Thomas Buford Maston: Baptist Apostle of Biblical Ethics

0 Comments

Thomas Buford Maston: Baptist Apostle of Biblical Ethics
By Jimmy R. Allen, Former President of the SBC
Big Canoe, GA

Note: This address was delivered at a chapel service in the Divinity School of Wake Forest University in which the T. B. Maston/Jimmy R. Allen scholarship was announced. The scholarship is designed for students in Christian ethics to inform this generation of students of the life and ministry of T. B. Maston.

It is a particular honor to be invited to share this message with you. Among other things, you have produced at Wake Forest University some of the outstanding leaders of Baptist life. Among them is one of the true pioneers in the field of Christian ethics, Dr. Henlee Barnett. T. B. Maston, the man on whom our attention centers today, was his long time colleague in this cause.

My first thought when asked to do this task was an enthusiastic yes. It ought to be a simple matter to speak about T. B. Maston to a generation that had no chance to know him. After all, he was one of the three major mentors of my life. I preached his funeral at his request (and with his instructions). I am chair of the T. B. Maston Foundation fashioned in his name to assist the cause of applying the principles of Jesus Christ in practical areas of life. This task ought to be easy.

However I have found myself trying to catch a moonbeam in a jar. There are so many aspects to the life of this pioneer among Baptists in dealing with ethical issues of racial justice, family life, political idealism, church-state relations, war and peace, business ethics, gender justice, and sexual ethics.

It is also amazing that he could come to be pivotal in changing the direction of the nation`s largest non-Catholic denomination while a quiet professor laboring away in the same school, living in the same house, worshipping in the same church for forty-two years.

I want to describe the man, his sense of mandate for biblical ethics, his method of meeting that challenge, and other challenges of his life, which highlight for us in this age what he called as the title for one of his books, A World In Travail.

The theme of his life lay in the desire described in 1 John 2:5-6, "to walk just as he walked."

One of the definitions of apostle in Webster`s Dictionary is: "One who initiates any great moral reform, or first advocates any important belief or system; one who has extraordinary success as a missionary or reformer."

T. B. Maston was that type of man.

The Baptist world in which he was nurtured was vastly different from the world he left. Foy Valentine points out, "When Maston responded to God`s call to bear the Christian ethics standard as his life`s work, the idea of Christian ethics among Southern Baptists existed in only very rudimentary form. No Baptist seminary had a course on the subject. No Baptist agency had published a book on the subject. No state Baptist convention had established an office to focus on the subject. No Southern Baptist Convention agency had been formed to maintain an ongoing emphasis on the subject."[vii]

When he completed his life and work at the age of ninety-one, he had taught biblical ethics to more than 5000 Southern Baptist (SBC) leaders (some put the estimate as high as 8000). Many of these were in places of strategic leadership in Baptist life. For instance, in one year (1978) three of the four elected leaders of the SBC had earned their doctorates in Christian Ethics from him. Of the international missionaries who had earned doctorates, more had majored in Christian ethics at Southwestern than from any other department in any other Southern Baptist seminary.[viii]

Maston`s influence emerged in many ways. Christian ethics became a field of academic inquiry at every Baptist seminary. Maston helped to birth Christian Life Commissions, both on the national level and in many of the state conventions. More than a thousand predominately African American Baptist pastors and churches aligned with the SBC. Baptist congregations all over America became racially inclusive. African Americans began serving on boards and agencies and were elected as officers in Baptist Conventions. His own twenty-seven books on ethics were joined by scores of others pouring from Baptist presses. Baptist conferences on Biblical insights into social ethical issues like racial justice, bio-medical ethics, business ethics, church-state relations, ethics and justice in law enforcement, communication media ethics, family life, sexual issues, gender issues, urban development, world hunger, and HIV/AIDS increased.

