Primitive Baptists
Primitive Baptists, also known as Hard Shell Baptists,[1] Anti-Mission Baptists,[1] or Old School Baptists[1] are conservative, Calvinist Baptists adhering to beliefs that formed out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 1800s over the appropriateness of mission boards, Bible tract societies, and temperance societies.[2] The adjective "Primitive" in the name has the sense of "original."[1]
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[edit] History
This controversy over whether churches or members should participate in mission boards, bible tract societies, and temperance societies led the Primitive Baptists to separate from other general Baptist groups that supported such organizations, and to make declarations of opposition to such organizations in articles like the Kehukee Association Declaration of 1827.[2][3]
Primitive Baptist churches arose in the mountainous regions of the southeastern United States, where they are found in their greatest numbers.[4][5]
African American Primitive Baptist groups have been considered a unique category of Primitive Baptist with approximately 50,000 African Americans affiliated with African American Primitive Baptist churches as of 2005.[6] Approximately 64,000 people were affiliated (as of 1995) with Primitive Baptist churches in the various other emergences of Primitive Baptists.[6]
Since arising in the 19th Century, the influence of Primitive Baptists has waned as "Missionary Baptists became the mainstream".[3]
[edit] Theological views
Primitive Baptists trace their origins to the New Testament era,[3] rather than to John Calvin. In fact, they oppose elements of Calvin's theology, such as infant baptism, and avoid the term "Calvinist."[1] However, they are Calvinist in the sense of holding strongly to the Five Points of Calvinism and they explicitly reject Arminianism.[1][3] They are also characterized by "intense conservatism".[4][5]
[edit] Distinct practices
Primitive Baptist practices that are distinguishable from those of other Baptists include a cappella singing, family integrated worship, and the informal training of preachers.
[edit] A cappella singing
Primitive Baptists generally do not play musical instruments as part of their worship services.[8] They believe that all church music should be a cappella because there is no New Testament command to play instruments, but only to sing.[7] Further, they connect musical instruments in the Old Testament with "many forms and customs, many types and shadows, many priests with priestly robes, many sacrifices, festivals, tithings" which they see as having been abolished; "had they been needed in the church Christ would have brought them over."[7] African American Primitive Baptists may not share the general Primitive Baptist opposition to musical instruments, however.[9]
[edit] Family integrated worship
Primitive Baptists notably reject the idea of Sunday School,[10] viewing it as unscriptural and interfering with the right of parents to give religious instruction to their children.[11] Instead, children are expected to attend at least part of the church service.[12]
[edit] Informal training of preachers
Primitive Baptists consider theological seminaries to have "no warrant or sanction from the New Testament, nor in the example of Christ and the apostles."[11] Instead, a male (never a female) in the congregation expresses his desire to preach and learns by practice and example.[13]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Jonas, William Glenn, ed (2006). The Baptist River: Essays on many tributaries of a diverse tradition. Mercer University Press. p. 158. ISBN 0881460303. http://books.google.com/books?id=9cJjleldIVEC&pg=PA158.
- ^ a b Mead, Frank S., Samuel S. Hill and Craig D. Atwood (2005). Handbook of Denominations in the United States (Twelfth ed.). Nashville: Abingdon Press. pp. 207–208. ISBN 0-687-05784-1.
- ^ a b c d Garrett, Jr., James Leo (2009). Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study. Mercer University Press. p. 212. ISBN 9780881461299. http://books.google.com/books?id=epEHq0mTsKgC&lpg=PA209&pg=PA212#v=onepage. Retrieved 2011-01-08.
- ^ a b "Baptists". The Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth ed.). Encyclopedia.com. 2008. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Baptists.aspx#1. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ a b Crowley, John G. (1998). Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. University of Florida Press. p. xi. ISBN 9780813016405. http://books.google.com/books?id=6TTtLEXwYCUC&pg=PP17.
- ^ a b Brackney, William H. (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Baptists. Scarecrow Press. pp. 457–458. ISBN 9780810856226. http://books.google.com/books?id=Noz7WtnOV-kC&lpg=PA457&pg=PA457.
- ^ a b c Patterson, Beverly Bush (2001). The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches. University of Illinois Press. pp. 11–14. ISBN 0252070038. http://books.google.com/books?id=MTfLKPG6i3AC&pg=PA11.
- ^ Crowley, John G. (1998). Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. University of Florida Press. p. 10. ISBN 9780813016405. http://books.google.com/books?id=6TTtLEXwYCUC&pg=PA10.
- ^ McGregory, Jerrilyn (2010). Downhome Gospel: African American Spiritual Activism in Wiregrass Country. University Press of Mississippi. p. 55. ISBN 1604737824. http://books.google.com/books?id=rBdvHxhdVhoC&pg=PA55.
- ^ McMillen, Sally Gregory (2001). To raise up the South: Sunday schools in Black and White churches, 1865-1915. LSU Press. p. 39. ISBN 0807127493. http://books.google.com/books?id=n77uY3-tQ04C&pg=PA39.
- ^ a b Crowley, John G. (1998). Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. University of Florida Press. p. 60. ISBN 9780813016405. http://books.google.com/books?id=6TTtLEXwYCUC&pg=PA60.
- ^ Crowley, John G. (1998). Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present. University of Florida Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780813016405. http://books.google.com/books?id=6TTtLEXwYCUC&pg=PA167.
- ^ Jonas, William Glenn, ed (2006). The Baptist River: Essays on many tributaries of a diverse tradition. Mercer University Press. p. 177. ISBN 0881460303. http://books.google.com/books?id=9cJjleldIVEC&pg=PA177.
[edit] Further reading
- Bertram Wyatt-Brown. "The Antimission Movement in the Jacksonian South: A Study in Regional Folk Culture," Journal of Southern History Vol. 36, No. 4 (Nov., 1970), pp. 501–529 in JSTOR
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