0.4 1.1 introduction to "hidden work: baptist women in texas 1880  (Page 5/10)

Strains of the open West, the transitional border states, and the traditional South were blended in Texas, but it was a duplication of none since it bore clear marks of all, combined with the influence of European and Mexican migrations. There was no single, deeply rooted culture that had to be broken down before a new order could emerge, although east Texas had particularly close ties with the social and political institutions of the South, as well as intimate family connections. The proliferation of both wealth and population between 1880 and 1920 in this vital, but unstructured setting made it an excellent laboratory in which to observe forces of modernization emerge and develop.

The Baptists of my research are those aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention. I am aware there were other active Baptist groups within the state between 1880 and 1920, including Negro Baptists, Mexican Baptists, German Baptists, and anti-missionary Primitive Baptists, but those who formed the Baptist General Convention of Texas were by far the largest and most influential body. Although they were less numerous in Texas than Methodists in 1880, they were the largest denomination by 1920, and remained so until the end of the twentieth century, when immigration from Mexico and Central America raised Roman Catholicism to the number-one position. Their development closely paralleled that of the state and partook of and shaped the general cultural ethos. The doctrinal importance of the Bible, which they emphasize and proclaim as their "sufficient and sole authority," L. R. Elliott, ed., Centennial Story of Texas Baptists , Chicago: Hammond Press, 1936), p. 14. is a distinguishing mark of the group and fits them for a study of the importance of that ideology in understanding and dealing with contemporary life. Along with Biblical inerrancy, however, they stand firmly for religious equality and the right of every believer to read and interpret Scripture for him- or herself, providing the tension between authority and freedom I intend to investigate.

As subjects of research, both Texas and Baptists provide alternatives to data found in most studies of feminism, which tend to center on the Northeast, on progressives in the women's liberation movement, or on women of the Deep South. Concentration on Texas Baptist women is not a matter of giving unwarranted attention to a fringe element with no real place in society, but an attempt to understand another group of "average" Americans and their distinctive model of femininity.

The year 1880 was chosen for the beginning date of my research because it was then that Baptist women formed their first statewide organization. The denomination itself was also moving toward a general consolidation of state territorial conventions and other agencies, an event that occurred in 1886. While this activated the mechanism that ultimately brought financial and numerical success to Texas Baptists, it also raised issues regarding power, control, and centralization that fired a strong resistance. The 1880s and 1890s are, therefore, a good theater for observing the effects of population growth, advances in communication, competing organizational forms, and the development of denominational leaders to move the new masses. The uneven course of progress is replete with evidence of tradition warring against innovation, of old forms being quickly shed or reluctantly left behind, of new ideas being warmly embraced or hesitantly proposed.