminary in Little Rock named the Guthrie Memorial Building in honor of the Guthries. Built in 1979, it houses the Bogard Memorial Chapel, the Glover Memorial Library, as well as faculty offices and classrooms.[xxi]

Guthrie taught a threefold salvation. In the resurrection, he writes, “Salvation is now full in us and we have become triunely sanctified in the fullest sense. Spiritually at the new birth, mentally at the full stature of the growth to the image of the Son of god, and physically, when our bodies have become fashioned after the image of his glorious body as he is now resurrected.” (“Salvation and Bible Holiness,” The Oklahoma Missionary Baptist, Wednesday, November 1, 1933, p. 2)

Family

Jeremiah Louis Guthrie married Zula Neal, daughter of Matthew Henry Neal Mary Ann Irons of Randolph County, Missouri. He and Zula married on December 24, 1903 in Randolph County. Zula taught English at the Seminary in Little Rock. The Guthries had five children, Mattie Louise, Emily Ruth, Wesley Neal, Jeremiah Louis Jr, and Zula Frances. J. Louis Guthrie died April 18, 1945 in a Little Rock hospital at age 67.[xxii] Zula Guthrie died April 30, 1962 Arkansas Baptist Hospital in Little Rock at age 80. They are buried at the Roselawn Memorial Park, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas.>[xxiii]

The Guthries’ son-in-law Malcolm McGregor Hagood was a Southern Baptist pastor, as well as a U. S. Air Force Chaplain for 20 years. He married Mattie Louise in 1934 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Emily Ruth taught school. Wesley was a baker. Jerry (Jeremiah Jr.) was a grocer. Louis Dayle Capell married Zula Frances Guthrie on October 25, 1938 in Little Rock, with her father officiating. Capell, a Missionary Baptist preacher, served as Dean of Students for the Missionary Baptist Seminary from 1946 to 1988, as well as editor of the Missionary Baptist Searchlight.[xxiv] [xxv]

