For the Faith: A History of the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International

by Larry R. Oats

The Foundations Baptist Fellowship International is the successor of the Fundamentalist Fellowship, the Conservative Baptist Fellowship, and the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship. For the Faith is the record of 100 years of faithfulness to the Word of God.

288 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Dr. Larry R. Oats has earned three master’s degrees and a PhD in Systematic Theology. As one of Maranatha Baptist University’s most distinguished alumni and frequent conference speakers for both the University and Seminary, he has been involved in Christian higher education for over 45 years. Dr. Oats has written numerous theological papers and is an authority on Baptist fundamentalism.

Reviews

[Doug Adamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oats is to be commended for this informative and challenging account of the 100 year-history of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship. This group when through several names and iterations before achieving its current status as a consistently separatist organization. Oats gives detailed discussions of the fights, successes, and failures of each of these states: within the Northern Baptist Convention, as part of the Conservative Baptist movement, and then as an independent organization. The first two stages get far more extended treatment than the final stage. It is a worthwhile read for those who are interested in the history and development of 20th-century Northern Baptists. Although I benefitted from the book, let me note some draw-backs. First, the book would have benefitted from a good, well-informed editor. There were a number of errors that I noted: James Gray is described as a Baptist though he was a Reformed Episcopalian (p. 38); William Ward Ayer is referred to as Robert Ward Ayer (p. 123); Leo Garrett's last name is misspelled several times as Garret (p. 124); J. C. Massee's date of death is given as December, 1958 rather than March 1965 (p. 239). There are other quirks that a good editor should have caught. Another drawback is that sometimes Oats notes an issue that would have benefitted from further information (even if only in a footnote). For example, he mentions Chester Tulga's "liberal practices" (p. 108) but does not state/list what those practices involved. In another case, while discussing a number of events that took place in the 1990s he notes a conflict that arose in 2009 (p. 243). Is this the correct date for this conflict and the account is given out of order.; or is the year incorrect? There is no footnote about the conflict to allow us to cross-check. Third, in a number of places Oats gives the entire, multi-paragraph resolution that was put forward for or against a conflict. In other places he gives extended lists of complaints presented by one group or another. This is both good and bad. For those looking for details of arguments and motions, it is great. For those not interested in the actual wording of these resolutions, it is not so good. While I am glad that the author chose to use footnotes rather than endnotes, the book would have benefitted from a good bibliography. The mini-biographies of the FBF leaders (given in appendix A) was, at least to me, very helpful. A final observation about the book's structure concerns is organization. The brief introduction is followed by seven chapters and three appendices. Chapters 2-6 each deal with a particular stage in the development of the FBF. The final chapter speaks to the future of the FBF. What is the problem with the structure? To me it is the length of the individual chapters. Chapter 2, 29-92; Chapter 3, 93-119; Chapter 4, 119-133; Chapter 5, 134-226; Chapter 6, 227-254; Chapter 7, 255-258. I think that some of the larger chapters would have benefitted from subdividing into smaller sections. These critiques notwithstanding, I am thankful for this history of the FBF. It is a good read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is important because it records the history and founding of the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International (FBFI, or FBF as I think is its more common abbreviation). It used to be called the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, but changed its name to Foundations Baptist Fellowship due to the negative connotations associated with the word "fundamental" or "fundamentalist."

The FBF has a continuing challenge in that it is not attracting younger men to its fellowship. At regional and the annual conference, the audience is by far heavily weighted to men in their declining years of ministry, and if the FBF is to continue, it must reverse that demographic trend.

My impression was that the book may have been a little rushed into print to be ready for the 2021 annual conference. It could have used some close proof reading and fact checking. For instance, on page 126, note 28, refers to a Butler F. Porter Jr as the author of a dissertation on Billy Graham. The actual author's name was Farley P. Butler Jr.

The author did use a very wide span of the available documentation on the fundamentalist movement, and I liked the footnotes at the bottom of each page, rather than including them at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book.

I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in church history.

[John Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I write this review as a chaplain endorsed by the FBFI and a former member of Faith Baptist Church in Taylors, SC during the pastorate of Dr. John Vaughn while he was president of the FBFI.

My comments will be simple and just some thoughts.
For The Faith was enjoyable to read. I could pick it up to read as a form of relaxation and doing something pleasurable. As someone who heard many stories of the people and events in this book, the author’s telling of those events and details about the people was educational and kept me wanting to read. In the lengthy chapter titled Conservative Baptist Fellowship I quickly began to loose track of the names and timeline of events. There were a lot of names and events mentioned and the time between my readings was days and maybe a week apart at times. Not being familiar at all with the events and people probably didn't help as well.

The author does a great job of identifying the major people, events, and beliefs of the FBFI in this books and gives the reader a broad sweep of the landscape of the history of the FBFI. After reading For the Faith I think I came away with a better understanding of the heart of the FBFI and the important convictions of the FBFI that make it what it is today. For instance, as I’ve been part of the FBFI I have never really understood why premillennialism is so important to pastors in the FBFI. After reading the book I understand now why premillennialism, and other somewhat negotiable doctrines, are important to some folks. I understand the FBFI much better now having read this book and am very grateful for reading it.

I highly recommend the author’s other book The Church of the Fundamentalist if you want to know more about the doctrines that Fundamentalists hold dear.

If I haven’t said this clearly enough, Dr. Oats’ books have really helped me understand the FBFI and Christian Fundamentalism.

The author acknowledges the limitations of the book due to a lack of primary resources.