The Reformation
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 60, No. 1 – Fall 2017
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Baptists and War: Essays on Baptists and Military Conflict, 1640s–1990s. Edited by Gordon L. Heath and Michael A. G. Haykin. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2015. 243 pages. Paperback, $38.00.
Despite the many things that Baptists have in common, their opinions differ widely on certain issues. The issues of war, peace, and civil service are among those where Baptists diverge most widely and significantly. Baptists and War, a collection of essays presented at the fifth annual conference of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, presents an exciting opportunity to learn about these issues from various viewpoints and from expert authors. Since the topic “Baptists and War” is rather broad, this volume contains a wide diversity of papers.
The essays, arranged chronologically, begin with Anthony Cross’s “Baptists, Peace, and War: The Seventeenth-Century Foundations.” In this essay on the early English Baptists, Cross wisely spends significant time looking to the continental Anabaptists who influenced the early English Baptists in many ways—especially on the issues of peace and government service. In fact, as Cross demonstrates, the early Anabaptists expressed almost all the possible views of peace and government service that later Baptist groups have held. The next essay, by Paul L. Brewster, jumps forward in time to examine “Andrew Fuller and the War Against Napoleon.” Most of Brewster’s analysis comes only from one sermon by Fuller on Christian patriotism. It is interesting to see an essay so specifically focused on one sermon. However, the shear strength of Fuller in this comprehensive sermon not only warrants this examination, but makes Brewster’s essay a particularly interesting one. Brewster shows that Fuller held to a quintessential Baptist hesitancy regarding war with the belief that there are some “just wars” which need to be fought. In those cases, Fuller gives a blessing for the young men of his church to join their countrymen in fighting them. In “A House Uniting: Americans, Baptists, and the War of 1812,” James Tyler Robertson addresses the somewhat blundersome War of 1812. Generally, the war is considered a catalyst in solidifying the identity of the fledgling United States, and Robertson shows that the war also served to unite Baptists in their Baptist and American identities.
The two essays on Canadian Baptists are positioned together both chronologically and in presentation. Gordon Heath’s “The Nile Expedition, New Imperialism, and Canadian Baptists, 1884–1885,” explores the Canadian Baptist struggle with imperialism. While some Canadian Baptists were “uncomfortable with the language of righteousness bolstering the imperial cause” (109), others saw imperialism as an important opportunity to spread the Gospel into new places. In “Call to Arms: The Reverend Thomas Todhunter Shields, World War One, and The Shaping of a Militant Fundamentalist,” Doug Adams demonstrates how Shields’s experiences with World War I caused him to grow increasingly fervent in his fundamentalist sentiments. Robert Linder’s “Australian Baptists in World War Two” is a compelling contrast between two Australian Baptists during World War II: a soldier wounded in battle and an outspoken conscientious objector. He finds the soldier’s account through the examination of archived post-war soldier questionnaires. In “Soviet Baptists and The Cold War” Maurice Dowling attempts the impossible task of un-derstanding the troubles and changes in Baptist life in the Soviet Union by examining official publications. Finally, Nathan Finn analyzes the various opinions towards Vietnam from different American Baptists in “Baptists and the War in Vietnam: Responses to America’s Longest War’.” The strength of this essay is Finn’s analysis of the reasons why different Baptist groups rejected the war. His analysis of the way the Civil Rights Movement and The Vietnam War related and conflicted in Baptist life (214–15) is also particularly helpful.
One of the strengths of this volume is the diversity of subjects. Each essay focuses on a different time period and on different nations. There are two essays on British Baptists, two American, two Canadian, one Australian, and one Russian. This is helpful for any reader looking for a place to start studying Baptist views on war. Because of this, this volume makes an excellent starting point for anyone looking into the history of Baptists on war and peace. The diversity of subjects also produced excellent bibliographies of rare history—another invaluable contribution.
Perhaps the greatest value of this volume is the original primary source research done in these essays. Linder combed through post-war soldier questionnaires for his essay, Doug Adams scoured through years of Baptist newspaper printings, and Maurice Dowling did the same in his thorough examination of Russian Baptist newspapers throughout the Cold War. The dedication of these scholars to bring to light important but neglected pieces of Baptist history is staggering, and for such a contribution, this volume is highly recommended.