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[i] The dates on his degrees from Chillicothe differ in the brief bio in the Missionary Baptist Seminary General Catalog (p. 8), which says, “He received the Bachelor of Oratory Degree from the Chillicothe Normal School, Chillicothe, Missouri, in 1898 or 1899, and the Bachelor of Arts Degree from the same college one year later.”
[ii] https://www.chillicothecity.org/community/our-local-history-grand-river-museum/pages/old-chillicothe-business-college “At one time, the college was considered a pioneer in the field of teacher training.”
[iii] B. Pd. and B. O., 1902 from Chillicothe Normal School, according to “The Faculty of O. B. U.,” The Shawnee Daily News-Herald, Thursday, August 31, 1916, page 2. It is not clear to me what the “B. Pd.” is.
[iv] “His dissertation topic was ‘The Place of Jesus Christ in Creation.’” MBS General Catalog, page 8.
[v] Liberty in Clay County is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Members of the Missouri Baptist General Association founded William Jewell College in 1849.
[vi] Caledonia Academy was chartered in 1920, and opened in September 1920. It was a high school and junior college.
[vii] “Faculty of Oklahoma Baptist University Has Been Completed,” The Shawnee Daily News-Herald, Sunday, August 8, 1915, p. 8. See also https://www.okbu.edu/obumagazine/campaign-update/
[viii] Robert Ashcraft, editor. History of the American Baptist Association, Texarkana, TX: Baptist Sunday School Committee, 2000, p. 612.
[ix] See issues of the Oklahoma Missionary Baptist periodical, 1933.
[x] Robert Ashcraft, Contending for the Faith, An Updated History of the Baptists, 2006, pp. 688-690. Ashcraft says that Guthrie experimented with the church-sponsored educational model later used by Antioch MBC of Little Rock, Arkansas for the Missionary Baptist Seminary while he was pastor of the North Church in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
[xi] “History,” Missionary Baptist Seminary General Catalog, Little Rock, AR: Missionary Baptist Seminary, 2021, p. 14. | https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.cloversites.com/52/526e6f8a-b5e4-48f5-9bdb-d42a894583b1/documents/2021General_Catalog_4.9.2021.pdf
[xii] “Past and Present Administrators.” Missionary Baptist Seminary General Catalog, Little Rock, AR: Missionary Baptist Seminary, 2021, p. 9.
[xiii] “Setting of Civil Cases,” Shawnee Weekly Herald, Thursday, 25 Feb 1926, p. 4. Probably settled out of court, since there appears to be no further mention of it in the papers.
[xiv] “Baptist Meeting Set,” The Commercial Appeal, November 19, 1938, p. 5; “First Orthodox Baptist Church Host to Orthodox Missionary Baptist Fellowship,” The Daily Admoreite, March 29, 1942, p. 16.
[xv] In the preface, Guthrie calls this a companion volume to Acts 2:38 and the Greek Preposition “Eis”.
[xvi] L. D. Foreman’s The Bible in Eight Ages was based upon Guthrie’s The Bible in 8 Periods.
[xvii] His dissertation “The Place of Jesus Christ in Creation” may be the background source of the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth issued in the 1940s, which in turn may be the same as Christ in Creation book of 1975.
[xviii] https://baptistsearch.blogspot.com/2018/07/arkansas-missionary-baptists-and-gap.html | Both A Matter of Time: The Scientific Absurdities of a Young Earth from the Vantage Point of a scientifically Educated Believer by Troy L. Bray and Jesus Christ and the Planet Earth by John E. Penn support McElmurry’s assertion.
[xix] https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/missionary-baptist-seminary-5291/ and The History of the Missionary Baptist Seminary, Robert Ashcraft, p. 6.
[xx] Guthrie, writing from Moberly, Missouri in The Word and Way (Kansas City, Missouri) Thursday, June 29, 1905, pp. 9-10.
[xxi] “Campus,” Missionary Baptist Seminary General Catalog, 2021, p. 14.
[xxii] “Rev. J. Louis Guthrie Dies in Little Rock,” Moberly Monitor-Index and Democrat, Thursday, April 19, 1945, p. 9.
[xxiii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143996642/jeremiah-louis-guthrie
[xxiv] “Past and Present Administrators,” Missionary Baptist Seminary General Catalog, 2021, p. 9.
[xxv] “For many years Dr. L. D. Capell served with excellence as editor of the Missionary Baptist Searchlight. I remember Dr. Capell used to have a section in the Searchlight called ‘doctrinal dangers.’ Dr. Capell understood what I hope our readers will understand in our generation: truth is only one generation thick.” Roger Copeland, Doctrinal Dangers, Missionary Baptist Searchlight, January 2017. | http://mb-seminary.com/searchlight/january-2017. 

Your trope is what I say it is

…and it means what I say it means.

At times, it appears that Baptist News Global would have us believe that they stand for religion and rise above politics. However, the latter certainly is not true – they just oppose a popular political trend of evangelical Christian politics.[i] With the article, Why is there a boom in enrollment at private Christian schools? Here’s one critical theory: Race., there comes a far-left professor (referencing a New York Times article) to trash the popularity – that is, the supposed reason for the popularity – of private Christian schools. [Humorously, were it not a serious issue, this “Baptist” site chides CBMW for mentioning mentioning a specific small church with a gender inclusive statement, but does not blink an eye when this author mentions specific small evangelical schools to illustrate his point. What’s up with that? All’s fair in war, I suppose, when it is your war and you make the rules. Consistency might be a jewel were it not for the swine’s snout.]

The author, Rodney W. Kennedy, is an interim pastor of Emmanuel Freidens Federated Church and an instructor at Palmer Theological Seminary. He self-describes as a “Catholic Baptist” (whatever that means) and is one who despises evangelical Christian influence in American politics and education. He is author of The Immaculate Mistake: How Evangelicals Gave Birth to Donald Trump.

