Race and Christianity are inseparably intertwined in the U.S., past and present. While there has been much scholarship at this intersection recently, this study focuses on less explored areas: the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)--the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, and the somewhat neglected period between 1970-2000. The objective: ascertain how Southern Baptist leadership attempted to address the "problem" of race during this period. Of special significance is the transition during these years from more moderate/conservative leadership to a Fundamentalist/Conservative regime. This study focuses in particular on the Race Relations Sunday (RRS) initiative promoted and observed annually by Southern Baptists beginning in 1965. I accessed archives of the RRS materials and used a grounded theory method approach to analyze the content of these documents. After hundreds of documents had been coded and analyzed, I found that: 1) the SBC saw individual-level sin as the primary cause of racism and racial inequality throughout the 30 years, but there was also some expression of institutionally embedded causes earlier on—a focus that became almost non-existent by the 1990s; 2) the way the SBC tried to diversify changed as the decades passed, from attempts to integrate churches or create multiracial churches to recruiting or creating majority non-white churches; 3) the pursuit of individual- and small group-level racial reconciliation was evident and pronounced throughout the thirty years; an alternate solution calling on white people to pay the price of giving up their unjust privileges and advantages was found somewhat in the earlier years, but nearly disappeared in the later years; 4) "Observing" Race Relations Sunday became less about concrete action, and changed into a more passive, positive public relations effort as time went on; 5) The goal or hoped-for outcome was "improved race relations" all along, with the colorblind approach coming to more prominence as the years passed; a parallel emphasis on establishing justice and equality was apparent in earlier years, but less so in later years. I take up the problem of defining "the race problem" for the SBC and our society in the concluding chapter. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study focuses on Southern Baptists--the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, and their attempts to address racial issues through observance of a "Race Relations Sunday" initiative. Of special significance is the transition during the years studied (1970-2000) from more moderate/conservative leadership to fundamentalist/ conservative leadership. The annual Race Relations Sunday materials were coded and analyzed. The findings included that the race-centered focus was primarily on individual-level sin throughout the 30 years, with whatever focus on society-wide issues fading over the years. Also, the SBC stopped focusing so much on integrating or creating multiracial churches and turned the focus to majority non-white churches joining the denomination.; individual racial reconciliation was a focus throughout; any expectation that whites pay a price to make things right nearly disappears in the later years. Race Relations Sunday became less about community action and more about passive, positive public relations. And an ill-defined hope to "improve race relations" became the almost sole focus as earlier concern for justice and equality faded. The problem of defining "the race problem" is taken up in the concluding chapter.

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-229).

Thesis (D.Ed.Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-229).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-255).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-255).

Master of Arts / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / As pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church from 1972 to 2005 and three-time President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in 1979 and 1986-1988, Adrian Rogers (1931-2005) played an integral role in promoting inerrancy within the SBC. His actions not only moved the SBC in a more conservative direction, if not a fundamentalist one, but also shifted Southern Baptists, politically, in the direction of the Republican Party. However, Rogers’s role in the SBC went further than just politics. His involvement within the SBC, his leadership at Bellevue Baptist Church and its eventual move to Cordova, Tennessee, suggest that Rogers was actually a builder. Love Worth Finding (LWF), has preserved his legacy after his death in 2005. As a result, this thesis argues that Adrian Rogers was not only a preacher, popular grassroots organizer within the SBC, or evangelist, but also a builder. If it had not been for Rogers, the “architectural” blueprint for the SBC would never have become a reality. When Rogers became pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, the church resided in midtown Memphis and had close to 9,000 members. By the time he retired in 2005, the church had 28,000 members and was located in Cordova, Tennessee. Finally, Rogers launched LWF in the midst of the televangelist scandals of the late 1980s. Not only did LWF survive the unseemly televangelist fallout, it continues to broadcast Rogers’s sermons today.

This dissertation examines one of the most counter-intuitive southern responses to the rise of the Christian Right. Texas Baptists made up the largest state association of Southern Baptists in the country. They were theologically conservative, uniformly uncomfortable with abortion, and strident in their condemnation of homosexuality. Yet they not only rejected an alliance with the Christian Right and the Republican Party, but they did so emphatically. They ultimately offered a more robust critique of the Christian Right than even many of their secular counterparts. While their activities might seem surprising to contemporary readers, they were part of a long and proud Baptist tradition of supporting the separation of church and state. On issues like organized school prayer, government regulation of abortion, and private school vouchers, they were disturbed by the blurring of lines between church and state that characterized the Christian Right as it emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Texas Baptists were also uncomfortable with the backlash against integration and sought to promote racial justice in any way they could. While many southerners adopted a politics of cultural resentment, Texas Baptists often worked for racial justice and promoted interracial cooperation. They also fought the move towards economic conservatism in the South. From their campaigns to raise the welfare cap in Texas to their promotion of Lyndon Johnson's Community Action Programs, Texas Baptists defended government activism to alleviate poverty. They embodied a very different economic ideology than that of the ultraconservative southerners who have dominated the scholarship of southern politics after 1960. On all of these issues, the experience of Texas Baptists challenges prevailing ideas about southern political change. Their story is one that undermines the notion of a unified evangelical reaction to the racial, economic, and political changes that swept the South (and the nation) after 1960. It should give pause to those who have assumed that the alliance between Southern Baptists and the Christian Right was inevitable or unavoidable and force us to reconsider the complexity of southern evangelicalism.

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Dr. W. A. Criswell is the well known pastor of the twenty-seven thousand member historic First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas, Texas. He has held the position for the past forty-three years. Until now no one has attempted an in-depth study of Criswell's educational contributions to the First Baptist Church (which have also been adopted into the Southern Baptist denomination, America's largest Protestant religious organization). Although Criswell has been the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for many years, this was by no means his introduction to the pastorate. In 1928 he was ordained as a seventeen year old minister of the gospel in Amarillo, Texas. He has been a pastor for over sixty years. Criswell has made a lasting impact on the church staff, school staff (Criswell College and First Baptist Academy), students in those schools, the Southern Baptist denomination and also the city of Dallas. He has been one of the key figures in evangelical national movements. Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Senators, and Governors are no strangers to a Sunday morning service held in the large sanctuary in downtown Dallas. Much of the research for this project originated from the Oral Memoirs of W. A. Criswell. a program for oral history done by two professors (Charlton and Spain) from Baylor University. The study begins with a historical review of the setting of the First Baptist Church in 1944 when Criswell came to be pastor. Next there is a review of Criswell's early life that reveal influences which molded his educational philosophies. The body of knowledge is then presented which points out significant events, contributions, institutions and associations provided by Criswell. Finally, seventeen conclusions are drawn from the data presented. The study provides helpful information to pastors, church administrators, seminary students, theological professors and other individuals involved in education and administration.

This thesis undertakes a study of some of the historical origins and developments of the Southern Baptist Convention in relation to its music.