Furman 20 years after Break with SC SBC

[Stephen Fox]

I was in a conversation with 15 folks yesterday, October 20 Homecoming morning in the Furman Library. Two trustees were Present as well as key Furman proffs and staff and the development officer in the Slavery Justice Initiative roll out. All trustees meet this coming weekend.

Hidden in the recommendations of the Report is a poison pill, a move to replace the University Seal and take Christ out of the official Furman Motto as it has been for more than 150 years.

Institutional drama certain to follow

[Stephen Fox]

I was in a group of about 15 folks in the Library Saturday morning for the rollout of the Slavery Justice initiative. Fascinating report but I fear there is something of a poison pill in the recommendations that would in effect remove Christ from the University Seal. I posted my concerns on the facebook wall of Brandon Inabinet. We remain facebook friends but he deleted my comment. I also shared my concerns on the wall of the New Baptist Covenant which had their tenth annual gathering last week. You can click over to their wall and see my comment in the Ruby Sales thread. Furman certainly is part of a big historical movement as Ms Sales is quoted with the following: “I submit to you today that the story has not been told – that the South has a rendezvous with destiny, that the whole struggle for human and civil rights will be fought in the South,” said Sales. “It will be the battleground for human and civil rights in the 21st century.”


Stephen M. Fox And at Furman, you can not disconnect Civil Rights from names like TC Smith, Marshall Frady, Martin England, LD Johnson, Will D. Campbell and Carlyle Marney and I see NO enthusiasm for celebrating their contributions as Baptists in the current Furman conversation and that saddens me..

[Stephen Fox]

Latest post on facebook quoting myself

There seems to have arisen a misunderstanding of my use of the term poison pill. The term was never uttered in the meeting Saturday morning or in any conversation I can remember to date about the report. The term is mine after Ive thought about the presentation Sunday and the many conversations I had since then and a few before to describe the concern about the seal. I wanted to do my best to be as clear as I could about that. Thanks. Looking to see how this concern plays out with the New Baptist Covenant and wider Baptist progressive Movement given well aware of the 1990 breal with the SC SBC, Furman will forever be known as a Historically BaptistCollege and the virtues of that history should be proclaimed as broadly as the current gut wrenching over the apologists for slavery of the founding fathers. Going forward maybe somebody can channel Marshall Frady much better than my capacity, in the interest of Transparency and I find many suspicions about that in the chatter this process has evoked. Thank you, Proud to be a Paladin and Jesus knows that and many Furman folks now in heaven if I could be so retrograde at this juncture to utter such arcane phrases, callin on the name of the Lord and what not.

[Stephen Fox]

I was gonna let things lie re the Slavery Justice conversations but as the Trustees I understand are on campus this weekend this may be the best opportunity to get this to them. Of the recommendations in the report I have some reservations about Lillian Brock Flemming Way but then I was reminded last night on Upstate WYFF just what a force for good she is, tireless in leaning forward. I think the statue of Joe Vaughn coming in the library is spot on. That said all this statuary and recognition without some honor to the likes of Martin England and TC Smith Furman legends for those who know the University best and whose institutional memory is widest should is shallow. For certain it was major oversight not to recognize Marshall Frady at Fluor Field as one of Furman's finest. A soccer player on campus for one year becomes a Furman Legend while the greatest social justice journalist of the last half of the 20th Century goes without recognition is a travesty, no diss on soccer. I'm well aware former President Shi was to have Frady on campus for a semester to a year then came Frady's untimely death.....England and TC Smith like Martin Luther King Jr. were Baptists and Frady the son of a Baptist minister. As Furman honor's its civil right history these men should be uppermost in this current initiative.....Jesse Jackson was main eulogizer for Marshall Frady. Let's remind every generation of Furman students in the coming years, maybe a course every three years of the best of the Baptist legacy with a focus on the Civil Rights era and all who paid a price, not just spotlighting Joe Vaughn and Ms Fleming. Thanks.

