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FOREWORD
- University of North Texas Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
vii ControversyseemsalmostsecondnaturetoTexasBaptists.When notwagingwaragainstexternalenemiesfromafar,theyhaveoften turnedinwardupononeanotherwithunbecomingzest.Atonepoint in the late nineteenth century rancor had produced five rival sate conventions,twohostilenewspapers,andtwocompetinguniversities. AsBaptisthistorianJ.M.Carrollobserved,TexasBaptistshad“created organizationswithinorganizations—wheelswithinwheels—untilone wheel could not turn without interfering with another.”1 So, in a sense,theHaydencontroversywasjustanotherBaptistslugfest,replete withstrongwilled,uncompromising,andself-righteouspersonalities, chargesandcounter-charges,overblownrhetoric,andapistolfightin themen’sroomofamovingpassengertrain. ThisfineworkbyProfessorJoeEarlypullstogetherthediverse andcomplicatedstrandsoftheHaydencontroversyand,significantly, treatstheprincipalplayersasneitherheroesnorvillains.S.A.Hayden, certainly a contentious and divisive sort, emerges from these pages somewhat more favorably than usual, while B. H. Carroll, a giant amongTexasBaptists,comesoffaslessthansaintly,amandetermined tohavehiswayandpreparedtobehaveinanunprincipledmanner togetit.Basically,Early’sstudyshedslightonaTexasBaptistpower struggleinvolvingambitiousmenandatugofwarfordenominational dominancebetweenfactionsinWacoandDallas.Inretrospect,arift betweenHaydenandB.H.Carrollappearsunavoidable.Bothmen aspired to denominational leadership, both held strong views, and neithercouldsucceedfullywithoutinsomewayprevailingoverthe other. IftheHaydencontroversyemanatedfromaclashofpersonalities,it quicklyevolvedintoabitterdisputeoverafundamentalissueofchurch policy.Specifically,whatconstitutesaBaptistconvention?Haydenand hissupportersbelievedtheconventionconsistedofsovereignchurches FOREWORD a.front.indd7 10/4/052:11:15PM viii Foreword whose delegates could not be expelled from the annual gatherings. Carrollandhisfollowerscounteredthattheconventionwascomposed ofmessengersselectedbythechurches,associations,andmissionary societies,andthatthosemessengers,wheninsession,constitutedthe convention, not the churches. Hayden’s group lost this argument, and the upshot was the formation of yet another state convention, theBaptistMissionaryAssociation.Givinghisworkacontemporary ring,EarlydrawsanaptcomparisonbetweentheBaptistMissionary AssociationandtherecentlyorganizedSouthernBaptistsofTexas,a groupforgedintheheatofacurrentTexasBaptistbattle. Religious newspapers, which were then privately owned and reflected the opinions of their owners, figured prominently in the Haydencontroversy.ThroughthecolumnsofhisDallas-basedpaper, theTexasBaptistandHerald,HaydenverballyassaultedfellowBaptists with whom he disagreed. Located in Waco in 1892, the Baptist StandardaffordedavoicetoBaptistswhotookexceptiontoHayden. Early’s investigation of this “newspaper war” has been exhaustive, andtheresultisthemostbalancedandfullestaccounttodateofthe Haydencontroversy. JohnW.Storey LamarUniversity Beaumont,Texas a.front.indd8 10/4/052:11:15PM ...