Due partially to his influence, it became socially unacceptable for congregations to ignore the needs of the poor, the disinherited, the hungry and the hurting. Preaching on the "sweet bye and bye" was seen as incomplete without dealing with the "dirty here and now." The seed sown by this "Baptist Apostle of Biblical Ethics" has produced a harvest that affects us all.

The Life of T. B. Maston

Maston was a small man. It is hard to believe that he had been captain of his high school football team. Football was a lot different in the early 1920s in the mountain high schools of East Tennessee. He was a muscular man. His arms and upper body had strength and sinew developed from more than sixty years of lifting and caring for a son brain-damaged at birth by a physician`s mistake. He was a quiet and soft-spoken man. His persuasiveness in speaking did not come from oratorical ability. It came from the intensity of his passion and the twinkle in his eye as he nailed down the challenge of whatever he was saying. He was a frugal man. He wore the same wide ties through all the changing styles of men`s apparel.

He was also a gentle man. His compassion matched his courage as he dealt with friend and foe, young and old, student and teacher. He was a disciplined man. His work ethic was fashioned in a rural world where the task was not finished until it was finished. He was a biblical man. His former pastor tells of a hospital visit in his declining years after he had suffered a heart attack-in his bed he was surrounded by hand-written notes and an open Bible. When asked what he was doing, Maston replied that he was rereading the Gospels and writing down something he learned about Jesus from each verse.[ix]

Thomas Buford Maston did not look or act like a crusader. However, he deserves the designation of "Baptist Apostle of Biblical Ethics."

T. B. Maston was born November 26, 1897, in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains in Jefferson County, Tennessee. His father was Samuel Houston Maston, a raw-boned East Tennessee hillbilly who had only an eighth grade education, but also had a deep devotion to Christ and his Baptist Church. After living and working for ten years in College Corner, Ohio, Sam Maston moved his family to Fountain City, Tennessee, to be close to a Southern Baptist church. He worked hard as a section hand on the railroad, served as a deacon, and wished he were capable of being a pastor. He imbued in young Tom a work ethic and a spiritual interest that reflected his own values. It is significant that T. B. Maston sensed a call to God`s service, but not to a preaching or pastoral ministry. He was licensed to preach but followed his father`s advice and never was ordained. He was a layman and a faithful deacon in the Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Ft. Worth all the years there.

He was a David not a Goliath when he captained his high school football team. When he was sixteen, one of his fellow players was seriously injured in a game in Asheville, North Carolina. On the way home on the train, he struggled with the fact that this injury could have been his and he was not ready to face dying. Under that conviction of need, he attended revival services being preached by his pastor, who was also his mathematics teacher. Later he cited that experience of commitment to Christ by saying: "I`ve doubted practically everything about the Christian faith as I`ve gone along through the years except this one experience that I had."

In 1916 he enrolled in Carson-Newman College where he also starred in athletics as well as academics. Finishing college in 1920, he and his sweetheart, Essie Mae McDonald, journeyed to Ft. Worth to enroll in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Because he was a layman, he enrolled in the School of Religious Education from which he earned a Master of Religious Education. He was to begin his teaching career as an instructor of church recreation. Mrs. Maston also graduated and taught in the same school. He became the first student to earn a Doctor of Religious Education degree in 1925.

At that time the course in Christian Ethics at Southwestern was lodged in the School of Religious Education and Maston began teaching ethics. He soon decided he needed more academic training if he was to achieve the level of excellence his nature demanded. He then enrolled in Texas Christian University (TCU) and earned his M.A. in 1927.

In 1932 he entered Yale University where he majored in Christian ethics under the renowned scholar Richard Niebuhr. Richard and his brother Reinhold Niebuhr of Union Theological Seminary were two of the most influential Christian ethicists of that era. Maston received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1939. He returned to the seminary campus to lead in shifting the study of ethics from religious education to the school of theology. He soon developed a graduate Doctor of Theology degree in Christian Ethics.