On the general subject of parental involvement in public education, Kennedy quickly quotes a professor with a PhD who says that he is not qualified to tell schools how to teach his own kids. That may be true of him, but that does not mean the average parent should think he or she is not qualified. Parents are guardians, mentors, educators, spiritual guides, and many other things to their children. God made it so. (e.g. Deut. 6:6-8; Deut. 11:18-20; Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4; 1 Tim. 5:14) Let us not settle for less.

Kennedy creates a narrative that identifies conservative evangelicalism with American populism – which he denominates racist – and he then marches forward painting the Christian school boom with the same tainted brush. He looks in the heart (where you may have previously assumed only God could look), and finds that evangelicals at heart have a race problem. It cannot be otherwise, for regardless of what anyone says, he knows what he hears. They cannot mean anything else, for he has already determined what they mean.

Though his thesis is that racism is the engine driving the Christian school boom, and Critical Race Theory the fuel, Kennedy throws the terminology around while carefully avoiding defining it. To be fair, Critical Race Theory is a moving target that can take pages upon pages to define and discuss.[ii] It is something that means different things to different people. Yet he takes advantage of this defect, trotting out the words for effect.

Bottom line from what I read – and I’ll take Kennedy’s tactic, that what he says means what I say he says – white people are racists. All of them. Without exception. If they are doing something – including private Christian schooling – then that something is racist. Of course, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, lest we find that some African-Americans also attend private Christian schools. Evangelical ones at that. Or myriad other issues that belie his premise. Maybe it would be better to have an honest discussion in which each listen to the other.

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[i] In One Faith No Longer, George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk suggest that this is because progressives believe they can bring about social change through political action more than through religious commitment.
[ii] The core of Critical Race Theory is that racism is inherent in everything American – law, society, education, religion, etc. Ultimately, all these must be overthrown to correct the course, at least according to this theory. This helps explain why they can believe that just teaching math and grammar can be racist. In turn, many deny the allegations that this is being taught! For just one example, the White House and the National School Boards Association interacted before the NSBA sent a letter to the Biden administration likening concerned parents to domestic terrorists – a letter from which the White House and Attorney General, after backlash, tried to extricate themselves. See also Yes, Virginia, critical race theory is in K-12 schools. Here are 20 examples.

Learning what we believe and why

In the realm of higher education, we are told that colleges and universities foster intellectual inquiry and critical thinking. They teach students to think, or how to think, rather than what to think. I question how successful – or even sincere – that they are in achieving this goal. They turn out multitudes of “assembly-line” students whose thinking reflects that of their professors!

In this same vein, religious seminaries supposedly want to teach you to think about what you believe and why, rather than teaching you what to believe. It may be that they are more generally successful than secular institutions?

What does the Bible say?

On one hand, it tells us to examine ourselves; for example,

• whether we be in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5)
• to think, and examine our thinking (Matthew 17:25; Matthew 18:12; Matthew 21:28; Matthew 22:17, 42, et al.).
• our motives in taking the Lord ’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:28)

On the other hand, it teaches us not to be tossed about; for example,

• we have a delivered body of faith for which we should contend (Jude 3)
• our foundation is the teachings of Jesus, the apostles, and the prophets (Ephesians 2:20) in which we should firmly stand (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
• we are to teach disciples to observe all things that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:20)
• the faith should be committed to faithful persons who pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2)
• there is only one gospel, from which we cannot diverge (Galatians 1:8-9)

So, what is the “happy medium”?

Note: my conclusion in general is that Jesus Christ places pastors and teachers in the churches, and it is to the churches we should resort to learn of the meek and lowly One and his doctrine rather than to the ivory towers of higher education.

Cadillacs cranked out in a “seminary line”

Linked below are a series of articles by Kevin Bauder, who is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at the Central Baptist Theological Seminary. (He also has a great moustache!) I enjoy Bauder’s writings (generally speaking). Even though I do not agree with him on this subject, I thought readers would find his series interesting. Setting the background for his writing, he reports that “The Association of Theological Schools, the primary agency that accredits seminaries, recently produced a study showing that the number of M.Div. students is falling, while the number of future pastors taking the shorter M.A. program is rising.” Further he notes a writing at the Religion News Service, which called the M.Div. “the “gold standard” while asserting that “fewer students think that they need—or can afford—the ‘Cadillac’ degree.”[i] He laments that seminaries are reducing their M.Div. programs “from the traditional 90 hours to 72 hours.” In this series Bauder argues that the M.Div. (and at 90 hours, not 72) is not the “Cadillac” but an economy model – the minimum for a pastor to get by.

