April 27, 2024
“Dr. Dagg, though early compelled to relinquish the pulpit, has been preaching with his pen on such grand themes that he must continue to speak long after his tongue is silent.” W.T. Brantly
He was elderly, frail, blind, and barely able to speak, but out of his weakness, he cast a giant shadow across the Baptist denomination. John Leadley Dagg (1794-1884) was a native of Virginia who spent most of his life and ministry in Georgia. He served as the President of Mercer University but is primarily remembered as “Baptists' first writing theologian.”
Like Paul in prison writing letters to the churches, circumstances in Dagg’s life became the fingers on the hand of God. At a time when one door closed, through writing God opened another door, expanding his ministry to the far corners of the earth and touching eternity.
Early Baptists in America and abroad typically were identified with the working poor; few had the benefit of education or the time to pursue literary endeavors. Yet at times, events and circumstances compelled them to record their thoughts, beliefs, and convictions. Dagg was born for such a time.
Early Baptist “Confessions of Faith” were statements of belief (theology) written for the benefit of themselves and the governments which began providing limited religious tolerance (freedom). Baptists in America adopted and revised the London Confessions (1644/46 and 1689) and composed their own including the Philadelphia (1742), Charleston (1767), New Hampshire (1833), and Baptist Faith and Message (1925). Furthermore, each association and local church generally included an “Articles of Belief” in their constituting documents. The confessions of faith and corresponding articles created, as it were, the first draft of Baptist theology.
Early Baptist associations were the forum for debating, developing, and expanding the scope of Baptist theology and polity. A portion of the spring and fall associational meetings was typically set aside to discuss theological or polity “queries” from the churches. These questions and answers became a part of the written record of associational minutes . . . which were “circulated” among the churches.
In time the “Circular Letter” developed as a separate report printed in the associational minutes which focused on an issue of theology or polity. Typically, an individual or committee was appointed by the association to prepare the Circular Letter in advance of the meeting. Often the subject was selected by the association, although in some associations the writer was free to choose a subject. The minutes typically included instructions that the Circular Letters were to be read aloud at each church.
Some of the Circular Letters reflect deep thought and scholarship . . . others quite honestly do not. Any single document would not be considered a comprehensive statement of any doctrine . . . although collectively they helped formulate the larger consensus of Baptist thought. Associational Minutes and their Circular Letters were exchanged with other associations. This provided a cross pollination of developing theological thought and ideas across the larger Baptist spectrum.
The magnitude of circular letters was reflected in a work titled “The Universal Baptist Registry of the Baptist Denomination in North America” published in 1794 by John Asplund. It was a digest of information from Baptist associations in America collected between 1790 and 1794. The registry listed 123 Circular Letters published in just that five-year period. Many were described as “exhortations” others covered subjects including scripture, grace, election, justification, atonement, sanctification, original sin, love, benevolence, ministers’ duties, duty of churches to children, assurance, fellowship, and education.
Circular letters helped Baptists record, develop, edit, and refine Baptist theology and polity. If Confessions of Faith were a first draft of written Baptist theology, then arguably Circular Letters would have been the second.
When the Georgia Baptist Convention organized in 1822 the practice of including a Circular Letter in the annual minutes was adopted. This continued until 1833. There is no reason stated as to why it discontinued, but it would be safe to assume the relocation of The Christian Index to Georgia that year was the reason.
The Columbian Star (later Christian Index) had been established in Washington D.C. by Luther Rice in 1822 as a national Baptist paper. Its purpose was to generate support for missions and the newly established Columbian College, a national Baptist college. Jesse Mercer purchased the paper and its presses relocating them to Penfield, Georgia which was the home of the newly established Mercer Manual Labor School in 1833. The Index with other Baptist state papers emerged as an additional forum for further written expression and debate of theology and polity.
In 1825 Baptist publishing in America took another step forward as the Baptist Publishing Society was organized in Philadelphia, PA. Publication of books and tracts became a growing forum for stating and debating theological issues. Increasingly print media including newspapers, books, and tracts took a role in the written expression and debate of Baptist theology. Newspapers, tracts, and books may be considered the third draft of Baptist theology all paving the way for that which followed.
Before 1821 there was only one college loosely affiliated with Baptists in America, Brown University which had been chartered in 1764. In the early decades of the 19th century Baptist institutions of higher education began to be established. This included Columbian College (1821), Furman University (1826), The University of Richmond (1830), and Mercer University (1833). Prior to the establishment of Baptist colleges theologians were found in the pulpits not the classrooms. With the establishment of these colleges’ professors were appointed to teach Baptist theology and a new focus on the study of theology took place.
One of these was John L. Dagg, the president of Mercer (1844-1854) and a professor of theology. Dagg was raised in humble circumstances in Virginia. He had a meager formal education, but passionately pursued books. He was converted at age 15. At age 16 he was appointed teacher at a local field school. Following a brief stint of service during the War of 1812 he was ordained to the ministry. Moving to Philadelphia he pastored and continued teaching until an injury to his vocal cords forced him out of the pulpit. He was able to continue teaching, though, eventually moving south where he joined the faculty of Mercer University as a theology professor.
Dagg not only struggled with his speaking voice, but he had been injured in a fall he took escaping a collapsing building. He walked with the use of a crutch. Furthermore, his eyesight began to fail making reading and writing both increasingly difficult tasks to perform. Because of his increasing physical infirmities, he retired from Mercer in 1854 at the age 60. Yet, he still had a passion to help prepare men for the ministry. These were the circumstances that led him to his most notable work.
At that time a textbook of Baptist theology did not exist, Dagg determined to write one. In this way, he could continue preparing students for the ministry and leave a written legacy. With the help of one of his daughters who served as both his reader and recorder he began writing based upon his years of teaching experience.
His first volume published in 1857 was titled “A Manuel of Theology.” This was a 380-page work that systematically explored Baptist theology and is considered by many as Baptists’ first systematic theology. The following year, 1858, he published a 300-page book titled “A Treatise on Church Order” on church polity. This was followed in 1860 by a 375-page work titled, “Elements of Moral Science” which focused on Christian ethics. His fourth work, over 400-pages, “Evidences of Christianity,” published in 1869, was an apologetic look at the Bible and Christianity.
John Dagg’s personal journey of pain and suffering became the instrument for the first systematic theology for Baptists. Forced into retirement, instead of giving up, between the ages of 60 and 75, he found a new direction and purpose producing his most notable works. Dagg’s four volumes laid the foundation for J. P. Boyce, E. Y. Mullins and other writing theologians in the academic world who continue to shape Baptist thought on the journey to define and clarify Baptist beliefs. A journey which made its way through the little college town of Penfield, Georgia.
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Charles Jones is a Southern Baptist historian, retired pastor, and newspaper columnist.
