Smith has done an exemplary job of demonstrating Hart's seminal role in American Baptist development in the eighteenth century. One hopes for similar fresh studies of figures such as Edwards and Gano, as well as younger contemporaries such as Richard Furman, Thomas Baldwin, and John Leland. Embedded in their overlapping stories is the larger story of how Baptists in America evolved from backwater sectarians in 1715 to a national evangelical denomination by 1815.

Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Theological Review

Smith has written a highly readable, elegantly presented, and well researched biography of a colonial pastor who likely deserves more attention than he has hitherto received. Even more commendable is Smith's ability to weave Hart's life into the context of colonial American society.

D. G. Hart, Church History

Smith's well-researched and lucidly-written work fills a major lacuna in Baptist studies by providing a focused history of eighteenth-century American Baptist development. Furthermore, by focusing on the life and ministry of Oliver Hart and his promotion of the "Baptist interest," Smith tells a multi-faceted story that captures both the denominational history as well as the realities of everyday existence as lived by one leading exponent. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America deserves a wide reading among historians of the period as well as those who maintain some affnity with the denomination.

Dustin Bruce, Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies

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Smith tells a multi-faceted story that captures both the denominational history as well as the realities of everyday existence as lived by one leading exponent. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America deserves a wide reading among historians of the period as well as those who maintain some affinity with the denomination.

Dustin Bruce, Journal for Andrew Fuller Studies

Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America achieves exactly what Smith sets out to do, recounting the remarkable institutional development and growth of analytical contributions make the volume well worthwhile to scholars, while his smooth narrative also keeps it easily accessible to more general audiences. For anyone interested in the origins of Baptist influence in America, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Reading Religion

Baptists in America began the eighteenth century a small, scattered, often harassed sect in a vast sea of religious options. By the early nineteenth century, they were a unified, powerful, and rapidly-growing denomination, poised to send missionaries to the other side of the world. One of the most influential yet neglected leaders in that transformation was Oliver Hart, longtime pastor of the Charleston Baptist Church. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America is the first modern biography of Hart, arguably the most important evangelical leader in the pre-Revolutionary South. During his thirty years in Charleston, Hart emerged as the region's most important Baptist denominational architect. His outspoken patriotism forced him to flee Charleston when the British army invaded Charleston in 1780, but he left behind a southern Baptist people forever changed by his energetic ministry. Hart's accommodating stance toward slavery enabled him and the white Baptists who followed him to reach the center of southern society, but also eventually doomed the national Baptist denomination of Hart's dreams. More than a biography, Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America seamlessly intertwines Hart's story with that of eighteenth-century American Baptists, providing one of the most thorough accounts to date of this important and understudied religious group's development. This book makes a significant contribution to the study of Baptist life and evangelicalism in the pre-Revolutionary South and beyond.
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Introduction 1. "The humble Baptists": Oliver Hart's Baptist Community 2. "The power of religion greatly displayed": Baptists and the Great Awakening 3. "All things are become new": Moving to the South 4. "Bringing many souls home to Jesus Christ": Moderate Revivalism in Charleston 5. "A regular Confederation": Laying the Foundations of the Baptist South 6. "Every day brings fresh wonders!": The 1754 Charleston Revival 7. "Seals of my ministry": Training the Next Generation 8. "Promoting so laudable a Design": Baptist Development in the 1760s 9. "Comforts and mercies, losses and crosses": A Transitional Season 10. "The rising glory of this continent": The American Revolution 11. "Directed in the path of duty": Staying the Course 12. "The Baptist Interest": A Respectable Denomination in a New Nation 13. "All the Baptists on the Continent": A Dream Briefly Realized
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"Smith has done an exemplary job of demonstrating Hart's seminal role in American Baptist development in the eighteenth century. One hopes for similar fresh studies of figures such as Edwards and Gano, as well as younger contemporaries such as Richard Furman, Thomas Baldwin, and John Leland. Embedded in their overlapping stories is the larger story of how Baptists in America evolved from backwater sectarians in 1715 to a national evangelical denomination by 1815." -- Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Theological Review "Smith has written a highly readable, elegantly presented, and well researched biography of a colonial pastor who likely deserves more attention than he has hitherto received. Even more commendable is Smith's ability to weave Hart's life into the context of colonial American society." -- D. G. Hart, Church History "Smith's well-researched and lucidly-written work fills a major lacuna in Baptist studies by providing a focused history of eighteenth-century American Baptist development. Furthermore, by focusing on the life and ministry of Oliver Hart and his promotion of the "Baptist interest," Smith tells a multi-faceted story that captures both the denominational history as well as the realities of everyday existence as lived by one leading exponent. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America deserves a wide reading among historians of the period as well as those who maintain some affnity with the denomination." -- Dustin Bruce, Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies "Smith tells a multi-faceted story that captures both the denominational history as well as the realities of everyday existence as lived by one leading exponent. Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America deserves a wide reading among historians of the period as well as those who maintain some affinity with the denomination." -- Dustin Bruce, Journal for Andrew Fuller Studies "Oliver Hart and the Rise of Baptist America achieves exactly what Smith sets out to do, recounting the remarkable institutional development and growth of analytical contributions make the volume well worthwhile to scholars, while his smooth narrative also keeps it easily accessible to more general audiences. For anyone interested in the origins of Baptist influence in America, I wholeheartedly recommend this book." -- Reading Religion
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Selling point: The first full academic biography of Oliver Hart, arguably the most important evangelical leader in the pre-Revolutionary South Selling point: Provides the most thorough account of the institutional development of Baptists in the South and mid-Atlantic to date Selling point: Explores Hart's fraught relationship with the cultural norms of the early American South, including a careful analysis of race and power among eighteenth-century Baptists
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Eric C. Smith is Senior Pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Savannah, Tennessee, and Adjunct Professor of Historical Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also the author of Order & Ardor: The Revival Spirituality of Oliver Hart and the Regular Baptists of Eighteenth-Century South Carolina (2018).
Les mer
Selling point: The first full academic biography of Oliver Hart, arguably the most important evangelical leader in the pre-Revolutionary South Selling point: Provides the most thorough account of the institutional development of Baptists in the South and mid-Atlantic to date Selling point: Explores Hart's fraught relationship with the cultural norms of the early American South, including a careful analysis of race and power among eighteenth-century Baptists
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780197506325
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Inc; Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
703 gr
Høyde
157 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
31 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
348

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Eric C. Smith is Senior Pastor of Sharon Baptist Church in Savannah, Tennessee, and Adjunct Professor of Historical Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is also the author of Order & Ardor: The Revival Spirituality of Oliver Hart and the Regular Baptists of Eighteenth-Century South Carolina (2018).