• It’s Not a Cadillac! Part One: A Bit of History – “In short, by the 1950s Baptist fundamentalism was producing pastors who were strong opponents of modernist theology, but who tended to be poor thinkers with a fairly weak ability to study the text of Scripture for themselves and a relatively sketchy knowledge of the system of faith...By the mid-1950s, certain fundamentalist leaders began to see the need to offer seminary-level instruction for the coming generations of fundamentalist leadership.” [ii]
• It’s Not a Cadillac! Part Two: What Are We Doing? – “What vision of pastoral ministry dominates Baptist fundamentalism? The answer is problematic, mainly because there isn’t one (though the social justice model is completely absent). Instead, Baptist fundamentalists have promoted several competing visions of ministry, each of which is deeply held by some constituency.” [bold emphasis mine]
• It’s Not a Cadillac! Part Three: What Do We Need? – “Therefore, a pastor has to know the Word of God for himself...It requires him to know the biblical languages well enough that he can read (or at least translate) his texts from the original languages. That level of competence requires years of instruction and practice, first at the level of grammar, then at the level of syntax, then at the level of exegesis.”
• It’s Not a Cadillac! Part Four: Where Should We Learn? – “If a man wishes to become a pastor, the place where he must seek training is first and most importantly his local church...the traditional M.Div. is a barely adequate standard to provide minimal competence for New Testament ministry...think of it as Basic Training—just enough to keep you alive and to keep you from wrecking the ministry while you continue to practice your skills.”
• It’s Not a Cadillac! Part Five: A Personal Testimony – “As I formed acquaintances with the other conservative pastors, I discovered that they didn’t think explaining scripture should be a significant pulpit activity. Most of them couldn’t do it anyway. One was a self-help guru. One was a feel-good motivational speaker. One was a screamer. But so far as I can remember, none helped their people to understand the Word of God.”

A few comments may be in order. I’ll not say much about the MDiv degree being shortened. I don’t believe copying the secular model of education is the biblical ideal. But for those who are strong supporters of the seminary model for Christian education, the shortening of the program from 90 hours to 72 hours seems in effect to deny what they advocate.

Bauder claims, “a man with seminary behind him will be more effective in ministry than the same man without it.” This is a bare assumption, and an unprovable one at that! In some instances I have witnessed the reverse – a man, the same man, with an “effective ministry” became less effective after a stint in the seminary. (Of course, whether or not it was the seminary’s “fault” is also unprovable.)

Despite disagreement concerning the solution, I agree with Bauder on the existence of some of the problems he cites, such as:

• “poorly-taught churches led by pastoral impresarios whose ministries more closely resembled circuses and theaters than New Testament congregations”
• Baptist fundamentalists without a clear “vision of pastoral ministry”
• Pastors “who didn’t think explaining scripture should be a significant pulpit activity”
• Capitulation to “full-on pragmatism”

I have observed ministries that “more closely resembled circuses and theaters than New Testament congregations.” Most definitely, many of these poor thinkers with a weak ability to study the text of Scripture for themselves and have a relatively sketchy knowledge of the true system of faith. They have led congregations to “pack a pew” and such like – hinged on such far-fetched promises of swallowing goldfish for the amusement of the congregation, or preaching from church roofs in their underwear. (May God deliver us!) And such religious quackery is not the sole realm of non-seminarians![iii] In my lifetime, I have known lots of pastors. Among the best I’ve known were those who had either only a basic working knowledge of Greek, or no training in the biblical languages at all. Nevertheless, they knew the Bible backwards and forwards. They knew how to teach others also, equipping and edifying them to do the work of God. In addition, they lived the Bible they knew! I have nothing against a pastor being fluent in the original languages, but many pastors have reached high levels of pastoral competence in exception to Bauder’s rule. (In addition, others with in-depth education in Greek and Hebrew have flunked as pastors.)

