Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 07:1 (Spring 2003)
Article: The Life and Legacy of Herschel H. Hobbs (1907–1995)
Author: David S. Dockery

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SBJT 7:1 (Spring 2003) p. 62

The Life and Legacy of Herschel H. Hobbs (1907–1995)1

David S. Dockery

David S. Dockery has served as president of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, since 1995. Previously he held the post of vice president and academic dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Dockery is the author or editor of over twenty books including Theologians of the Baptist Tradition, and Shaping a Christian Worldview. He has written numerous articles and book reviews, and also functions as a consulting editor for Christianity Today.

Herschel H. Hobbs, by any account, was one of the most influential and shaping leaders in Southern Baptist life in the 20th century. His role as chairman of the 1963 “Baptist Faith and Message” committee, coupled with his tireless efforts to formulate and articulate Southern Baptist doctrine and distinctives for almost four decades have cemented his position in history. Hobbs, as preacher, author, denominational statesman and pastortheologian, has often been called “Mr. Southern Baptist.” By only examining his early years it would have been nearly impossible for anyone to have predicted the influence he later would have on Baptist life. Hobbs stepped onto the Southern Baptist stage under the guidance of and with the obvious blessings of God’s providential hand, for there was no family tradition of church leadership, denominational involvement, or serious biblical exposition or theological reflection on which he could build.

The Early Years

Hobbs was born on October 24, 1907 in the rural community of Marble Valley in Coosa County, Alabama. Born to Elbert Oscar and Emma Octavia Whatley Hobbs, Herschel was the sixth child, and first son in the family. His father died of malaria when Herschel was two.

Hobbs’s mother was a Baptist and his father had been a member of the Church of Christ, though he had led the singing at the local Methodist Church. The first church Herschel remembered attending was the Blue Springs Methodist Church. At five years of age he was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up. Hobbs responded, “I’m going to be a Methodist preacher like Brother Smith.” Later in his life he would recall, “I have always felt that even at a tender age God had planted in my mind that I was to be a preacher.”2 After his father’s death, his mother took her children to the local Baptist church, which according to Hobbs, was the primary reason he grew up a Baptist.

Hobbs made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ when he was eleven years old during a revival service in the Enon Baptist Church in Chilton County, Alabama. The r...

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