THE SACRED TRUST: SKETCHES OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION PRESIDENTS A Book Review Presented to C. Berry Driver, Jr., M.S.L.S., Ph.D. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for BPTST 3203 C by Jeremy P. Roberts April 7, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction...1 Summary...2 Critical Evaluation...3 Format...3 Research...5 Accuracy...6 Presentation...7 Negative Aspects...9 Conclusion...10 WORKS CITED...11
Caner, Emir F., Ergun M. Caner. The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003. 238 pp. $29.99. How does one learn how to be effective in the future? They must initially examine the past. 1 The past teaches positive aspects which people seek to repeat. Not only does the past teach positive aspects, but it also teaches a way to avoid danger: by thoroughly examining the past which colors a person s vision. A person who is wearing glasses which are tinted may avoid drawing the conclusion that the world is tinted if only they are conscious of the very glasses they are wearing. 2 Emir F. Caner, Ph.D., Dean of The College at Southwestern, Director of the Center for Free Church Studies, and Professor of History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, 3 along with his brother, Ergun M. Caner, D.Th., President, and Professor of Theology and Church History at Liberty Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, Virginia, 4 began this book with a preface which is imperative to examine before reading the following 238 pages when the latter paragraph concludes by 1 Raymond B. Dillard, Tremper Longman III, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 22. Publishers, 1984), xvii. 2 Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, vol. 1. (San Francisco: Harper Collins 3 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, School of Theology Faculty," [on-line]; accessed 5 April 2007; available from http://www.swbts.edu/faculty/ecaner/; Internet. 4 Liberty Theological Seminary, Ergun Caner: Featured Faculty," [on-line]; accessed 5 April 2007; available from ; http://www.liberty.edu/academics/religion/seminary/index.cfm?pid=12809; Internet. 1
describing the importance of learning from the past presidents of the Southern Baptist 2 Convention by stating that, These were men who dared to believe that the task of world evangelism was not too large a task, too costly a labor, or too steep a climb They have dared to inspire us to seek the face of God (xiv-xv). The purpose of this book review is to summarize the Caners objectives in their text along with summarizing the role this book plays in the field of historical Baptist literature; and the purpose is also to critically evaluate the format, research, accuracy, content, presentation, and negative aspects of the book. Summary Emir and Ergun Caner s purpose of writing this book was to write a five-page biography of each president in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention and give a reflection of each president s historical legacy and political workings. The Caner brothers developed their book with detailed, yet succinct biographical sketches, details of the inner-workings of the original development of the Southern Baptist Convention presidency, and they exposed details of the Conservative Resurgence from an historical perspective. This book is the first of its kind in historical Baptist literature in over a generation. 5 The authors built off of the Routh text in order to accurately describe specifically some of the older past presidents. Besides the written work by Porter Routh, the only other written work which the Caner brothers depended upon heavily was Jerry Sutton s text based upon the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist 5 The book most recently written about the biographies of Southern Baptist presidents before the Caners text was Porter Routh, Chosen for Leadership. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1976.
Convention. 6 Despite depending upon these two texts, the Caners personally interviewed 3 either the presidents who were alive, or their direct descendants to pass on familial stories to be placed into book form. The main purpose of the five pages of each presidential sketch appears to be to tell the positive aspects of every president in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention and express what their input was for the good of the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole. Furthermore, the book may be used as a solid foundation to any person seeking a description of the heritage of Southern Baptist leadership and from whence the political intricacies of Southern Baptists came. Critical Evaluation The format, research, content, accuracy, presentation, and negative aspects of the Caners text all play an important factor in objectively and critically evaluating this very book they wrote together. After having evaluated each of these aspects of The Caners work, one may more wholly capture the essence of all this book entails. Format The key portion in the title of this text is not The Sacred Trust. The key is found in the subtitle, Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents. Even more specifically, the key word is Sketches. As the Caners wrote this book they gave biographical and historical political information on each of the fifty-two Southern Baptist Convention presidents ranging from 1845 with the inaugural president, William Bullein Johnson, all the way to Jack 6 Jerry Sutton, The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.
Norman Graham in 2002. Due to the number of presidents and an apparent goal to 4 prevent the book from becoming too cumbersome, the word sketch truly captures what the description of each president and their presidency was like. The book begins with a foreword by one of the leading Southern Baptist theologians, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Ph.D. 7 The three pages written by Mohler explain the office of the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He discloses basic facts such as there is no actual physical office at Southern Baptist headquarters from which the president works. Furthermore, Mohler describes the power, prestige, polity, and potential the presidency holds. If one had no background in how the Southern Baptist Convention was governed and what the role of the president was, Mohler s foreword would suffice as an eloquent, yet simple overview of what the president does in context of the Southern Baptist Convention and evangelical Christianity as a whole. Mohler s concluding paragraph is a four sentence book review to prepare the reader to swim through the sea of the glorious accomplishments these fifty-two Southern Baptist presidents were a part of. The foreword is followed by an introduction by the Caner brothers describing how the Southern Baptists are emphatically a grassroots fellowship, and is a bottomup distinction which must be maintained, not an ecclesiastical hierarchy or bishopric (xiv). The introduction concludes with a reminder to the reader that this book is not about the men described within the book, but it is a book about the work of Jesus through the men who served the honorable role as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. 7 Russell Dilday, An Analysis of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000," The Center for Baptist Studies (2001), [on-line]; accessed 6 April 2007; available from; http://www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/hotissues/dildayfm2000.htm; Internet.