In part 4 Bauder writes, “If a man wishes to become a pastor, the place where he must seek training is first and most importantly his local church.” Yet later he opines that “the traditional M.Div. is a barely adequate standard to provide minimal competence for New Testament ministry...think of it as Basic Training—just enough to keep you alive and to keep you from wrecking the ministry while you continue to practice your skills.” If the church is the first place to seek training, and the M.Div. is barely adequate, Bauder must really think the previous local church training is totally inadequate to suit any purpose!

Kevin Bauder is a scholar and a seminarian. We could not expect him to support anything less. Support for the system on which one is sold is not the same as biblical support. Whether Henry Ford or Ransom E. Olds invented the assembly line, we know that God is not cranking out “identical” pastors in a seminary line.

There are moral and spiritual qualifications for pastors (bishops, elders) found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 The superlative “requirement” seems to be “that a man be found faithful.” Compare Titus 1:7, 1 Peter 4:10, and 1 Corinthians 4:2. When we add to these, we are walking on shifty unbiblical sand.

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[i] M.Div. is the abbreviation for the Masters of Divinity or Magister Divinitatis (in Latin) degree. It is a theological or religious degree that is supposed to be designed for students seeking a career in the church, most specifically a professional degree for pastors. The M.Div. degree in the U.S. requires between 72 and 106 credit hours of study. Academic accrediting agencies require a minimum of 72 hours for this degree, and some institutions require more. (The DoD, for example, also requires the minimum of 72 hours for a military chaplain.)

[ii] Bauder’s history (in part 1) is accurate as far as it goes. It limits the strain of just who are “Fundamentalists.” My background follows a different trajectory from what he discusses, including Baptists who left the convention both earlier and later than J. Frank Norris (the best-known IFB name in our region) did. Our roots are in denominational trouble in the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the late 1800s. By 1900, a large minority had withdrawn and created the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas. Some people would not think of the BMAT as IFB, and in some ways rightly so, but they were and are clearly ensconced in the fundamentals of the faith. There was co-mingling of the BMAT with other fundamentalist come-outers, such as J. Frank Norris and the “Bogard Baptists” in Arkansas. (The combination of Texas and Arkansas churches in the ABA would meet at Norris’s FBC Fort Worth in 1935, even though he was not a member of their body.) Many, if not most, also took stands that were separatist and sometimes even “militant.” Unlike the fundamentalists to whom Bauder refers, these Baptists prepared for an educational institution – albeit a college rather than a seminary – even before they organized separately from the BGCT. In 1899, a charter established the Jacksonville Baptist College as a four-year senior college (it is now a junior college) and it opened in the fall of 1899. The BMAT was not formed until 1900 (the college was given to the association several years later). I realize this was a college and not a seminary, but it indicates we may have had a little different relationship toward education. (These Baptists wanted all their children to have access to a good education, not just preachers.) For the most part (as far as I know) these churches possessed a high view of education and did not fall into the same theatrics that some other fundamentalists did.

[iii] Further, among certain cliques of IFBs it seems that every Tom, Dick, and Houdini claims to be a “Doctor.”

All uninspired writings are liable to contain error

The Scriptures accompanied by the aids of the Holy Spirit are the only source, which the servant of God can derive or desire that instruction which is requisite to qualify him for teaching the great truths of Religion...as all uninspired writings are liable to contain error, though the productions of pious men, they should be consulted with great caution, lest errors be imbibed with truth...in case one wishes to consult any of these helps on any significant point, he should first examine the Scripture thereon, carefully comparing Scripture with Scripture, and thus get as good understanding upon it as possible himself, unaided by any other book other than the Bible. He will then be prepared to read to advantage men's views; and will know far better to receive his truth and reject his error...the establishment of a Theological School which shall require any given amount of knowledge to be acquired, and any specific length of time, to be spent in Biblical studies, will not tend to promote the scriptural prosperity of the connection. 

