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Baptist Polity: As I See It, by James L. Sullivan
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Product details
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: B&H Books; Revised, Subsequent edition (July 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805401717
ISBN-13: 978-0805401714
Product Dimensions:
6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
Average Customer Review:
3.9 out of 5 stars
6 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#600,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Synopsis James Sullivan has written the definitive textbook on Southern Baptist polity. By calling upon his fifty years of Southern Baptist Convention service, Sullivan formed a comprehensive survey of how and why Baptists do the things that they do. He began by surveying the forces that forged the mettle of Southern Baptist life, faith, and practice in the years before and after the convention's formation in 1845. He examined the foundational element of Baptist life--the local church--especially as it relates to the lordship of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of the believer. He affirmed that the local church is the center of Baptist life for individual members and is the nexus for all other denominational activities. This fierce independence drew deep roots in the early years of the development of Baptists as a denomination. However, the autonomy of the local church allows room for cooperative effort between churches as they seek to do together what they could not effectively do individually. Thus, Baptist churches cooperate through local associations, as well as state and national conventions, to accomplish the work of missions and evangelism. Sullivan artfully reviewed several myths regarding Baptist polity. He detailed the four building blocks of Baptist polity: tradition, law, sound organizational principles, and theology. He compared and contrasted the Baptist denominational structure vis-Ã -vis other typical kinds of denominational structures. He concluded, of course, that the Southern Baptist organizational structure is preferred because it is more scriptural and maintains as sacrosanct the autonomy of the local church as it relates to every aspect of denominational life and practice. While Baptist draw their polity and structure from the New Testament church, the system by which Baptists have conducted their business as seen some refinement over they years. In the last half of the book, Sullivan reviewed the inner workings of the Southern Baptist Convention, its agencies, boards, committees, trustee system, and financing. The reader is given a rare glimpse into the skeleton that supports the body of the Southern Baptist denomination. Sullivan demystified the process for conducting convention business. In doing so, he assured his readers that checks and balances are in place to prevent the convention from usurping local autonomy or moving away from the fundamentals of Baptist beliefs.Analysis A few issues are worthy of comment. First, Sullivan served for twenty-two years as the president of the Baptist Sunday School Board. His bias for that agency is clear, especially with regard to the supposed inequities arising from the structure of the Interagency Council. He alleged that these inequities "created an environment which made the present agonies of the Southern Baptist controversy psychologically possible..." (84). However, he does not clarify or warrant his assertion. He seemed to be concerned that the Sunday School Department was not adequately represented with respect to the level of its influence on Southern Baptist life. Such inequity, he charged, created "all kinds of problems from which some of the ministries are still suffering today" (86) But, again, he did not say what problems. He called for balanced representation, but did not define what that balance should look like. Second, Sullivan noted that several pre-Convention meetings (such as the Pastor's Conference) have arisen over the years. He cautioned that such meetings should not seek to influence the Convention's actions in a negative way (91). While this appears sound on its face, "negative way" is very subjective. One must remember that these pre-Convention meetings are independent, autonomous, and democratic bodies representing a constituency of the Southern Baptist Convention membership. While these special interest groups only relate to the Convention peripherally, the group members will do Convention business directly. Sullivan's angst regarding these meetings most likely stems from their use as a platform from which conservative presidents were groomed for election. Additionally, these conferences highlighted issues of concern for Southern Baptist. Early on during the conservative resurgence, these pre-Convention meetings were used to introduced problems and potential solutions ignored by the Baptist Press and a recalcitrant liberal-moderate bureaucracy. Sullivan had been a part of that bureaucracy for many years. Sullivan clarified that all denominational entities (associations, state conventions, and the national convention) are organizationally equidistant from the local churches. Additionally, no other denominational entity can influence the work of another. Thus, associations do not select members of state executive boards and state