5 The book is formatted in such a way that each president has their own chapter in the book. Therefore, there are fifty-two chapters within the book. The table of contents lists all fifty-two presidents with their respective chapter number to the left and page numeration to the right. The book begins with the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention and proceeds in chronological order leading to the concluding, fiftysecond chapter. Following the fifty-two chapters of the heart of the text, there are twenty-one pages of endnotes. These endnotes contain a variety of types of sources and lengths of sources for each chapter. The last portion of the book is its index. The index lists nearly every subject, city, church, academic institution, organization, or publication mentioned in the book. If one is seeking to find a certain person who was not a president of the Southern Baptist Convention, but has played a role in the history of Southern Baptist life, they may find that person listed in the index. The formatting of the index is especially clear as the numeration is easily followed to the side of each listing. The index, furthermore, shows the thoroughness of research which the Caners exercised. Research At the time of the publication of this book (2003), presidents thirty-nine through fifty-two were all still alive. Presidents one through thirty-eight had already died at the time of publication of this book. Due to the opportunity the Caners had to personally interview presidents forty-one through fifty-two (all presidents being a part of the Conservative Resurgence ), and the lack of personal interviews with the previous presidents, there is a shift in approach between chapters forty and forty-one.
This shift in approach may be due to the more moderate tendencies of president 6 forty, Jimmy Allen, 8 and the more conservative tendencies of president forty-one, Adrian Rogers. 9 Since the Caners are more conservative in their personal views of Scripture, 10 this may have been a reason they only personally interviewed presidents who had more conservative viewpoints of Scripture. As was previously mentioned, the Caners relied heavily upon Porter Routh s text on Baptist presidents in chapters one through thirty-nine. Jerry Sutton s secondgeneration reformer 11 perspective on The Baptist Reformation also shaped an influential role in the latter portion of the Caners research. Besides personal interviews and heavily-relied-upon sources, the Caners took a well-rounded approach to research. They used reliable internet sources, memoirs, and periodicals to compile the rest of their research. Due to the wide variety of sources used, the accuracy in the text is validated. Accuracy The Caners text places a positive perspective upon all the men whom presided over the Southern Baptist Convention. Due to the thorough research, the accuracy is Convention, 55. 8 Sutton, The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist 9 Ibid, 99. 10 Emir and Ergun Caner, are original signers of the Joshua Convergence as is noted in The Joshua Convergence, Signers of the Principles of Affirmation, (2006), [on-line]; accessed 6 April 2007; available from; http://joshuaconvergence.com/blog.php?month=10&year=2006; Internet. The Joshua Convergence publicly affirmed the Conservative Resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention, as is noted by Joni B. Hannigan, Joshua Convergence Affirms SBC Conservative Resurgence at Orlando Meeting," (2006), [on-line]; accessed 6 April 2007; available from; http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/6490.article; Internet. Convention, xvi. 11 Sutton, The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist
difficult to disprove. 7 Despite the thorough use of various sources, there is an example pointed out by Blake Killingsworth in which accuracy is lacking. Accuracy is not lacking in terms of content within the book, rather it misleads the reader in chapter three. President Richard Fuller was portrayed in this chapter as a man who had an overwhelming kindness for the black population, a kindness when put into context is suspect. 12 The Caners pointed out how President Fuller defended slavery and even detailed how Fuller sought justification for slavery due to the fact that even the great evangelist George Whitefield owned slaves and rejoiced as some of them came to faith in Christ (11). Slave owners did not brag about how kind they were to their slaves, but rather blamed the northerners for being hypocrites. 13 The Caners may have been attempting to stay within the five page limit they set for themselves and lacked space to include further details, but this lack of information causes the book s level of accuracy to decrease. Presentation The actual book itself is an attractive book for one seeking a professional, clear, and comfortable book to physically hold onto. From the first page to the last the book is put together with clear Times New Roman fonts in the body of the text. A larger, cursive-style font begins each chapter to give it a touch of class as well as a feeling of historicity sparking the reader to be reminded of Colonial documents such as the Declaration of Independence or other professionally penned documents from the 12 Blake Killingsworth, The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents (Book Review)," The History and Baptist Heritage Society (2004), [on-line]; accessed 6 April 2007; available from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1g1-118108993.html; Internet. 13 Ibid.
seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. The top of each page contains the name of the 8 president whom the chapter is named after followed with a forward slash and page numeration with centered justification. The pages are a slightly off-white, ivory color. The paper is thicker than most other published academic books, and this heavier paper weight possibly increases the price of the book. The cover of the book contains a glossy dust cover which easily shows fingerprints and smudges, but also shows the title clearly on the front along with the names of the authors. The spine of the glossy cover is easily read as the white font and dark background make the book easily legible on a shelf. The back of the book gives a succinct overview of the book along with the publisher s web address and the book s international standard book number. The binding of the book is in solid tact, but not too solid to cause difficulty in page turning. The binding of this book allows the owner of the book to sustain preservation for a lengthy period of time. In the presentation of the chapters, each chapter begins with chapter numeration. Following the chapter numeration is the name of the particular president the chapter is about in a large font, followed by the birth date through death, or a dash for currentlyliving presidents, with the year or years of their election beneath their dates of life. To the side of each president s name at the beginning of their respective chapter, there is a picture of that president. While some of the older presidents pictures are all contained within, all of the more recent presidents pictures are also shown. The pictures,
however, seem dated as earlier than the date of their election in certain pictures. 14 It is 9 never specified within the book regarding the age of each president in their picture, but one may be drawn to a conclusion of the picture being taken when they were the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Negative Aspects Some negative aspects of the Caners text have already been explicated, such as the possible misleading of Richard Fuller s treatment of slaves, as well as the dating of the pictures used at the beginning of each chapter. Other negative aspects may be attributed to its brevity in treatment of each presidency. While the brief sketch of each president makes for an easy read about each president of the Southern Baptist Convention, it also leaves the reader with some questions to ponder such as how Adrian Rogers wound up in the position to be elected as president in 1979. The Caners pointed out how In 1979, messengers gathered in Houston, Texas, and elected Rogers president of the Southern Baptist Convention (164). Nothing in the preceding portion of this chapter describes what led up to the choosing of Rogers as the person to be elected as president in 1979. Another negative aspect of the forty-first chapter, the sketch about Adrian Rogers, was that the Caners claimed that Rogers declined to run for reelection due to time constraints within his church and family (164). A conflicting account of the reason for Rogers not running for immediate reelection was given by Jerry Sutton when he claimed 14 The picture in The Sacred Trust of Jack Graham appears to be of him as significantly younger than when he was elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention as is shown in Todd Starnes, SBC President Calls Murdered IMB Workers Martyrs for Christ," Baptist Press (2002), [on-line]; accessed 6 April 2007; available from; http://bpnews.net/download.asp?file=images/img200212303670hi.jpg; Internet.
the reason for Rogers not running for reelection was so that, the liberals were caught 10 flat-footed. They were planning on Rogers running for one more term and then winning the presidency in 1981. 15 Rogers not running for reelection immediately was portrayed by the Caners to be a familial and church decision while another source claimed a more political reason, and therefore causes the reader to ponder what the true reasoning behind the lack of immediate reelection was. Conclusion Since the purpose of this book review is to summarize the Caners objectives in their text along with summarizing the role this book plays in the field of historical Baptist literature; along with seeking to critically evaluate the format, research, accuracy, content, presentation, and negative aspects of the book, it achieves its goals. The Caners text provides a solid overview of every president in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention through 2002. In light of the strengths and weaknesses of The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents by Emir and Ergun Caner the author of this review found the book to be extremely well written and helpful as a young seminary student seeking to learn of the historicity of the past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Caners work is mind-stimulating and encouraging for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. 15 Jerry Sutton, interview by author, November 1, 2004, B.R. Lakin School of Religion, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA.
11 WORKS CITED Dilday, Russell. An Analysis of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, The Center for Baptist Studies, 2001 [on-line]; Accessed 6 April 2007; Available from http://www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/hotissues/dildayfm2000.htm; Internet. Dillard, Raymond B. and Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994. Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, 2 vols. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1984. Hannigan, Joni B. Joshua Convergence Affirms SBC Conservative Resurgence at Orlando Meeting, Florida Baptist Witness, 2006 [on-line]. Accessed 6 April 2007. Available from http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/6490.article; Internet. The Joshua Convergence, Signers of the Principles of Affirmation, 2006 [on-line]; Accessed 6 April 2007; Available from http://joshuaconvergence.com/blog.php?month=10&year=2006; Internet. Killingsworth, Blake. The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents (Book Review)" The Baptist History and Heritage Society 2004 [online]; Accessed 6 April 2007; Available from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1g1-118108993.html; Internet. Liberty Theological Seminary, Ergun Caner: Featured Faculty, 2007 [on-line]; Accessed 5 April 2007; Available from http://www.liberty.edu/academics/religion/seminary/index.cfm?pid=12809; Internet. Routh, Porter. Chosen for Leadership. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1976. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. School of Theology Faculty, 2007 [on-line]; Accessed 5 April 2007; Available from http://www.swbts.edu/faculty/ecaner/; Internet. Starnes, Todd. SBC President Calls Murdered IMB Workers Martyrs for Christ," Baptist Press, 2002 [on-line]; Accessed 6 April 2007; Available from http://bpnews.net/download.asp?file=images/img200212303670hi.jpg; Internet. Sutton, Jerry. The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.
. Interview by author, November 1, 2004. B.R. Lakin School of Religion, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. 12