Profiles In Baptist History

Here is a page that has vignettes of 15 prominent Baptists (and Menno Simons).

Includes: F. B. Meyer, T. T. Shields, Charles Spurgeon, G. B. Vick, J. Frank Norris, and others. Quite an eclectic list.

 

Robert Boyte Crawford Howell was my Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle. No Baptist history would be complete without a commentary on his life.

Robert Boyte Crawford Howell

HOWELL, Robert Boyte Crawford, author, born in Wayne county, North Carolina, 10 March, 1801; died in Nashville, Tennessee, 5 April. 1868. He was graduated at Columbian college, Washington, D. C., in 1826. Soon afterward he was licensed to preach, and labored as a missionary under the Baptist general association of Virginia. On 27 January, 1827, he was ordained pastor of the Cumberland street Baptist church, Norfolk, Virginia, where he continued eight years, and in 1834 he removed to Nashville, Tennessee, where until 1850 he was pastor of the 1st Baptist church. He established and edited for some time a religious newspaper in Nashville, was moderator or president of all the religious organizations of the Baptists in the state, and for ten consecutive years was president of the Southern Baptist convention. In 1850-'7 he was pastor of the 2d Baptist church in Richmond, Virginia, but afterward returned to his former charge at Nashville, and remaining there till his death. At the beginning of the civil war he took a decided stand in favor of the south, and, when the city came into the possession of the National forces, was placed under military surveillance by Andrew Johnson, then governor of the state. Dr. Howell was commanding in his presence, eloquent as a preacher, and graceful and vigorous as a writer, he is the author of "Terms of Sacramental Communion" (Philadelphia, 1841); "Howell on the Deaconship" (1846); "The Way of Salvation" (Charleston, 1849); "The Evils of Infant Baptism" (1851); "The Cross" (1854); "The Covenant" (1856); "The Early Baptists of Virginia" (Philadelphia, 1876); and several smaller books. He left unpublished "A Memorial of the First Baptist Church of Nashville from 1820 to 1863," "The Christology of the Pentateuch," an enlargement of "The Covenants," and "The Family." Some of his works were republished in England.


Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM

 

Sorry, I made a boo boo by posting the whole article on R.B.C. Howell. I will do better in future. lol

 

Jan van Leyden. That was one crazy guy. He was, however, an Anabaptist, but who's counting.

 

Though van Leyden was on the fanatical fringes of Anabaptism (the fringe that helped make Anabaptism "anathema" in the minds of many), I don't think we should count him out of the Anabaptist family. Melchior Hoffman and Bernard Rothmann both had a hand in the Münster debacle of Van Leyden and Jan Matthias, and Hoffman's and Rothmann's influence on the more sound Anabaptist theologians Menno Simons and Pilgram Marpeck can be traced.

I would place Jan van Leyden far out on the fringes, with a theology not generally consistent with core Anabaptist theology, but a part of the family nonetheless.

 

I'm not sure that it's so much that they want them - sort of like the eccentric uncles and crazy cousins we'd rather not mention are part of the family! Hoffman baptized Jan Matthias, who baptized Jan van Leyden (and maybe Rothmann). I believe Hoffman also baptized Obbe and Dirk Philips, but I don't remember that he baptized Simons. Menno was ordained by Obbe Philips. Matthias originally accepted Hoffman's views on non-violence, but later discarded them. Here's an interesting article on: Mennonite/Anabaptist Christology .

To kind of bring the topic back to it's original intent, here's a couple of links on J. B. Cranfill:

Dr. J. B. Cranfill's Chronicle - A Story of Life in Texas
James Britton Buchanan Boone Cranfill

Though raised a Primitive Baptist, Cranfill cast his lot with the Missionaries, and became a leader among them in Texas. He was a central figure in the "Hayden Controversy", firing many rhetorical shots, and once they even fired literal shots at one another. Cranfill ran as a vice-presidential candidate on the Prohibition ticket in 1892.

 

"There was a man, sent from God, his name is John". "The voice of one, crying in the wilderness"; also: "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".

John, The Baptist--the first "Baptist" beheaded for his preaching the Gospel.

Selah,

Bro. James

 

P. S. to last post:

John the Baptist was the first of thousands, perhaps millions martyred for preaching Jesus and Him crucified during the Dark Ages. Christians? killing Christians as it were.

Selah,

Bro. James

 

Yes, perhaps it is unfare to group people like Rothman, Mathias, and van Leyden within the Anabaptist family.

If you're looking for a more "respectable" anabaptist to discuss, there's always Conrad Grebel and Menno Simmons, even if they are less interesting.

 

John Dagg, author of the first book on theology by a Southern Baptist, The Manual of Theology.

www.founders.org/library/dagg_bio.html

http://www.ageslibrary.com/authordb/D/dagg.html

 

HERSCHEL H. HOBBS, "What Baptists Believe"

[ August 01, 2005, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: rsr ]

 

I agree with rlvaughn in his post on Sep 27 regarding Shubal Stearns and the separatist baptist movement. I'd like to add J. Frank Norris for being probably the most influential Baptist in modern times for renewing (if unwittingly at the time) the separatist (independent) Baptist movement.

 

has anyone mentioned Roger Williams ?
he was a strong sepratist and advocate of separation of church and state during the colonial times.(though i dont know if he officially adressed himself as baptist, he certainly acted like one )

 

personal favorites - Issaicc Backus, John Leland, John Edwards...

Backus sites from Bro. Robert:
www.lvbaptist.org/cameos/bc-back.html
www.christianlaw.org/juniorpartners/ResourceCenter/am_hero_backus.html
www.famousamericans.net/isaacbackus/
www.baptistpage.org/Portraits/backus.htm
www.thebaptistpage.com/Reading/reading_backus.htm
www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/332.htm
Baptist Cameos, Index

Leland sites:

http://www.geocities.com/pblighthouse/leland.html

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/1668/john_leland.html

[ August 01, 2005, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: rsr ]