God's Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism

America’s Baptists

by Barry Hankins

Loathed by mainstream Southern Baptists, J. Frank Norris (1877–1952) was in many ways the Southern Baptist Convention’s first fundamentalist. Twenty-five years after its first publication, this second edition of Barry Hankins’s field-defining work God’s Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism engages new scholar- ship on American fundamentalism to reassess one of the most controversial figures in the history of American Christianity. In this completely revised edition, Hankins pens an entirely new chapter on J. Frank Norris’s murder trial, examines newly uncovered details regarding his recurrent sexual improprieties, and reconsiders his views on race in order to place J. Frank Norris, a man both despicable and captivating, among the most significant Southern fundamentalists of the twentieth century.

Norris merged a southern populist tradition with militant fundamentalism, carving out a distinctly take-no-prisoners political niche within the Baptist church that often offended his allies as much as his enemies. Indeed, Norris was about as bad as a fundamentalist could be. He resided in a world of swirling conspiracies of leftists who, he argued, intended to subvert both evangelical religion and American culture. There are times when Norris’s ego looms so large in his story that he seemed less interested in the threat these alleged conspiracies posed than in their power to keep him in the limelight. Finally, his tactics foreshadowed those employed in the fundamentalists’ tenacious takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention that would occur more than twenty years after Norris’s death.

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 1996

About the author

Barry G. Hankins is Professor of History at Baylor University, as well as a Resident Scholar with the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). His publications include Baptists in America: A History (OUP, 2015) and Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism: A Documentary Reader (NYU Press, 2008). Hankins's biography Francis Schaeffer And the Shaping of Evangelical America: Fundamentalist Warrior, Evangelical Prophet (Eerdmans, 2008) was awarded the 2009 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography.

Reviews

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this scholarly monograph provides a considerable amount of helpful information about the fundamentalist controversialist and religious empire-builder J. Frank Norris (1877-1952), it is an unsatisfying biography. Because there is little extant information about Norris’s personal life, Hankins decided to analyze Norris’s public life topically. Even Norris’s death is treated incidentally, in the middle of a sentence about the 1952 presidential campaign.

The author makes clear at the outset that his early attempt to write a balanced biography of Norris became impossible when he realized such a work would be “inaccurate.” Hankins believed he had to emphasize the preacher’s “complete disregard for basic standards of civility and honesty.” (4) I share Hankins dark view of Norris, though not necessarily the victimhood of all Norris’s enemies—of whom there were legion. Some contemporary Southern Baptist leaders were slippery characters whom Norris often accurately (if just as often, brutishly) nailed.

Finally, the reader quickly tires of Norris’s self-promotion, “paranoid style,” and disgusting treatment of erstwhile friends. Not that Hankins can be blamed for that. But it is unpleasant to read a whole book about such an ethically challenged character. Here’s a volume from which one may profitably gather scholarly notes but not the sort of thing I would read for pleasure.

[William Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical reflection on J. Frank Norris and the beginnings of southern fundamentalism. It is interesting to see the parallels in much of what takes place in modern politics. I wasn't familiar with Norris, and I certainly learned a lot. Very insightful!

[Jake Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book that bears a lot of instruction for our current moment. Hankins’ own viewpoints cloud the book at times and are distracting.

[Aubrey Caudill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic, hard to read. doesn't go into his personal life hardly at all. not biographical in that sense.