Notes from My File Cabinet: Wisdom from J.M. Dawson
By James Dunn
It was in a comfortable fireplace room in the Stagecoach Inn, Salado, Texas, that 92-year-old J.M. Dawson set out his “Seven Tests of Social Religion.” The audience consisted of several of us doctoral students of ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on a retreat sponsored by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. The date was December 6, 1970.
Dawson was best known in Baptist life as the first executive of the Baptist Joint Committee, serving from 1946 through 1953. The annual recognition given by the Baptist Joint Committee is named in his honor. Dawson was also known as one of the founders of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Less known was his role as the publicity director of the Southern Baptist Convention’s “75 Million Campaign” during the depths of the Great Depression.
The Southern Baptist Convention was in desperate straits for money during the Great Depression. They formally turned to seven leaders for rescue:
S.P. Brooks, President of Baylor University
F.L. Groner, executive secretary of the Baptist General Convention of Texas
George W. Truett, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas
B. H. Carroll, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
E.C. Routh, editor of the Baptist Standard
J.M. Dawson, publicity chair and spokesman of the Campaign. Dawson’s own church, First Baptist Church of Waco, Texas, gave over $214,000 which was the second largest amount of any church in the SBC.
I leave it to an enterprising reader to calculate what that amounts to in 2014 dollars.
The long-term result of the “75 Million Campaign,” however, was the Cooperative Program which became the financial plan of the Southern Baptist Convention, the lifeblood of the SBC and the glue that held it together.
While cleaning out some files in my Wake Forest University office,
I came across the document Dr. Dawson shared with us that day at the Stagecoach Inn. It is timeless. Here it is — exactly as he presented it:
SEVEN TESTS OF SOCIAL
RELIGION
J.M. Dawson
December 6, 1970
Remarks made to Th.D. students in social ethics from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at the Christian Life Commission retreat.
1. Christian Ethics must be construed as an effort at righteous religion.
2. It must be useful, not just discussion and dialogue, study and analysis, but practical help.
3. It must be in harmony with Jesus’ emphasis upon sharing whatever you have, whatever you know, whatever you see, whatever is righteous, religious, and good.
4. It must express fullness, all-outness. It is not languid, feeble, or weak. It is heroic, vigorous, virile, full of life. Both institutionally and individually, social religion represents life to the utmost, involving all of one’s abilities. It is never ephemeral or superficial. It is not a fad. It is, rather, the essence of Christianity as it is described in the final test for the Christian as outlined in Matthew 25.
5. It denies dominant self-interest. What it does for humanity is the final test. “I shudder when I contemplate my own sons…their successes.”
6. Christian ethics must be just. It’s a cruel hoax to construe justice in penal terms. Justice is the rule. The golden rule is the quintessence of justice.
7. It must answer human need. Wealth is rapacious. “I don’t think there’s a multi-millionaire in the world who wouldn’t like to control the whole thing.”
James James Dunn is retired executive of the Baptist Joint Committee, Wake Forest University School of Divinity professor, and sponsor along with his wife of the James and Marilyn Dunn Chair of Baptist Studies at Wake Forest.