Influential Factors

How did this church recreation teacher who taught ethics as a single subject become the primary pioneer of biblical ethics in the nation`s leading conservative Christian denomination? Some factors were at work in the late 1920s in American religious life that made this possible.

Tidal Wave of Social Concern. The early part of the twentieth century saw interest in social issues sweep across the nation. When God gets ready for a breakthrough to another dimension of human experience, God plants the seeds in many receptive lives like a farmer planting wheat. Across the nation people were reacting to the Industrial Revolution`s impact on their lives. Urbanization had set in motion forces that starkly revealed the injustices and injuries of the powerless and the poor. Racial discrimination remained long after the Emancipation Proclaimation as those emancipated found themselves the victims of deeply ingrained and socially approved racism. Corruption tore the inner tissue of the nation`s soul as business and politics made unsavory deals and dishonest land grabs. Crusaders were beginning to emerge. The politics of despair led to anarchist movements hosting rallies in the streets. Labor was finding a strong voice in unionism.

In the Hell`s Kitchen area of New York City, a Baptist preacher by the name of Walter Rauschenbusch was ministering to human need out of a pietistic and mystical commitment to Christ. He was developing a concept of the Kingdom of God which brought salvation and transformation to the corporate soul, as well as individuals. He believed that social institutions could be touched and saved. His ideas became foundational for the Social Gospel Movement.

In Detroit a Lutheran pastor named Reinhold Niebuhr was giving voice to the injustice experienced by factory workers, who were suddenly laid off work without any concern for the needs of their families. Henry Ford closed down his factories, causing all of his workers to go jobless for a year, as he changed from the Model T to the Model A Ford. Niebuhr lamented a society that could treat workers like that, without regret, drowning its conscience with the ditty: "Henry`s made a lady out of Lizzie."

Niebuhr developed what was later called a neo-orthodox reaction to the Social Gospel. He perceived that evil persisted in the very nature of group behavior. His book, Moral Man and Immoral Society established the fact that social groups will justify unacceptable actions in the name of family or business or country that they would not approve or justify simply as individuals.

T. B. Maston came as a mature man with academic credentials and experience to the campus of Yale University. More than that, he came as a Bible-centered teacher, nurtured with a respect for the authority of Scriptures. The Bible was the platform on which he stood to examine all the other disciplines of academia. He respected sociology, psychology, archeology, science, history, and all the rest. But he viewed them from a biblical perspective, relating all knowledge to the ethical ideals revealed in Scripture.

Through his colleague at Southwestern Seminary, Dr. W.T. Conner, he came to know and appreciate the strengths of Walter Rauschebusch. Conner did his post-graduate work at Colgate-Rochester where Rauschenbusch was a leading voice. In studying under the tutelage of Richard Niebuhr, Maston also encountered the Kingdom ideas of the Neo-Orthodox movement for which Reinhold Niebuhr was to become the leading spokesman.

The Challenge of Racism

In the 1960s I was standing in line at a cafeteria with my friend and colleague, Rev. Rhett James. He was an African American pastor in Dallas. I had received word that the cafeteria owner had said he was striking down his segregationist policy. We were there to test out that rumor. As we stood in line amidst the glares of surrounding customers, he said, "Jimmy, you are fortunate. You get to pick your battles." He held out his arm and pointed at his skin and said, "I was born with mine."

There is a sense in which T. B. Maston was born with his major ethical battle. He was nurtured in the lily-white atmosphere of the most racially segregated denomination in America. While the scriptures used to justify racial discrimination and slavery had largely been discredited, no change in behavior existed because of a carefully cultivated myth that "they like it that way." Racism touched us all. It challenged our convictions, courage, wisdom, and worship.

As early as 1946 Maston published his book, Of One. Long before that he was teaching on college campuses, in Baptist encampments, and in Baptist churches and associations, the key principle of inclusion of the love of God. In 1952 he was one of the leaders who persuaded Southern Baptists in their annual session not to get on the wrong side of history in response to the Supreme Court`s decision to abolish segregation in the schools.

