Twentieth-Century Shapers of Baptist Social Ethics
Book Reviews
”Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.” Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Book Reviewed
by Joe E. Trull
Twentieth-Century Shapers of Baptist Social Ethics
Larry L. McSwain (ed.)Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008.
McAfee School of Theology professor Larry McSwain has made a major contribution to the field of Christian ethics with the publication of this historical overview of nineteen Baptists who made significant contributions to the arena of social ethics. Look over the list: Rauschenbusch, Maston, Barnette, Clarence Jordan, Martin Luther King Jr., President Jimmy Carter, Tony Campolo, J. M. Dawson, James Dunn, and Foy Valentine–familiar names all!
McSwain and historical consultant William Loyd Allen also include a British pastor, two female voices for social justice, and an African-American liberation theologian, along with lesser-known Baptist teachers, thinkers, and writers who helped shape a century of ethical thought and action. Most chapters are written by persons who had an intimate knowledge of the Baptist ethicist described.
Critics might accuse the editors of including a few who were not as significant as some who were omitted. Nevertheless, in a day when Christian ethics is either corrupted in some SBC seminaries or completely ignored in a flagship moderate seminary, perhaps this work will aid Baptist students with a basic understanding of the principal ideas and major contributions of Baptist ethical leaders of the last century.
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