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xvii F O R E W O R D Any serious study of history requires a scrutiny of primary sources, a statement equally true of both secular and religious history. Dr. Joseph Early, Jr., has provided the most complete and comprehensive collection of sources related to Baptists in Texas ever issued in one volume. This work is carefully sifted from a vast array of church minutes, personal letters and diaries, association and state convention records, and official records of various Baptist universities in Texas. Reports of important committees and study commissions round out this interesting summary of what Baptists in Texas have thought, said, and done on a multitude of issues in the Lone Star State. Dr. Early is remarkably evenhanded in his selection of sources to include. He does not go out of his way to include controversial items, nor does he shy away when they appear relevant.Any student of Baptist history will find this a fascinating and utterly indispensable source of information for anything relating to Baptists in the state. This works follows the outline of my own Texas Baptists: A Sesquicentennial History (Dallas: Baptistway Press, 1998). Chapter divisions and topics are the same, allowing the two works to be used independently or together. Though Early allows the sources to speak for themselves, he includes brief but pertinent introductions to set each piece in context. xviii ⁄ FOREWORD A prolific writer, Dr. Early has a number of other works in the process of publication. His doctoral dissertation, on the Hayden Controversy in Texas, will be issued shortly and he has a number of other books and articles in the pipeline. He distinguished himself as a doctoral student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, where he displayed energetic scholarship and a keen eye for history. This is not the last the public will read of Joe Early. One predicts he will shortly take his place among the great Baptist historians of Texas such as J. M. Carr, Z. N. Morrell, J. M. Carroll, B. F. Fuller, J. M. Dawson, and Robert A. Baker. This young man may very well exceed them all. A native of Kentucky, Joe graduated from Cumberland College, attended The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, and received his Ph.D. from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth in 2002. He is currently Assistant Professor of Religion at Cumberland College. Harry Leon McBeth Distinguished Professor of Baptist History Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, Texas ...

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