The Puritans called Baptists "the troublers of churches in all places"
and hounded them out of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Four hundred years
later, Baptists are the second-largest religious group in America, and
their influence matches their numbers. They have built strong
institutions, from megachurches to publishing houses to charities to
mission organizations, and have firmly established themselves in the
mainstream of American culture. Yet the historical legacy of outsider
status lingers, and the inherently fractured nature of their faith makes
Baptists ever wary of threats from within as well as without.
In Baptists in America, Thomas S. Kidd and Barry Hankins explore the
long-running tensions between church, state, and culture that Baptists
have shaped and navigated. Despite the moment of unity that their early
persecution provided, their history has been marked by internal battles
and schisms that were microcosms of national events, from the conflict
over slavery that divided North from South to the conservative
revolution of the 1970s and '80s.
Baptists have made an indelible impact on American religious and
cultural history, from their early insistence that America should have
no established church to their place in the modern-day culture wars,
where they frequently advocate greater religious involvement in
politics. Yet the more mainstream they have become, the more they have
been pressured to conform to the mainstream, a paradox that defines--and
is essential to understanding--the Baptist experience in America.
Kidd and Hankins, both practicing Baptists, weave the threads of Baptist
history alongside those of American history. Baptists in America is a
remarkable story of how one religious denomination was transformed from
persecuted minority into a leading actor on the national stage, with
profound implications for American society and culture.