[Stephen Fox]

Brinkley was on Live with Don Lemon from Greenville last night on CNN after his Furman presentation to talk about Trump and the many pipe bombing attempts the last two days. Brinkley said Trump has been a failure in the way he has addressed this crisis "as he has failed" in so many other aspects of his Presidency. How the many Republicans in Upstate SC with Furman degrees appear to be struck mute re Trump is a mystery to me. Just take a look at the current online site of New York Review of Books and their piece on the Suffocation of Democracy......And while Furman has the the Slavery and Justice initiative front and center and surgically examining the utterances of of James Clement Furman 150 years ago, why can't the committee and Provost George Shields who seems to be the key administrator in this exercise call on Coach Bobby Johnson, a Furman legend on the NCAA national selection committee to publicly call on the likes of Condi Rice and Archie Manning to call out Trump for his sons of bitches statement last fall in Huntsville, Alabama. Trump implied two of Nick Saban's Heismann Trophy winners were sonsabitches because their take on Kaepernick leaned more toward the black resister than the Nationalist president. Where is Furman on that? And let's do ask What would Marshall Frady say?

[Stephen Fox]

http://foxofbama.blogspot.com/2018/11/m ... urman.html

[Stephen Fox]

Initial conversations have taken place. The 1A program in the old Diane Rehm timeslot

[Stephen Fox]

https://news.furman.edu/2019/05/11/comm ... beardsley/

I chatted with a Furman person yesterday as I was making good on my annual pledge. We were talking about Commencement addresses. She didnt know about Marshall Frady but she does now.

Eleanor is on the pole of Furman's finest at Fluor Field. She deserves it. I think Marshall Frady will be on a pole soon. I may blog about this address with a suggestion for Eleanor--who btw did quite good without my advice--an excerpt from Jill Lepore's magisterial new history of America These Truths

Eleanor majored in History at Furman.

A friend from Alabama, a big Eleanor fan, read the address or watched live streaming down in Albany.

[Stephen Fox]

http://foxofbama.blogspot.com/2019/09/f ... n-and.html

my take

[Stephen Fox]

Presidential Historian at Greenville Country Club tonight cosponsored by Furman History Dept and Values. One of my facebook posts of a week ago that talking about Congressman Timmons and Christ Church was taken down from the Furman site, but the one I posted a few hours ago remains.

[Stephen Fox]

Paladin is the Student Newspaper

https://furmanmedia.com/2019/11/13/impe ... /#more-940

[Stephen Fox]

https://furmanmedia.com/2019/11/19/my-e ... #more-1000

Quite different from my Freshman year when Josh McDowell was on campus and packed out the Dining room.

Crapps of Flanders Crapps and Smith People of the Covenant was in the audience. But I was pretty much virgin timber at the time and unaware Pressler was already after em.

[Stephen Fox]

Furman has a couple political scientists Danielle Vinson and Brett Nelsen the national press check in with when the SC Primary comes around. Good folks been there about thirty years.
Dr. Nelsen is featured on their facebook wall keying on the black vote in the Dem party.
Neither of them seem to have noticed my blog review of the book from last August that focuses on the SC 4th District, Trey Gowdy's old District in which they breathe and move and have their being as the Bible Says.
Nelsen in particular should engage that phrase as I'm pretty sure he had history in the PCA congregation,maybe even it's formation, with Jim Demint of the Heritage Foundation.

And thatfor starters. Check my blog site for deep dive into the SC 4th

And if you live there or teach or have interest in our Country and the US House, by all means have your local public library get the book and read it

[Stephen Fox]

https://news.furman.edu/2020/05/18/ahma ... able/amp/#

[Stephen Fox]

https://www.csog.com/obit/warren-candler-fortson/

Frady helped make him immortal in a national piece in 65

[Stephen Fox]

https://www.furman.edu/furman-focused/c ... er-2-2020/

[Stephen Fox]

It is through the First Prez choir of Greenville and it's 70s pastor Kowalski and Furman voice John Crabtree, the Shakespeare scholar who was major influence on Marshall Frady. Kowalski's were Ike and Mamie's pastor at Augusta National Prez where the Ikes had a cottage. Through Mamie the families became great friends. All documented in a Greenville News columnist, Jim McCallister collection.