conventions do not select members for national boards and committees. Each selects its own committee members, boards, and trustees. However, Sullivan does not explain how the appointment process happens at the national level. One is left with the impression that selection for service in the national convention is a matter of who one knows, not what one knows. Sullivan lamented that few laypersons serve in high profile national offices, yet the design of the system is such that those in the system select their successors who will in turn perpetuate the system. More transparency is required of the process. Regarding the theological positioning of Southern Baptists, Sullivan asserted that Baptists are solidly middle conservative with only about ten percent leaning liberal or ultraconservative. His discussion raises several questions he does not answer. One, what is the basis of his 10-80-10 assessment; or is it simply a generalized application of the Pareto Principle? Two, what are Sullivan's definitions of liberal, conservative, and ultraconservative? Third, would other denominations (or other Southern Baptists) agree on that definition? Four, with regard to the theological spectrum (134), is there room for a position that would be neither liberal nor conservative? In other words, why are there only three nomenclatures? Five, is there a matrix of beliefs that can help identify a liberal from a conservative from an ultraconservative? What is the template from which he is working? This reader could not tell. Six, Sullivan stated that "the Convention itself is fairly well locked into a solid position..."(135), but one wonders whether Baptists of the past could discern a theological shift. Sullivan took subtle jabs at the conservative resurgence. He persisted in asserting that the church was the foundational element of Southern Baptist life--marked by an adherence to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of all believers. Those two important doctrines reflected some of the dominant elements of the liberal-moderate position at the height of the conservative resurgence. When conservatives charged that Southern Baptist professors taught from a neo-orthodox view of the Scriptures, the liberal-moderates stood behind their mantra of soul competency and individual priesthood. What they failed to realize is that Baptist polity could never trump Baptist theology. Read Sullivan in order to understand why the Southern Baptist Convention, agencies, and churches do what they do the way they do it.
Excellent product!
James Sullivan was Secretary of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was born and raised in Mississippi, and he never veered from his culture and tradition even when the South was changing. He was indeed a man who attempted to please everybody.
It's a shame that there aren't more reviews of this book. I don't really know of another book like it, although I do hope that someone has penned a more recent version that is a standard textbook at Southern Baptist seminaries like this used to be (one 2007 reviewer remarks he wish he'd had it in seminary, so I guess it's not used much anymore). I've been a Southern Baptist for 30 years, and am currently an ordained deacon. But I did not know half of what was in this book, on the basic history of the Southern Baptist Convention, the basic makeup of the Convention (a mistake I have made for 30 years that this book corrects quickly: the Convention is the annual meeting, not the name of the denomination), its processes, organizational charts, how the state conventions work, how SBs differ from other denominations, how the Cooperative Program was developed, various challenges it faced and overcame up to 1983, etc. He also clarifies many common misconceptions people have.Sullivan was a pastor, Sunday School Board (now Lifeway) President, Southern Baptist Convention President (1976-1978), State Convention President, and held a host of other positions. This book is both his explanation and a defense of how the denomination operates, arguing that it's the best for various reasons. Sullivan was no liberal, the only criticisms I've seen of him suggest he was naive to how liberal some of the teachers at Southern Baptist seminaries had become. There certainly is no hint in this book of a need for the eventual "Baptist Reformation," which is now a cornerstone of SB seminary historical teaching. The reality is that Southern Baptists have always been in the middle of the Conservative camp, its Convention Presidents almost always Conservative theologically, as Sullivan suggests in his diagram on p. 198. The "Reformation" following Sullivan's publishing simply affirmed and solidified this position. "Southern Baptists might be called conservatives with the little letter c but not conservatives with a capital C...