-- "Proceedings of the Freewill Baptist Convention," Acton Maine, January 15, 1840

Fundamentalist witch hunt?

In an opinion piece on The Daily Beast, Karl W. Giberson describes Professor Tom Oord as the latest casualty of The Fundamentalist Witch Hunt. Giberson is certainly no unbiased reporter, and I found it interesting the different ways he feels about intellectuals and “fundamentalists.” The “fundamentalists” are political, threatened, irate, homophobic, warmongers out for a witch hunt. On the other hand, the “thinking evangelicals” like Oord are beloved, intellectual, popular, respected, gentle, educated, pastoral, and lastly, victims. I can add two more descriptions – dishonest and deceitful! Yes, when professors hide in seminaries supported by Bible-believing people who expect their students to be taught in accord with the faith they hold, they are deceiving the people and being dishonest with the denominations that hire them.

* Disagreeing with Oord doesn’t constitute agreement with how his termination was handled.

* Note added, November 2024: the article has apparently been moved and the title changed. You should be able to find it HERE.

Sacred Harp Singing School

If you're in Southeast Texas, take advantage of the Sacred Harp Singing School sponsored by the Florida Avenue Baptist Church and Heritage Baptist Institute. It will be at the Florida Avenue Church's fellowship hall this Saturday, July 30.

When: Starts at 10 a.m.
Book: 2006 Sacred Harp, Cooper Edition
Location: 645 W. Florida Ave.
Beaumont, TX 77705

For more information please email: sheilatx-AT-hotmail.com

On degrees

"To-day, one cannot pastor a church of 25 members without at least a ThD. You will also notice that these degrees are broadly advertised as well.

"Perhaps if we went back to the simple men of old along with the book of old and the gospel of old we might again experience the Holy Spirit of old enacting in all our hearts and lives anew and burst out in triumph in our society." -- Jim on The Baptist Board 12/29/2008

Every church a seminary

"Every church was then a seminary, in which provision and preparation was made, not only for the continuation of Gospel preaching, but for the calling and gathering, and teaching of our churches." -- John Owen, Commentary on Hebrews, Vol. 3, p. 568. (p. 131 in the Crossway Edition edited by McGrath & Packer, 1998)

The local assembly of gathered believers is the primary and best educational institution for BELIEVERS in spiritual and religious matters.* The "church-based education" model derives from the New Testament, and is for all the people of the church. The seminarian model developed from the university's scholastic paradigm, and seems geared to train a "professionally qualified" minister. I have certain presuppositions that undergird and sustain what I am about to write. I will call attention to them, but not go into great detail. Many will agree with most of them, though not all. They are: (1). The Inspiration of Scripture -- all scripture is given by God and is therefore the place we find our instructions for education. (2). The command of Matthew 28:18-20 -- preach, baptize, teach -- is a command to be fulfilled by local assemblies of believers. (3). The local church is by nature and purpose a gathering of baptized saints committed to carrying out the work of Christ. (4). Consistent New Testament practices are authoritative, including that churches should be served by a plurality of elders. Jesus commanded the apostles to teach all things He had commanded them, and they taught the disciples in the churches to follow the commands and traditions they handed down.

Studying the scriptures exhibits nobility (Acts 17:11) and approves us unto God (II Tim. 2:15). This is not and should not be limited to one class of believers. The purpose of religious education is maturation of the saints that they might engage in ministry, be built up as a body with the goal of unity of the faith and knowledge of Christ (Eph. 4:7-16).

"Church-based education" utilizes the institution Jesus built and follows the example of the apostles. In New Testament times, elders received training in and by the local church, the apostles came to the local church, or they traveled with the apostles and assisted them (Acts 11:22-26; 13:1ff.; 14:21-23; 18:2,5,18; 19:8-10; II Tim 4:20; Heb. 6:1,2). All of these examples relate more to mentoring, apprenticeship, or on-the-job training models rather than a classroom model.