[Stephen Fox]

Why aren't Baxter Wynn and David Wilkins on this panel to talk about the BLM march in Clemson June 13 where Trevor Lawrence told me he came down on the side of Drew Brees and Deshaun Watson in the twitter dustup between Brees and Trump. And why hasnt David Wilkins and Lindsey Graham and Timmons called on Donald Trump to apologize to two of Nick Saban's Heismann Trophy winners Trump implying they were SOBs cause they didnt kowtow to his interpretation of the Kaepernick affair? And now the Proud Boys are in play. Stuart Stevens kicks off It Was all a Lie quoting Lee Atwater infamous Nword memo. Lets hope this august Furman panel doesn't waste this golden opportunity to get to the heart of the matter. I volunteer for the next panel to explore how FBC Spartanburg SC's Truth for a New Generation conferences of five years ago laid the foundation for this ridiculous Trump/LindseyGraham/SCOTUS fiasco carnival we now find ourselves in. Maybe the conversation should flow into the Timmons name on the Basketball arena at Furman if anybody on campus has the mind to read Marty Cohen's Moral Congress that goes to the underbelly of Furman and Wofford's 4th Congressional district
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Stephen M. Fox
And all this coinciding with the release of the definitive work on the lynching of Willie Earle, They Stole him Out of Jail by Pickens SC author William Gravely. Like the New Yorker's Rebecca West revealed then and Evan Osnos reveals now about the dark money politics of the NRA that gave us the Stand Your Ground Law and the likely death of Trayvon Martin; like Gravely reports Furman 's Kendrick Schaefer said the so called "better" people of Greenville were struck mute with the Willie Earle verdict. Strong putrid analogy could be made now in the face of Greenville's County Club Republicans, the Republicans at Westminster Prez and Buncombe Street UMC and Christ Church Episcopal who will find a way to rationalize a vote for Lindsey Graham and Trump on or before Nov 3! The alumni office has my email address. If for some reason you delete this comment, please, please in the name of Jesus Christ and LD Johnson explain yourself to me. Thanks and looking forward to the conversation that ensues. I just tagged Mike Chibbaro who wrote the book on WHHS!
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Stephen M. Fox
I hope she has read Mike Chibbaro's book about the Mighty Generals Basketball team of Clyde Mayes and Norm Macdonald that integrated WHHS. What Furman should look at is the history of Lee Atwater and his n word memo and how that plays into this current moment of Trump and Lindsey Graham and William Timmons. And whether it is something Furman's great friend David Wilkins should speak to as Atwater envisioned racebaiting politics evolving into the NRA Dark Money politics of Jeff Duncan among others, and abortion politics Lindsey Graham is now using to rush AConey Barrett to the Supreme Court. Wade Hampton been around a long time and this makes interesting hand wringing but if you've been paying attention lately we have a clear and present danger in the Upcountry with the legacy of Lee Atwater that has metastasized into Trump and Lindsey!!!!!
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[Stephen Fox]

https://tinyurl.com/y6bamash

Proud of Furman for this report. A key race in the History of SC politics. Furman Saint and Chaplain LD Johnson is in one of the first footnotes siding with his friend Max Heller, the Mayor of Greenville, survivor of Hitler of the Jewish faith.

[Stephen Fox]

On this day within an hour of Biden officially announced as US President Ive made comments at the Auburn Opelika News and Furman facebook wall about a notice at OANews Mike Hubbard to be in jail for four years. His son Clayte is a 2018 Furman grad. I met Clayte at Homecoming a couple years ago, and about four years ago Mike Hubbard Sent Homeland security to Collinsville to make a personal call on me. There was a misunderstanding that got cleared up by the time of the kickoff that Friday night. They talked to people in town.
But this comes on heels of Marshall Frady shoutout in a Jon Meacham article in NY Times of late October. A comparison of end of Trump days to Wallace in 68. Strong History lesson. Clayte loves his Father as I;m sure Mike loves Clayte. They have friends in the FUMC of Auburn. But history is clear on Mike Hubbard's politics and Clayte has available in the best of the Furman tradition resources for a life ahead of him to try to make sense of what all this means and his father's role in it.

I hope Clayte does better than Franklin Graham when it comes to this link near at hand

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/07/93220302 ... gh-choices

[Stephen Fox]

posted 11 11 11:45am Veterans day 2020

Here is a way to finish strong for whatever thinking has been done on campus this fall in the Trump moment, while the Seeking Abraham Initiative is still evolving. Many know Baptist historian Bill Leonard was counsel to Furman's Abraham initiative. Here he is today with clear words for Furman's REEM Committee, Lindsey Graham, Timmons and Jeff Duncan. Furman President Davis, Trustee Baxter Wynn the brother of the former Chair of the SC GOP, and Furman great friend Minor Shaw. I hope the whole committee reads this carefully in conjunction with the teachable moment for the entire campus now on PBS The Rise of the Nazis. FTR I don't think William Timmons or Jeff Duncan even Trey Gowdy are Nazis, but I do think Jeff Duncan has a lot of explaining to do about the dark money politics of the NRA roots in Lee Atwater and Wallace Race Baiting. Sheriff Hobart Lewis may have some explaining to do as well with his rioting and looting ad on behalf of Lindsey Graham these last seven weeks or so. Or else looks to me REEM is shallow....Ive said too much. Check Bill Leonard on Bonhoeffer and read him carefully

