Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 179:715 (Jul 2022)
Article: Periodical Reviews
Author: John A. Adair

BSac 179:715 (July-September 2022) p. 352

Periodical Reviews

By The Faculty And Staff Of Dallas Theological Seminary

John A. Adair

Editor

“Race and Racism in the Southern Baptist Convention: The Lost Legacies of George W. Truett and W. A. Criswell,” O. S. Hawkins, Southwestern Journal of Theology 63 (Spring 2021): 119–26.

Hawkins is the former pastor of First Baptist Church (FBC Dallas), Dallas, Texas (1993–1997), as well as several other churches, and is President Emeritus of Guidestone Financial Resources. In this article he acknowledges the racism of two long-time pastors of FBC Dallas, George Truett and W. A. Criswell. Truett served as pastor of the church from the end of the nineteenth century until Criswell succeeded him in 1944 (120). Criswell became Pastor Emeritus of FBC Dallas in 1995 and died in 2002.

In an address to the South Carolina legislature on February 22, 1956, Criswell, “referring to those in the North,” declared, “ ‘Let them integrate, let them sit up there in their dirty shirts and make all their fine speeches. But they are all a bunch of infidels, dying from the neck up’ ” (120). Later in life, Criswell repeatedly expressed regret, claiming the speech “ ‘was a colossal blunder and mistake on my part. . . . I was defending a position that did not represent my heart, my soul’ ” (120). In 1968, Criswell led the church to change its membership policy to allow black people to join. Hawkins concludes, “It left no doubt that the First Baptist Church in Dallas was not simply remorseful but repentant of its former silence on race, having now publicly swung open its doors to anyone and everyone” (125).

Hawkins notes, “Criswell inherited a church from George W. Truett that had become steeped in a spirit of Southern culture, deeply imbedded with the stain of white supremacy. While Truett is virtually revered by the masses and his name is etched in stone over the entrances to public schools, colleges, seminaries, hospitals and the like, his record on race and segregation is one that should cause deep concern for anyone studying his life and legacy” (120). Yet surprisingly Hawkins also claims, “Truett lived a life of impeccable integrity and enjoyed a near spotless reputation that has endured across the decades” (121). Truett’s record on race is surely a spot on his reputation.

Hawkins rightly observes: “Truett lived within a systemic racist culture that saw Whites as superior, and his silence on racial issues, which frequently arose during his life and ministry, are an anathema to anyone who has seriously studied his life” (121). Hawkins cites several examples

BSac 179:715 (July-September 2022...