Some Baptists of the South are concerned that pulpits are being abandoned because of war-caused disorder. Today, Tennessee Baptist editor James R. Graves (widely known as J. R. Graves) publishes a letter from a Texas Baptist who asks, “Shall Preaching Be Abandoned?” Bro. Graves:–Suffer a young Baptist, through your paper to address all who profess…
James R. Graves, editor of the Tennessee Baptist and a long-time lightning rod in Baptist life, frequently publishes letters from readers who are appreciative of him. Graves’ critics fault him for his northern roots and Landmark ecclesiology. B. F. Burroughs, a Texas Baptist, offers a strong defense of Graves, as well as commentary regarding the…
War-time excitement does not prevent many white Baptists of the South from engaging in ongoing religious debates whose origins predate the war. One ongoing Baptist debate is over the issue of Landmarkism, a formal movement with origins in the early 1850s and expressing the belief that Baptist are the only true Christians, or said another…