You Are a Great People: Maryland/Delaware Baptists, 1742-1998

Baptist History and Heritage, Wntr-Spring, 2001 by John H. Barnhill

By W. Loyd Allen. Franklin, Tenn.: Providence House Publishers, 2000. xii 324 pages.

If geography influences history, there is no surprise that the Baptists of Maryland have always taken the middle, tolerant, path. Baptists came as a minority into a Catholic-dominated colony at a time when the dominant church was the state one. Their small state is dominated by the port city that exchanges goods, ideas, and people. They are also the conduit between north and south, south and north. Sometimes, Maryland Baptists had to choose, and the choices often proved divisive. Their big splits came early in the nineteenth century, when the hardshells, two-seed, and non-mission elements split from the non-Calvinists. For Maryland Baptist history, the split also meant that the urban Baptists, i.e., Baltimorans, dominated from early on and that Maryland Baptists would have an impact that went well beyond their small state.

Allen provides nice explication of the different varieties of Baptists, something that can easily get quite confusing. Originally, the Baptists came in various forms. Some believed in predestination; some did not. Some stressed the importance of education; some did not. Some incorporated the Methodist-inspired revivals; others did not. The big question was the role of the church and its members: missions or not. This issue was the catalyst for the split of the promissionists who would evolve into mainstream Maryland Baptists from the antimissionists. After the split, those remaining in the organization reasserted inclusiveness, soul autonomy, with no doctrinal requirement, no tight statement of belief, no definition of Baptist, no mandatory membership requirements.

After the North-South split of 1845, Maryland worked with both sides. But its story was one of sliding inexorably into the southern camp especially as the southerners came to offer the same support that previously only the North provided (education, publishing, etc). This shift did not impact black members, whose preference after the Civil War was for autonomy, independence, and self-determination regardless of their earlier affiliation. However, it altered the role of women in the association: gave them less than they might have had in the Northern/American Baptist Convention. Also noteworthy is the rise of Fundamentalism and its insinuation into Southern Baptist ranks.

Delaware doesn't feature strongly, although the Baptists were there before they were in Maryland. Delaware Baptists came into the association as part of the colonization after World War II and were the only part of that outreach that didn't break away and form their own state convention. More emphasis is placed on the northeastern satellites. This section is especially interesting as it describes the impact of military bases and GIs in the spread of Maryland Baptists as well as the friction arising when one state association moves into another's territory.

This is institutional history of the classic sort. It treats solidly the important individuals, and it tells a story of an organization of increasingly complex organizational structure. There might not be more than a passing notice of the outside world in which this story unfolds, but the author does a nice, if concise, job of defining the issues and positions, the groups coming and going and their reasons for doing so, and the interrelationships. It's a good history and a significant contribution to the literature.--Reviewed by John H. Barnhill, Analyst and Historian, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.