"Church-based education" recognizes the giftedness of ALL the body. Some models of education are designed with preachers (that is, ministers as professionals) in mind. Yet the New Testament teaches that all of the body should be trained and equipped for the ministry, and that all the body has gifts for ministry. Training for "the ministry" is not of greater importance than training for "ministry". A sincere effort to equip all the body begins and ends on the local church level.

"Church-based education" offers the best system of "integrated" education with the Lord's basic institution –- the home. In the church, discipleship, ministry experience, and scholarship are integrated -- not only with one another, but with marriage, home life, child rearing, and in a body that is vitally consumed (or at least should be) with the "whole man" minister.

"Church-based education" does not remove the gift of the "preacher-in-training" from benefiting his church, and it does not remove the church from blessing the "preacher-in-training". The young elder/novice remains involved with the congregation and families where God has placed him. Further, the plurality of elders assures he is not thrown into pastoring alone without the skills to do so, and he is not expected to be THE ONE MAN who knows all and does all.

"Church-based education" recognizes the New Testament assumption that churches are equipped to train their ministers. If they are not, they should be. If churches are not fully equipped to train their ministers, and if seminaries are sincere in their desire to best promote the work of God, let them work themselves out of a job by equipping churches to become able to educate their own people, rather than keeping churches dependent upon them.

In the local congregation of believers, we never finish our education and never receive a degree. In addition to theology, hermeneutics, or homiletics, we learn necessary lessons of interdependence, relations, service, self-denial, longsuffering, meekness, kindness, and love. Instead of pre-designed degrees from which to choose, each "course" can be specially adapted with the particular individual student in mind.

According to R. Paul Stevens (Liberating the Laity: Equipping All the Saints for Ministry, Regent College, 2002, p. 46), "The best structure for equipping every Christian is already in place. It predates the seminary and the weekend seminar and will outlast both. In the New Testament no other nurturing and equipping is offered than the local church. In the New Testament church, as in the ministry of Jesus, people learned in the furnace of life, in a relational, living, working and ministering context." I agree.

* The home is also a God-ordained primary educational institution. But it serves all persons in the home and is not restricted solely to believers or spiritual issues.

The government and education

In the United States, education is outside the realm of authority of the Federal Government.* According to the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Since authority for education is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, it is reserved to the people or the individual states. Notwithstanding, the U.. S. Department of Education has initiatives from Early Childhood to High School. According to ED.gov, the Department "currently administers a budget of $68.6 billion per year—$59.2 billion in discretionary appropriations and $9.4 billion in mandatory appropriations—and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education." Another page lists the E.D. budget at $71.5 billion. Spending an unauthorized $71.5 billion of its citizens' money doesn't sound like following the intent of the Constitution. Sounds like a violation of that trust to me.

We have been so duped by the concept of public education that we can't see possibilities. Well, let's see -- homeschools, private schools, private grants, tutors, community education. Yes, the old one-room community school worked pretty well; at 93, my mother can still quote poetry she learned in the community school (although I think they had two or three rooms ;-D ). And this should tend to infuse back into people the idea that they -- not their government -- are responsible for their children's education. Christians should understand the Bible concept of parental responsibility. Part of that responsibility is the education of our children. That doesn't mean that we personally have to do all the educating -- but that we personally are responsible.

We Americans have consistenly maintained the need for an independent media -- radio & TV newscasts, newspapers, periodicals, etc. -- free from government control. Why? So we continue to maintain freedom of speech and and freedom of the press. So we are not required to repeat some government-approved version of the "facts". Why have we not sought the same for education? With government funding comes government strings. Government strings inhibit freedom. When our freedom to think is gone we are stringed puppets of the state. Oh, those government strings. Soon we'll be fiddling someone else's tune.

* Our Federal Government was granted no authority and given no responsibility in the arena of education. But there is legal room for state and local involvement. Then it becomes way or combination of ways best serves to educate our children.

