by Sandy » Fri Feb 07, 2014 4:28 pm
Before Stephen turns this back into another irrelevant tirade on Billy Graham, I'll throw in this brief evaluation of the book. Still not completely finished, but had some hospital time to get through most of it last week.
I don't believe Stephen has stumbled upon an ally to support his theories related to the conservative resurgence in the SBC. Apparently, in her analysis, and in her research, Worthen located some moderate Baptists from the pre-1979 era who were willing to admit that they controlled the convention through a precarious, but effective system that made sure a president was elected who would then go back to the tight little oligarchy that ran the convention to get his nominees. She credits the success of the conservatives in getting the convention apparatus to shift to the fact that most of the churches, members, and pastors and church leaders, were already well to the theological right of the convention leadership and that allowed the conservatives to sustain long term control of the convention. The opposition was widely resented for its paternalistic style of leadership, and couldn't come close to matching the kinds of numbers that the conservatives could get to any convention in any location. I'd say the most substantial piece of supporting evidence I picked up from Ms. Worthen is that the conservative resurgence in the SBC was exactly that, in that it only took organization and figuring out how to work within the system for the conservatives to win, because Worthen contends that the SBC's churches had already been pulled into the broader community of conservative evangelicalism. That's a key point she makes in proving her thesis.
Significantly, and surprisingly, I picked up on the fact that Worthen has a rather strong respect for the educational system and processes of conservative Evangelical Christianity, rather than a disdain for its quality. Clearly, she disagrees with much of the specific content, but backs away from accusations of "indoctrination," evaluating its educational institutions as successful in generating the overall effectiveness and influence of Evangelical Christianity. That's what most Southern Baptists have asked of their schools--to reflect the convictions and beliefs of the churches that established, supported and nurtured them. What we've been experiencing over the past 30 years in Southern Baptist higher education is that some schools have decided to reflect the convictions and beliefs of their supporting churches, while others have sought to loosen, or cut, their ties and move in a different direction. She doesn't support Stephen's elitist view of Baptist higher education.
To her credit, Worthen doesn't pigeonhole conservative Christianity. IMHO, that may be the influence of the encounters she had during her research, or it may have been her own conclusion before writing this book. I also don't get the feeling that she'd be much interested in, or influenced by one of Stephen's imaginary encounters with someone who would set her straight on the places where he thinks she missed the boat.