Given the wide conversation sparked by my last column, about the lack of theological clarity and identity found in that slice of the U. S. Christian community that became ex-Southern Baptist, I follow up today with reflections on some of the sources of that lack of clarity. Again, I welcome crowdsourcing here, and I am fully aware of the limits of my own or any other individual’s perspective. I am also aware that ex-SBC life varies quite a bit across the vast expanse of the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest. But here is my general analysis:
Great diversity concerning what it meant to be Southern Baptist long predated the convention schism of 1979-1991, especially given our commitment to congregational autonomy. This diversity was for a long time papered over by at least a limited shared identity provided by the Cooperative Program and the institutions and projects it funded. After the SBC split/takeover, the ex-SBC side never replaced the Cooperative Program and its institutions with anything similarly identity-producing. New ex-SBC institutions were, relatively speaking, weak and fragmented.
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