A couple of quotes
"Education is not a right...Parents have a right to earn the money with which to educate their young. They don't have the right to compel the childless, the home-schooler, the private school userm -- nor anyone really -- to pay for public-education or school-voucher options." -- "Eliminate government-funded education!" by Ilana Mercer, March 13, 2002

"The U.S. public school monopoly is guilty of seven deadly sins: It wastes resources, discourages good teaching, inhibits parental involvement, suppresses information, stifles innovation, creates conflict and harms the poor." -- The Seven Deadly Sins of Government-Funded Schools by Mark Harrison (This article appeared in the Chattanooga Times Free Press on August 14, 2005)

California attacks home schoolers

Thanks to Jason Skipper's blog, I noticed the following, which is kind of scary:
Judge orders homeschoolers into government education

California has gone on the attack against homeschooling with a new law, and the linked article gives some information about one family's court struggle. You should be able to "google" and find much more on the subect. According to the article, the 2nd Appellate Court in Los Angeles said this family's "sincerely held religious beliefs" are "not the quality of evidence that permits us to say that application of California's compulsory public school education law to them violates their First Amendment rights."

Since homeschoolers average 20 points higher in tests than the American public school average, there IS NOT AN EDUCATIONAL REASON for California's law. So why are they doing it?

I wonder if there are any Amish families in California. How long will it take to also force them into public education under California's compulsory public school education law?

Private religious school vs. private non-profit association

An intriguing article from Sports Illustrated - Kansas HS refuses female official: St. Mary's Acad. says woman cannot ref boys game raises some interesting questions. Perhaps from the religious standpoint: Can a woman not have authority over teenage boys? Or from a legal standpoint:

St. Mary's Academy is a private religious school. It gets its rules/theology from its archbishop or whatever religious authority it recognizes. According to the U. S. first amendment, this school can set its religious beliefs, regardless of what the rest of us think.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is a "private/non-profit association of accredited member schools, whose purpose is to administer a program of interscholastic activities, festivals, clinics and contests among member schools." As a private association, it can establish requirements for its membership.

Private religious school vs. private non-profit association. Who wins? Do the values of one trump the other? If so, which? Or is there some other answer?

Not reading the names

In my Bible, three pages before the beginning of the book of Genesis, there is a page title "Key to Pronunciation". The information on this page explains the diacritical marks found in this King James Wide Margin Bible printed by World Publishers. It begins, "Every reader of the Bible has found the proper names very difficult to pronounce." Yes, join the crowd. We're all in the same boat. The names -- especially the Hebrew ones and most especially the loooong Hebrew ones that don't look like anything we English have ever seen -- are hard to read and pronounce. OK, so we start out sailing along in the same boat. What separates us? Different solutions to this age-old problem.

(1) Don't read the names. For example, "Number 13:3-16 -- And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. These names I can't read are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land." I've noticed this seems to be a popular new development. In the past I can recall plenty of comments on the difficulty of reading the names, but these folks generally opted to...
(2) Muddle through the reading of the names. The person reading the Bible attempts to read the names, at least calling out sounds he thinks may be vaguely similar to how the name looks. This seems better than the above, but not as good as when we...
(3) Learn to read and pronounce the names. Most folks of average intelligence are capable of learning to read and pronounce Bible names, and become at least reasonably proficient. And if you don't get them all exactly right, just who will know anyway!! ;-D

In my opinion, the third option is a solution of integrity. It respects the fact that God both inspired and preserved those "hard to read" names in His holy word. I don't mean to imply that those who take the first option intend disrespect of inspiration. They may be trying to emphasize their own unscholarliness. I'm not any smarter than the average Joe. Sometimes my eyes cross and tongue tangles when I encounter unusual Bible names. But if we believe the words of the Bible are inspired of God*, shouldn't acknowledging that inspiration cause us to try to read and pronounce Bible names? And wouldn't even a stumbling attempt show more respect than a "Reader's Digest" version that leaves out altogether verses and sections of the Bible?

* "The Bible is a lean book. There is no filler material in it. Every word of every book is important for our spiritual development. It is all good and it is all needed." -- David Robinson, Sow to the Wind -- Reap the Whirlwind (p. 19 Adult Quarterly, Fall 2007, B.S.S.C., Texarkana, TX)