Thursday, August 22, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 22nd of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I love parallel shows in close order… you, of course, are not required to listen to these shows in order, for credit, on the honor code… nothing. But- on Tuesday we met Francis Asbury- the tireless apostle of Methodism in America. Sure, we think “the Wesley Brothers” but it was the circuit riding, administrative and leadership role that lead to the growth of Methodism into one of the largest- and most distinctly American of denominations.

However, the Methodists are only one of the “largest- and most distinctly American of denominations” because they have had to share the bill with the American Baptists. And the “Francis Asbury” of the Baptist church was none other than Isaac Backus, a controversial figure in his day whose ideas would become mainstream.

Backus was born in the Connecticut colony in 1724, his family were prominent in the founding of the colony and his father served as a farmer-assemblyman. But when his father died, his mother was left with 11 children to care for. They found solace in the preaching of the revivalists, especially George Whitefield (who ties to Asbury this way, too).

Isaac experienced a second birth, according to his own diary, and was destined to be a preacher. He began to preach in 1746 but his emphasis on the new birth and on a democratized Christianity led to conflicts within both the colony and his family, who were longtime members of the congregational church.

In 1748, Backus was ordained in a “New Light” congregation, and it was on this, the 22nd of August in 1751, that he crossed the Rubicon (which is just a way of saying- he made a big decision- and should be edited out)- he was re-baptized. Here at the almanac, we are at the “once us plenty” party, but so be it.

Backus had just aligned himself with the radicals. From his new parish in Massachusetts, he began agitating for religious freedom and against the Massachusetts colony tax that went directly to the congregational church.  

Backus would learn that the destiny of the cause of the separatists lay in them staying together. He would have to argue for the freedom for all if there were to be any for him and his fellow Baptists.

With the coming Revolutionary War Backus became something of a reluctant patriot- realizing that his cause was the cause of all the colonists. He would employ the language of the Revolution, slogans etc…, for his own cause of religious freedom.

He is the likely originator of the oft-quoted phrase, “It is not the pence, but the power that alarms us” in his work “An Appeal To The Public For Religious Liberty. In other words, it isn’t the amount we are paying- it’s that we are paying for religious services at all that bothers us”.

Backus would also write “Government and Liberty Described; And Ecclesiastical Tyranny Exposed” along with his works on, and work on behalf of, religious liberty. He will also be remembered as the author of the 3 Volume A History of New England, with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists. It retains the eccentricities of denominational histories but gives us an insight into a Christian group in the colonies that was not the dominant congregational, Presbyterian, or Anglican church bodies.

Backus, despite being self-educated, was concerned that his Baptists would have a training center like the major denominations had in places like Princeton and Yale. It was with, among others, the Brown brothers (Nicholas, John, Joseph, and Moses) that he helped found the “College in the Colony of Rhode Island and Plymouth Plantations,” but after realizing that this was about the worst college name ever it became known after those four brothers and the school today goes by “Brown” (which, also… not the strongest name in the ivies).  

Backus was a proponent of the U.S. Constitution and served on the ratifying committee for Massachusetts. Along with his unpopular opinions on religious freedom for dissenters, he was also unpopular for his vocal stance against slavery- questioning some of the established Great Awakening figures who themselves owned slaves.

Backus was married to Susanna, and the two had nine children in the 50+ year marriage. Isaac Backus died in 1806- the founding father of both the Baptists and religious freedom for dissenters- and was 82 years old.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary from 1 Thessalonians:

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 22nd of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who is partial to college names like Colgate, Tufts, and his hometown Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (for real). He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who only wanted to go to Stansbury… the Harvard of the West… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.