All According to God's Plan
Subtitle: Southern Baptist Missions and Race, 1945-1970 (Religion in the South)
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: October 15, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 260
ISBN-13: 9780813123417
Subjects: Baptist Churches; Christian mission & evangelism; c 1945 to c 1960; c 1960 to c 1970; Missions; Discrimination & Racism; Religion - Denominations - Religions; Religion; Central Southern states; Southeastern & South Atlantic states; Missions & Missionary Work; Christian Ministry - Missions; Christianity - Baptist; Christianity - History - Social Issues; Southern Baptist Convention; 20th century; History; History of doctrines; Racism; Religious aspects
First sentence: Southern Baptist leaders stressed the importance of using the Bible as a guide to the Christian life.
Description: "Having long considered themselves a missionary people, Southern Baptists dramatically expanded their missionary efforts after World War II, confronting headlong the problem of racism in America. Believing that racism hindered their evangelical efforts, the Southern Baptist Convention's full-time missionaries and mission board leaders attacked racism as unchristian. In doing so, however, they found themselves at odds with the pervasive racist and segregationist ideologies dominating the South. Thanks in part to this ideological conflict, a new, prophetic theology grounded in the belief that Christians should confront social issues slowly began to replace the traditional, provincial, and dogmatic theology prevalent among Southern Baptists."

"In All According to God's Plan, author Alan Scot Willis explores the tension and gradual change the race issue brought to the church. After the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. The Board of Education, Baptist missionaries became increasingly concerned about the hypocrisy of southerners who continued to defend segregation yet claimed to be Christians. The civil rights movement further illuminated tensions between Christian beliefs and social practice in the South. As Baptist educational institutions moved closer towards integration, southern resistance to the progressive message continued."--Jacket.