(and) fundamentalists with a small f...Southern Baptists sometimes have a rather disconcerting tendency to interpret doctrines from the limited perspective of their own denomination...a person who is a conservative in the general religious field can sometimes be looked upon as liberal in Southern Baptist life...The point I'm making is that ultraconservatism should be avoided just as studiously as liberalism. Sometimes it is more dangerous to us" (p. 199). The ultraconservatism he warns about are a few specific schism movements in the early 20th century (J. Frank Norris) as well as strong feelings like Landmarkism and the insular mindset of Independent Baptists.Where I think this book is great is in briefly teaching the history of Baptist faith in America and the emphasis on liberty, both of the believer and of individual churches. I think the more recently popular movements within Southern Baptist life, such as the 9Marks movement, Desiring God, etc. re-root Southern Baptist life in the Gospel, but seem also to divorce it from the Baptist history. Mark Dever, for example, is much more apt to include a Puritan or an Anabaptist in his sermon, but someone critical to making up the 1845-modern era Southern Baptist ranks may never make a cameo. (Like Dever, Sullivan is critical in the book [p. 82] of the unbiblical Deacon Boards that make up many SB churches, as well as "autocratic" pastors that are contrary to the principle of liberty at the heart of Baptist heritage.) Sullivan does not dwell much on the murky and debated beginnings of Baptists but does discuss how the different Baptist groups coming to America "buried their hatchets" and adopted the phrase "unity in diversity" (p. 39). Southern Baptists, traditionally, have emphasized a "unity in diversity." But this is difficult in practice because "there are certain people who find it difficult to cooperate with those who do not hold views identical to their own" (p. 203). But that is what has made the Convention so remarkable, the way debates are moderated on the floor and voted on democratically, it is hard for extreme positions to win out. I don't know if it began with the "Reformation" or not, but it would seem that diversity is less than it might be. There has been somewhat of an ongoing battle between Reformed and more Arminian-leaning teachings that I think Reformed are winning now; and my limited understanding from other evangelical denominations is that a similar trend is happening elsewhere.Early Southern Baptist churches only met irregularly, maybe once or twice a month depending on the weather or the season. (P. 51 quotes an anecdote that one church objected to having year-round Bible studies because it was "too many meetings.") The hour they met was chosen to be ideal for morning chores and travel time. Hence, the 11am hour became sacred. Sullivan notes traditions such as these that became difficult to break, particularly the sacrosanct 11am hour. Sullivan does not gloss over slavery as the reason for the establishment of a Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. He includes the original 1845 Constitution and speech of explanation by William B. Johnson in the appendix. American Baptists had previously affirmed that slaveholding was a non-essential disagreement. But they abruptly changed their mind and would not allow slaveholders to be funded as missionaries, despite nothing being in the official American Baptist Constitution about it. The offended Southerners broke ranks and formed their own. The 1845 language is an appeal to liberty away from the "pressure of men's hands" that limit what one can and cannot do. But Sullivan repeats throughout the book that Southern Baptist polity allows it to be very flexible and "progressive in methodology," while conservative in theology. Its polity and emphasis on individual and church liberty allows for that dynamic and makes it "the best." "While Baptists will defend the right of any group to practice the hierarchical system if it wishes, we prefer to go another way, choosing democratic processes magnifying the worth of each individual and the importance of each local congregation" (p. 80).The guidelines, rules, and laws that the Southern Baptist Convention follow have changed very little, even though methodology has changed (in the 1940s, Sunday School was the hub of North American evanglism, now it is NAMB). Yet Southern Baptists are largely ignorant of those rules and never take part. That is something Sullivan would have liked to see corrected, calling on every member, particularly leaders, to be better-educated on polity. This would correct an ongoing problem of people moving from a State Convention committee to a national committee and not understanding the different rules and purposes. It would also connect SB's back to their history of liberty. "It is only by teaching Southern Baptists thoroughly about the basic principles of Southern Baptist polity that we will be able to avoid the risk of our denomination's moving unconsciously in an ever-increasing way toward centralization, or control in the hands of a few. If that sad day ever occurs, it will not only be disruptive; it will be catasrophic for Baptists" (p. 52).In all, this book gave me a greater appreciation of Baptist history, liberty, and the Southern Baptist Convention as an institution. Four stars out of five.
I wish I would have read this book in Seminary. This books answered allot of questions I had about Baptist Polity. It brought insight and understanding to why we as Baptist function the way we do and the spiritual significance to decision making and denominational structure. Another great book is "more than just a name, preserving our Baptist identity" by Stanton Norman. A must read!
I NEEDED TWO BAPTIST POLITY I ORDER ONE FROM YOU AND ONE FROM ANOTHER THE ONE I ORDERED FROM YOU CAME RIGHT ON TIME THE OTHER CAME ABOUT A WEEK TOO LATE
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