[Stephen Fox]

Furman grad Russ Dean , FU 86, has written a marker of a book, Finding a New Way Home, that will be definitive for the Baptist experience at Furman the last hald of the 20th Century. Ive devoured it since gifted under the Christmas tree a week ago.
s
Dean names Marney's Friend Charlie Gilford when he and wife Amy Jacks get to Park Road in Charlotte twenty years ago. And in the Furman chapters lot of the proffs that were legends even the eleven years before Russ when I was there.

Dean's room mate freshman year was Kyle Matthew's, the Baptist jingle writer from FBC Greenvillle. Dean's father was longtime pastor at FBC Clinton SC home of Presbyterian College.

So this is good stuff, especially his Chapter on the Blood language in Baptist hymnody and where his faith and practice boundaries are now.

A lesser plateau than James Wood and Marshall Frady, but a good read especially for those of us with a Furman experience.

As Ive said many times before, Chic Fil A's Dan Cathy was in my religion class fall of 71 with Crapps, who along with DAvid Smith and the Baylor proff wJack Flanders wrote People of Covenant which stuck in Pressler's craw. Dan Cathy should read Russ Dean's book.

Flanders was at Furman till early 60s when he left for Baylor and in six years was to tangle with Pressler.

I will blog soon.

[Stephen Fox]

http://foxofbama.blogspot.com/2021/01/h ... urman.html

[Stephen Fox]

You can google the new vision statement online.

Here is my reply to several Furman people of influence to the email in my inbox today from the President's office. I think she was raised GA in New Orleans, and her Baptist identity if not that of George W. Truett or Winfred Moore, pretty pristine. Elizabeth Davis

Furman friends:

Thanks for a link to the values statement. I have been commenting routinely for more than a year now about the implications of these values for Upstate SC politics. I hear from occasional conversations with Furman students, it is likely more than fifty percent of students and their family voted for Donald Trump in the last election. According to the book by Marty Cohen, Moral Congress, the SC 4th District heartbeat are the values of Bob Jones and North Greenville and FBC Sburg. It is one thing to do hagiography of the significance of Joe Vaughn, quite another to engage in stark terms the complicity of too many Furman folk with all this talk of rigorous thought, in the politics of the GOP of the Upstate. Three books, most recent and significantly Beddingfield's Newspaper Wars, focus on Lee Atwater's 80 nword memo and how it helped shapge today's SC GOP. The wedge issue politics of abortion and Jeff Duncan's 2nd amendment gun politics are the dream of Lee Atwater, perfected by Karl Rove and Fox News, evolving from race baiting politics that became no longer palatable.
That is the conversation Furman needs to have and this spring if these visionary statements are to have much meaning for me in my last decade.
I spell that out further and name names in my most recent comment on Furman facebook wall.
That said, the record shows my GPA 75 at Furman was 2.0 and I took a summer class from Ernie Harrill and got a B minus to slip out the back door of the University with a degree. But I am grateful for Furman and the thoughts stoked there that I have pursued since then, and the kindness of Jim Pitts and the Furman Pastors school in the 80s and 90s for spaces for further consideration.
Though it might look otherwise I am proud to be a classmate of Trustee Chair Alec Taylor and proud of the Baptist witness of Baxter Wynn and his story; though I would hope he would go on political rewind of GPB next week and let me write the script for his comments. Ha
Hope yall are otherwise well.
Courtney, just this last week I trafficked the link of the best PDF version I could find of your dissertation on on history of Furman with SC SBC; linked it to baptists revenants on the cutting edge in Texas and Arkansas and the third world of Alabama where Momma was Baptized and I got defenestrated.
And Sam and Doug, Like MLK, I have a Dream that some day soon Furman will have the good sense to recognize everywhere including Fluor Field where such lists are spotlighted, Marshall Frady gets his just place among the TOP Five Greatest ever to come from the School. Smile.

Otherwise, Hope you are all well.
Please at minimum reply and say at least as they do in Gaffney: "Yeah, I saw it."
Thanks

Stephen M. Fox, FU 75 6 or 7