Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 65:1 (Mar 2022)
Article: Socially Derived Or Studiously Prosecuted? God, Revelation, Education, And Daniel A. Payne
Author: Christopher Sarver

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Socially Derived Or Studiously Prosecuted? God, Revelation, Education, And Daniel A. Payne

Christopher Sarver*

^* Christopher Sarver (Ed.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) ministers to emerging adults in Indianapolis. He resides with his wife, Jodi, and their four children in Fishers, Indiana, and may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: In the nineteenth century, Daniel A. Payne devoted himself to black clergy and laity education as head of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, then as president of Wilberforce University, the first institution of higher learning in the country to be owned and governed by African Americans. Born in the year following Payne’s death, Benjamin E. Mays served as president of Morehouse College and significantly influenced the modern civil rights movement. Mays, in his analysis of Payne’s life and writings in his seminal work, The Negro’s God: As Reflected in His Literature, contends that a socially derived concept of God explained the nineteenth-century church leader’s deep, enduring commitment to education and social activism on behalf of those of African descent. By analyzing Mays’s argument, reflecting upon Payne’s writings (i.e., autobiography, sermons, books, essays, articles), and interacting with Payne biographers, I argue that it is better to understand his views of God, education, and social activism as the result of a lifelong, diligent study of all facets of divine revelation in general and the Protestant Scriptures in particular.

Key words: Daniel Alexander Payne, Benjamin Elijah Mays, concept of God, God-concept, theology proper, socially derived, studiously prosecuted, divine revelation, Scripture, black, African American, education, social activism

Recently, the topic of social engagement on behalf of the economically disadvantaged or to address societal injustices has provoked substantial discussion among evangelicals within the United States.1 Considering the works and examples of historical figures—particularly those from traditionally marginalized communities who sought to address societal problems during their own time periods utilizing broadly Christian frameworks—can serve to enrich the current conversation. In fact, reflection upon the ideas and actions of earlier thinkers and activists provides

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opportunities for contemporary scholars to recognize comparable themes or avoid potential pitfalls in the current situation. Two such figures, Daniel Payne and Elijah Mays, as well as the latter’s assessment of the former, provide grist for the mill with respect to today’s di...