Many of the ethics students in Southwestern got their first experience of being welcomed into an African American home in Ft. Worth, to taste its hospitality, and to be informed about their host`s viewpoint because of the efforts of T. B. Maston. The emotional wrath of segregationists fell often on the undisturbed head of this gentle but persistent champion of the New Testament`s teaching on the value of every human being. The time had come for the issue to be faced. In the 1960 Civil Rights movement, many of Maston`s students had to decide. Some failed the test, but many succeeded in leading their people to attitudinal change. The professor had done his work. Now it was time for the students to do theirs.

Maston`s Method

Teachers Teach. When T. B. Maston found his voice as a teacher, he knew he had hit the stride for his life`s race. Teachers teach. They teach not simply in lecture halls or public meetings. They teach wherever they are. They teach whomever they are with at the moment. They teach by being open in their search to truth. Some the most memorable lessons I carry from Maston came in casual conversations in the hallways or words in a letter. Teachers teach.

Know Your Public. Maston knew his audience. He mission included a world but his assignment was to reach the Baptist people from whom he had sprung. Baptists are a people of the Book. Though in our current controversies we have become "Bible Users"-people who shout their faith in the Bible while ignoring the spirit of the one who inspired it. Baptists are at their best when they search the scriptures to discover the directions of their lives intended by God and move at God`s command. Maston lamented the fact that the emergence of German Higher Criticism had come at the same time as the awakening of social conscience in America. The two were often confused, so that social concern became identified with liberal theology. He left to other disciplines the work of examining and explaining the emergence of the biblical record. His task was to ask what we are doing about applying biblical principles to our lives. In so doing he represented a conservative position about the Bible by letting it make him a progressive social actionist.

Teach Through Relationships. Maston taught people. The ethics professor knew that the Master Teacher whom he served did not just teach with words. Maston taught by touching lives, by demonstrating love, by commending as well as correcting, and by caring. He developed an open door policy in his home by inviting his graduate students and their spouses to periodic times of meals, fellowship, and conversation. He reminded graduate students who were their predecessors and where they were serving.

Maston carried with him a list of those students, almost one hundred at the end of his ministry. This became a prayer list and a reference point so that not one would drop off his radar screen. As some moved on to activities outside of Baptist life, they remained a part of his personal fellowship of concern. It was never surprising to receive a call or letter from him, one of concern for our struggles or commendation for our successes.

A Sense of Timing. Maston taught with a keen sense of timing. He believed prophets ought not to be content simply with rehashing events. They should be perceptive about what is going to happen or what should be happening. Unapologetically anchored to the Bible, the seminary teacher was unstinting in his application of ethics to the future. He contended that the inspired leader must help create future agendas by spotting the areas that need attention before they became critical. For instance he was supporting discussions about biomedical ethics, genetic research, cloning, euthanasia, and abortion questions long before they became headline news.

Dr. Maston was particularly pleased when the first woman to earn a doctorate in a Baptist theological institution was Marguerite Woodruff, who majored in his field and became head of one of the departments in Mercer University. He championed the affirmation of women to exercise their God given gifts in a culture of male chauvinism.

He also was deeply concerned about the way materialism was seeping into religious circles and robbing us of the ethical ground for challenging its damage in society. Maston saw this danger in the lifestyle of many religious leaders. He caused great consternation when he began writing all denominational agencies to request they reveal the salaries of their executives. Interestingly, this public request stirred more of a turmoil than some of his actions on racial issues decades before! (You know the saying that the most sensitive nerve in the human body runs from the pocket book to the heart.)

Maston was concerned not just about denominational salaries, but also about the materialistic obsessions of churches, members, and Christian institutions. Losing prophetic witness in order to satisfy donors seemed to him to be a tragic betrayal of our best interests. Decades later we are in a society gone mad with materialism, betraying our faith through deceptive practices because we worship the god of greed.

