A Man of Books and a Man of the People: E.Y. Mullins and the Crisis of Moderate Southern Baptist Leadership

by William E. Ellis

Book Overview

Book by Ellis, William E. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865541752
• ISBN13: 9780865541757
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

An Overview of Mullins' Life and Legacy

Featured prominently on my desk are framed, black-and-white photographs of two influential Southern Baptists: John A. Broadus (1827-95) and E.Y. Mullins (1860-1928). I admire Broadus' passion for preaching and the legacy he left as one of the founders of Southern Seminary. I admire Mullins for his denominational statemanship and his advocacy for religious freedom for Baptists in Romania. Not too long ago, I ordered a used copy of William Ellis' 1985 biography of E.Y. Mullins entitled: A Man of Books and a Man of the People: E.Y. Mullins and the Crisis of Moderate Southern Baptist Leadership. I was intrigued by the title given to Mullins: "a man of books and a man of the people." Evangelicalism could use more pastor/theologians and theologian/pastors. We need more men like D.A. Carson, John Piper, and N.T. Wright - ministers who serve both the local church and use their gifts in the academy. E.Y. Mullins' leadership in the early part of the 20th century provides a model of how bridging the gap between library and pew can be done effectively. Ellis portrays Mullins as a level-headed moderate leader who fought the extremes of fundamentalism throughout his tenure as president of Southern Seminary. The fundamentalist leaders at the turn of last century (men like T.T. Eaton) were highly critical of Mullins' leadership. Ellis casts Mullins as the calm, collected leader who staved off the fundamentalists who might have succeeded in taking over the (generally moderate) Southern Baptist Convention. Ellis' book was published in 1985 during another critical time in Southern Baptist life. I cannot help but wonder how much the events of the 1980's may have influenced Ellis' agenda in writing this book. It seems to me that Ellis seeks to portray Mullins as the kind of moderate leader needed to stave off what could be considered the fundamentalist excesses of the Conservative Resurgence. The most fascinating information in this biography comes from Ellis' access to Mullins' correspondence. The letters and Baptist newspapers of the time show that Southern Seminary was frequently criticized by people on the right and the left. According to some critics, Mullins was opening the door to liberalism within the seminary faculty. According to others, Mullins was unwilling to let go of key evangelical doctrines and subscribe to more "enlightened" views. There are several historical facts about Mullins that do not quite fit Ellis' portrayal. First, Ellis writes as if the Baptist Faith and Message that Mullins drafted in 1925 was an attempt to keep the heated debate over evolutionism from becoming a core Baptist conviction. But the comprehensiveness of this confession goes against the idea that the creation/evolution debate was the primary motivation for crafting such a document. In other essays, Mullins argued that Baptists were not a free-lance club and that Baptists shared a confessional identity. The problem for Ellis is that Mullins' advocacy of confessionali