Born of Water and Spirit: The Baptist Impulse in Kentucky, 1776–1860 by Richard C. Traylor (review)

The academy has recently exhibited renewed interest in the role of Protestantism in American history. Scholars readily saw the influence of centralized groups, such as Presbyterians and Methodists. Decentralized organizations, such as Baptists, have proven more difficult to analyze, their distinctives precluding generalizations. In Born of Water and Spirit, Richard Traylor, using these very defining qualities, which he terms “the Baptist impulse,” maps the development of Baptists between the Revolution and the Civil War, depicting how the denomination grew along with the nation while remaining true to these central tenets.

The analysis concentrates on Kentucky Baptists, who are representative of who Baptists were and were becoming between 1776 and 1860. They were united with their coreligionists by four foundational principles: the believer’s baptism by immersion, the ability of any individual to have a direct relationship with God, the importance and autonomy of the local church, and the simultaneous priority and equality of the preacher (7, 8). These constituted the “Baptist impulse.”

The book’s seven chapters mix chronological and thematic coverage of the topic. Chapters 1 to 3 examine the facets of the impulse and explore their manifestations in Kentucky. With a strong command of the literature, both historical and theological, and insightful primary documents from early America, Traylor explores the ways in which public rituals such as baptism, communion, and weekly prayer and worship held deep private meanings for individual parishioners, balancing and fulfilling the needs of individuals and the community (34, 35).

Chapters 4 to 6 turn to practical matters that highlight the intersection of an intensely egalitarian religious outlook with the realities of antebellum life. Theological disagreements tore Kentucky Baptists apart, while the pressures of social respectability prompted self-examination from a different direction. In the midst of these convulsions, women and blacks asserted themselves as makers and preservers of the Baptist impulse. Each group contended with subordination in society, and while these views pervaded the church, the democratic ethos of the church allowed them considerable room to form their own identities within the Baptist impulse (156, 180).

The final chapter acts as a conclusion, while pointing forward to the next phase of the Baptist experience. It looks at how the Baptists saw themselves as the Civil War loomed, leaving the split over slavery in the background. The slavery crisis did not dampen Baptist enthusiasm, nor did it give them pause about their future. It was their very success since 1776 that gave rise to the very denominational mind-set that served as a necessary precondition for dividing over slavery (185). At the same time, new internal pressures divided Baptists again. However, the Baptist impulse persevered, and continued to unite believers throughout the nation.

This book is about identity. It goes beyond many of the standard checkpoints of religious history, such as the Second Great Awakening and the denominational split. By using these four particular characteristics as a prism, Traylor peers into the very heart of what it meant to be a Baptist and lays an important theological and theoretical framework for better understanding the more well-known narratives about religious enthusiasm, social reform, and slavery.

Traylor largely ignores other literature that offers a list of core Baptist characteristics; however, most historians will overlook this historiographic oversight, as it in no way imperils this analysis. The author does utilize primary and secondary sources to handle skillfully the complex theological disputes that divided Baptists in early America. He places priority on their internal meaning for Baptists, then deftly shifts to how they projected the impulse into the secular sphere. Glossing over such things as the differences between Separate and Regular Baptists, the major events of the Second Great Awakening, and the arguments leading to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention could cause some confusion. However, those versed in Baptist thought and/or American religious history will recognize the considerable historiographic contribution this book makes: it clarifies the role...