Another aspect of Maston`s sense of timing was his perception that healthy change happens only when tension is increased. Sometimes change is painful. Movement toward an ideal should stay in touch with the people needing to move. He often used a rubber band to illustrate this point, stretching it out to picture the tension of the ideal, but also relaxing it to reveal the lack of Christian tension. The key is to make sure that you maintain the tension without breaking the connection.

The difference between what is and what ought to be is represented in this analogy also-the "missing the mark" definition of sin is here pictured as falling short of the glory of God. Here is the arena for repentance and forgiveness from God. We ought always to be uneasy about this tension-we can create too little or too much. He loved to observe that the silence of some leaders in the face of moral evil is a moral failure: "There are times when silence is golden. There are also times when silence is yellow. We ought never as Christians be silent because we are afraid."

Teach Through Writing Maston also taught through his books, articles, and other writings. While he never considered writing to be his special gift, Maston saw the need for educating his public on ethical issues. He disciplined himself to the task. He chose not to simply write for other scholars to read. His target audience was the layperson who constitutes the body of believers. Therefore, he did a great deal of periodical writing on issues. Utilizing the Baptist state papers, he wrote regular columns and articles to explain in clear terms the challenges of the gospel. His first book (Of One) was published in 1946, dealt with racial attitudes, and was published by the SBC Home Mission Board. After his retirement, he disciplined himself to producing of books. Eleven of his twenty-seven books were written after he was sixty-five.

Teach Through Example. A major way Maston taught was by his example. No treatment of this "Apostle of Biblical Ethics" would be complete without describing the events that fashioned his tenderness of heart along with his toughness and tenacity of conviction. For more than sixty years he and Mrs. Maston tended to the needs of their son, Tom Mack, in their home. Brain-damaged at birth, Tom Mack never uttered an understandable word. He could not feed or care for himself. His inarticulate sounds were accompanied by a stiffening of his body. Maston mentioned in a conversation with a friend that he could not remember a night when he was not up at least six times to care for his son.

The needs of Tom Mack was a constant challenge to both of them, even though Mrs. Maston devoted her life to her son`s care. Not long after Tom Mack`s death, T. B. Maston died. A strong woman physically, Essie Mae Maston died recently at the age of 103. She was clear of mind till the very last day of her life.

It is obvious that the grace of God exuded from the lives of these two parents who consistently without complaint treated their handicapped son with respect, tenderness, and love. He was always included in conversations and introduced to their friends. When they traveled to other countries in their work, they always took Tom Mack along. Maston often noted that many cultures hid their damaged children. He believed it was a healthy mission for them to show other cultures that Christ`s love is unconditional.

It is hard to imagine a time or season when the challenge for biblical ethics has been more crucial than it is today. "Feel Good Religion" is in and "Do Right Religion" is out!

Rudyard Kipling was not known as a theologian. However, the famed British poet hit a vital theological note in his work, Mr Tomlinson. In it he tells of Tomlinson`s encounter with St.. Peter at the Golden Gate. When asked for an account of his life, Tomlinson`s reply describes the essence of T. B. Maston`s life, the Baptist Apostle of Biblical Ethics:

"This I have read in a book," he said.
"And this was told to me,
And this I have thought that another man thought
of a Prince of Muscovy."
And Peter twirled the jangling keys in weariness
and wrath and said,
"You have READ, you have HEARD, you have THOUGHT
And the tale is yet to run
By the words of the body that once you had,
Give answer . . . WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Endnotes

[1] Foy Valentine, T. B. Maston: Shaper of Ethics and Social Concern, The Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1987).

[1] William M. Pinson, Jr. (ed.), An Approach to Christian Ethics, (Nashville: Broadman, 1979), 67.

[1] Joel Gregory, "Reflections on T. B. Maston," Christian Ethics Today, Summer, 2003, 10.