April 19, 2025
The 1920s were years of stark contrast across America. In larger cities, it was an era of excesses known as the “Roaring 20s.” Fashion, jazz, and speakeasies had pushed the norms of decency well beyond their previous boundaries. It was a decade marked by fraud and corruption in business and one of the worst political scandals in U.S. history—the Teapot Dome Scandal. Even the Southern Baptist Convention didn’t escape the turmoil. Major embezzlement scandals occurred at both the Foreign and Home Mission Boards, the latter of which was used to help sponsor a lavish lifestyle for the employee involved, including the production of “moving pictures,” as they were called at the time, in Hollywood.
On the other hand, rural America was already suffering from the Great Depression, especially in the South, where the boll weevil had invaded the cotton fields, and years of successive droughts were driving farmers to their knees—literally—as church attendance, baptisms, and memberships increased through the decade. The only area in which rural Baptist churches of the South did not see growth was in the offering plate. Songs about heaven and hope were popular, and faith was what helped many in rural America through those difficult days.
It was no wonder, then, that Baptists—who cherished their faith—wanted to respond when that faith came under attack. They were responding to the Modernist-Fundamentalist controversy taking place among major denominations across the North, including the Northern Baptist Convention. “Modernists” embraced a school of thought called German Higher Criticism, which abandoned the miraculous aspects of the Bible, including the creation account, virgin birth, and resurrection.
Nationally, another storm was brewing. Darwinism—the teaching of evolution in public schools—pitted science against biblical revelation. The impending Scopes “Monkey” Trial, scheduled for later that year, added urgency for those who gathered at the SBC to adopt a confession of faith in the late spring of 1925. This desire for a confession of faith was demonstrated by the initial vote on the BF&M at the SBC meeting in Memphis, Tennessee. Nearly ninety percent of the votes reflected the desire to adopt a confession of faith in response to cultural pressure.
What roles did Georgia Baptists play in the development of the Baptist Faith and Message?
In 1918, The Christian Index prepared to publish a series of articles titled “Ten Fundamental Doctrines.” Each chapter was written by leaders from across the South. As news of the pending series spread, interest increased to the point that the decision was made to publish the series as a book. This reflected growing interest among Baptists across the South in apologetics to state and defend the faith and the need for an SBC confession of faith.
The following year, three of the men who contributed to the book took steps that paved the way for the development of the BF&M. J. B. Gambrell, former President of Mercer University, was at that time President of the SBC. Gambrell made a statement in 1919, which Baptist historian Tom Nettles attributes as a genesis, calling for the preparation of a faith statement.
J.F. Love, the President of the Foreign Mission Board, proposed a document be prepared—a basic statement of faith—to be sent to other Baptist bodies around the world to seek out those of like faith with whom the SBC could partner in mission work. A third contributor to the book, E. Y. Mullins, President of Southern Seminary, was asked to prepare the document for the Foreign Mission Board. Baptist historian William Lumpkin attributed Mullins’ work as the “first step towards the preparation of an SBC confession of faith.”
Arguably, all three of these men who contributed to the Ten Fundamentals of the Faith were prime movers behind the movement for an SBC confession of faith. One factor that may have prompted their actions was their involvement in the book produced by The Christian Index.
Georgia Baptists contributed additional weight to the argument for a confession of faith because of two heresy trials conducted at Mercer University. The first trial in 1906 resulted in the dismissal of William Heard Kilpatrick—a math professor who, though popular among students and faculty and active in a local church, held unorthodox beliefs. Kilpatrick later wrote that while a student in the early 1890s, he abandoned his faith after reading a copy of Darwin’s Origin of the Species The dismissal of Kilpatrick, who was the acting President for two years and a leading contender for its Presidency, demonstrated the threat of Modernism within the SBC.
The second heresy trial took place in 1924 and resulted in the dismissal of Henry Fox, a biology professor. When Fox was interviewed by Mercer’s President and offered the position, Fox acknowledged that some of his beliefs might be controversial. However, the President—whose background was in education and not theology—assumed that because Fox attended a Baptist church, his teaching would fall within Baptist orthodoxy.
Several years later, when questions arose, Fox was interviewed by several trustees. He denied both the virgin birth and the resurrection in his statement of beliefs. This widely publicized heresy trial, occurring the same year the SBC appointed a committee to prepare a confession of faith, undoubtedly lent weight to their actions.
Furthermore, these dismissals demonstrated the need for a theological litmus test the denomination could utilize as a tool for vetting pastors, missionaries, educators, and administrators. It validated the concerns of Southern Baptists that the problems of Modernism were not confined to Northern denominations—they had reached as high as the acting President of a Baptist university in the South.
Georgia did not have a member on the committee appointed by the SBC in 1924, although one of its members, E. C. Dargan, had pastored in Macon from 1907 to 1917. During that time, he served as President of the SBC (1911–1913). Dargan had previously served on the faculty of Southern Seminary and published a textbook, The Doctrines of Our Faith, in 1905.
Georgia Baptists, responding to the threats of Modernism, added weight to the arguments for the adoption of the BF&M—specifically through the publication of Ten Fundamental Doctrines in 1918 and the Mercer heresy trials of 1906 and 1924. Furthermore, Dargan—who had recently pastored in Georgia—undoubtedly knew and represented Georgia Baptists' sentiments while serving on the committee to prepare the BF&M.
For one hundred years, the BF&M has stood as the theological benchmark by which Southern Baptists have measured their ability to share cooperative work around the world. It serves as a litmus test of faith and doctrine used by local churches and other bodies across the convention. Although in many ways the 1925 BF&M was a product of its time, it has become timeless in its impact on the SBC’s mission to carry out the work of the Great Commission.
