Changes

The ordination of women was forbidden between 1845 and 1996.  However women comprised a majority of the membership, and wanted outlets for their piety and energy. Starting in 1907, the Personal Service Department of the Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) has encouraged women to participate in social reform as a form of missionary activity, making explicit the connection to the Social Gospel.<ref>Carol Crawford Holcomb, "The Kingdom at Hand: the Social Gospel and the Personal Service Department of Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention." ''Baptist History and Heritage'' 2000 35(2): 49-66.</ref> Flowers (2000) explores the history of the WMU and its emphasis on social reform in the Social Gospel mode from its founding in 1888 to the eve of the Great Depression in 1928. WMU activities reveal a commitment to its historical ideal of service as both material and spiritual.<ref>Betsy Flowers, "Southern Baptist Evangelicals or Social Gospel Liberals? The Woman's Missionary Union and Social Reform, 1888 to 1928." ''American Baptist Quarterly'' 2000 19(2): 106-128.</ref> In the late-20th century conflict arose between the SBC leadership the WMU. The SBC leaders sought to return the WMU to more traditional evangelistic action, with an emphasis on attacking homosexuality and abortion, and away from the type of broad-gauge social work WMU women had been doing.  In 1995 the SBC terminated a 105-year relationship with the WMU when the WMU decided to affiliate with the breakaway moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and to become more involved in social issues.

The ordination of women was forbidden between 1845 and 1996.  However women comprised a majority of the membership, and wanted outlets for their piety and energy. Starting in 1907, the Personal Service Department of the Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) has encouraged women to participate in social reform as a form of missionary activity, making explicit the connection to the Social Gospel.<ref>Carol Crawford Holcomb, "The Kingdom at Hand: the Social Gospel and the Personal Service Department of Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention." ''Baptist History and Heritage'' 2000 35(2): 49-66.</ref> Flowers (2000) explores the history of the WMU and its emphasis on social reform in the Social Gospel mode from its founding in 1888 to the eve of the Great Depression in 1928. WMU activities reveal a commitment to its historical ideal of service as both material and spiritual.<ref>Betsy Flowers, "Southern Baptist Evangelicals or Social Gospel Liberals? The Woman's Missionary Union and Social Reform, 1888 to 1928." ''American Baptist Quarterly'' 2000 19(2): 106-128.</ref> In the late-20th century conflict arose between the SBC leadership the WMU. The SBC leaders sought to return the WMU to more traditional evangelistic action, with an emphasis on attacking homosexuality and abortion, and away from the type of broad-gauge social work WMU women had been doing.  In 1995 the SBC terminated a 105-year relationship with the WMU when the WMU decided to affiliate with the breakaway moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and to become more involved in social issues.

The SBC became formally committed to the husband's "headship" in marriage at its convention in 1998, and at the same time ousted "evangelical feminists" from some of its seminaries. In October 1997 a mass rally in Washington, D.C., saw the culmination of the rise of the Promise Keepers, a loosely organized, mixed-faith grouping that campaigned for male leadership and female submission within the family.  

The SBC became formally committed to the husband's "headship" in marriage at its convention in 1998, and at the same time ousted "evangelical feminists" from some of its seminaries. In October 1997 a mass rally in Washington, D.C., saw the culmination of the rise of the [[Promise Keepers]], a loosely organized, mixed-faith grouping that campaigned for male leadership and female submission within the family.  

 

===Politics===

===Politics===

Early in the 20th century, some leaders, such as Mullins, attempted to forge ties with Northern evangelicals.  The effort collapsed in the 1920s when the "Scopes Monkey Trial" showed an unbridgeable gap between the regions on the issues such as evolution.. Thereafter the SBC stood aloof and avoided any connections with other religious bodies. The lingering influence of Landmarkism, Southern regionalism, and Northern opposition to Southern race relations stood in the way of closer connections. Though its theology had sectarian elements, the SBC dominated white Southern culture into the 1970s. By the 1980s, however, conservatives had taken firm control of the SBC and saw value in allying with Northern evangelicals because both felt threatened by secular humanism and the Left. No longer as dominant in the South, the SBC shared with the neo-evangelicals in "straddling the Christ-and-culture-in-paradox and Christ-and-the-transformer-of-culture positions." Religious alliances were possible because evangelicals North and South had arrived at similar cultural positions, and the SBC membership itself was growing rapidly outside the South by appealing to migrating Southerners and even more to like-minded Northerners.<ref>Barry Hankins, ''Southern Baptists and Northern Evangelicals: Cultural Factors and The Nature Of Religious Alliances". ''Religion and American Culture'' 1997 7(2): 271-298.</ref>  

Early in the 20th century, some leaders, such as Mullins, attempted to forge ties with Northern evangelicals.  The effort collapsed in the 1920s when the "Scopes Monkey Trial" showed an unbridgeable gap between the regions on the issues such as evolution.. Thereafter the SBC stood aloof and avoided any connections with other religious bodies. The lingering influence of Landmarkism, Southern regionalism, and Northern opposition to Southern race relations stood in the way of closer connections. Though its theology had sectarian elements, the SBC dominated white Southern culture into the 1970s. By the 1980s, however, conservatives had taken firm control of the SBC and saw value in allying with Northern evangelicals because both felt threatened by secular humanism and the Left. No longer as dominant in the South, the SBC shared with the neo-evangelicals in "straddling the Christ-and-culture-in-paradox and Christ-and-the-transformer-of-culture positions." Religious alliances were possible because evangelicals North and South had arrived at similar cultural positions, and the SBC membership itself was growing rapidly outside the South by appealing to migrating Southerners and even more to like-minded Northerners.<ref>Barry Hankins, ''Southern Baptists and Northern Evangelicals: Cultural Factors and The Nature Of Religious Alliances". ''Religion and American Culture'' 1997 7(2): 271-298.</ref>