James Robinson Graves: Staking the Boundaries of Baptist Identity (Studies in Baptist Life and Thought)

by James A. Patterson

Publisher:

B&H

, 2012

Overview

James Robinson Graves (1820-1893) is known for firmly believing that Baptists of his day needed clearly distinct markers in order to preserve a meaningful denominational identity. The founder of Landmarkism, his theology emphasized church succession (an unbroken trail of authentic congregations dating back to the New Testament), the local church (rather than the idea of a universal Body of Christ), and strict baptism guidelines.

In this first biography of Graves in more than eighty years, author James A. Patterson portrays the man as bold and brash. A native of Vermont who moved south to Nashville in 1845, the self-educated preacher and budding journalist would become a combative defender of the Baptist cause, engaging in public controversy with Methodists, Restorationists, and even fellow Baptists.

Ultimately, Graves sought to influence the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention in its formative period and was the primary shaper of the “Tennessee Tradition,” now considered a key strand of Southern Baptist life and identity. By focusing on Graves’s understanding of essential Baptist boundary markers, this book assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Landmark legacy. It concludes with an epilogue that discusses the enduring influence of his ideas in the decades after his death.

Key Features

• Explores the life, thought and legacy of J.R. Graves
• Portrays J.R. Graves primarily as one who beat the boundaries of Baptist belief and practice in the still essentially frontier culture of the nineteenth-century mid-South
• Expands on two previously published articles on J.R. Graves's life: "The J.R. Graves Synthesis: American Individualism and Landmarkist Ecclesiology" and "James Robinson Graves: History in the Service of Ecclesiology"

Praise for James Robinson Graves

"Jim Patterson is one of our ablest historians, and he has given us a superb biography of the indomitable J.R. Graves, the South's most influential Baptist in the nineteenth century. The legacy of Graves still lingers on in various ways and this is presented here with nuance and critical appreciation. A great read!"

Timothy George, founding dean, Beeson Divinity School, general editor, the Reformation Commentary on Scripture

"J.R. Graves's lingering influence on Southern Baptist life is indisputable, but he has remained largely inaccessible until now. James Patterson's biography offers considerable insight and clarity on one of nineteenth-century America's most colorful and controversial ministers."

Keith Harper, professor of Church History, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

"Here is Baptist history at its best. Jim Patterson's clear, careful, even-handed, and masterful portrait of J.R. Graves reveals not only much insight into the person, context, culture, and ideology of Graves, but also church life, theology, missions, and relations among denominations. Historians and theologians will esteem its precision; pastors and church leaders will welcome its relevance."

Christopher W. Morgan, dean and professor of Theology, California Baptist University

Product Details

• Title: James Robinson Graves: Staking the Boundaries of Baptist Identity
• Author: James A. Patterson
• Publisher: B&H
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Graves, J. R. › (James Robinson),--1820-1893; Landmarkism; Baptists › United States--Clergy--Biography
• ISBNs: 9781433675980, 9781433671661, 9781621905844, 1433675986, 1433671662, 1621905845
• Resource ID: LLS:9781433675980
• Resource Type: text.monograph.biography
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T21:12:25Z