Baptists in America: A History

by Thomas S. Kidd

THE YEARS LEADING up to the American Revolution were a time of growth for Baptists. In New England, Baptists sought greater respectability, especially through the establishment of their first college, the College of Rhode Island (later Brown University). The key figures in the establishment of the College of Rhode Island were James Manning and Isaac Backus. The Separate Baptists, unlike those affiliated with the Philadelphia Association, were suspicious of educational requirements for pastors. Most of the early Separate Baptists, including Backus, did not have a college education, and they believed that the only essential qualification to preach was the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Requiring a college degree for pastors seemed to denigrate the role of spiritual calling, for God would presumably call whomever he wanted, regardless of their worldly credentials. The Baptists looked to the example of Christ’s apostles, some of whom were untutored fishermen. Nevertheless, Baptist leaders in the 1760s came to believe that they needed a college to train pastors. None of the Baptists opposed education per se, and many accepted the idea that specialized education in theology could help develop better pastors. They worried that some aspiring pastors might go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton and be tempted to become Congregationalists or Presbyterians. Already in 1756, Baptists had founded the precollegiate Hopewell Academy in New Jersey. One of its early graduates was James...