Booknotes: Between Worlds

New Arrival:

• Between Worlds: John A. Broadus, the Southern Baptist Seminary, and the Prospects of the New South by Eric C. Smith (LSU Press, 2026).

From the description: "John A. Broadus (1827–95) was a highly influential Southern Baptist leader, preacher, scholar, and educator during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He cofounded the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which today is among the largest seminaries in the world." Eric's Smith's Between Worlds: John A. Broadus, the Southern Baptist Seminary, and the Prospects of the New South is billed as "the first scholarly biography of Broadus." It "joins recent historical scholarship in reevaluating Broadus’s legacy."

One chapter covers the Civil War years, the Confederate experiment being something that Broadus ardently supported. Physical limitations kept Broadus from being able to travel with the Army of Northern Virginia on a sustained basis as an official chaplain. Nevertheless, he did what he could to provide spiritual support to the army. At the behest of others, he authored a religious pamphlet aimed toward upholding soldier morals whilst in the service and was a camp minister serving Lee's army on a number of occasions, his preaching contributing to the religious revivals of 1863-64 that swept through the army and helped sustain its fighting morale.

More from the description: "A prominent southerner before and after the Civil War, Broadus actively shaped his region during the shift from the Old South to the New." A major element of Broadus's legacy was his enduring impact on the act and manner of preaching itself, which "stems in part from his 1870 homiletics manual, a widely adopted textbook that ministers continue to use today."