COMMON CAUSE: BC GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE, AND CHURCHES OF ...

362 Pages·2009·1.8 MB·English

COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE,
AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this dissertation
is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This dissertation does
not include proprietary or classified information.
John C. Hardin
Certificate of Approval:
Wayne Flynt David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Chair
Distinguished University Daniel F. Breeden Eminent Scholar
Professor Emeritus in the Humanities Emeritus
History History
Charles A. Israel George T. Flowers
Associate Professor Dean
History Graduate School
COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE,
AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
John C. Hardin
A Dissertation
Submitted to
the Graduate Faculty of
Auburn University
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the
Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Auburn, Alabama
May 9, 2009
COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE,
AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
John C. Hardin
Permission is granted to Auburn University to make copies of this dissertation at its
discretion, upon request of individuals or institutions and at their expense.
The author reserves all publication rights.
Signature of Author
Date of Graduation
iii
VITA
John Clinton Hardin III was born in 1970 in Decatur, Alabama, to Clinton and
Barbara (Akers) Hardin. He grew up in Moulton, Alabama, where he graduated from
Lawrence County High School in 1989. He entered Auburn University that year and
graduated in 1993 with a degree in history. He later earned masters degrees at Lipscomb
University in Biblical studies (1997) and at Auburn University in history (2002). He has
worked as a campus minister intern for Auburn Church of Christ, as a graduate teaching and
graduate research assistant (with the Alabama Review and the online Encyclopedia of
Alabama) for Auburn University, and as an archivist for the Alabama Department of
Archives and History in Montgomery, where he is currently employed in the Public Services
Division. He is married to Amie Alexander Hardin, who is originally from Walker County,
Alabama, and who works as a registered dietitian. They were married in 1993 and have two
daughters, Abbie and Maggie.
iv
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT
COMMON CAUSE: B. C. GOODPASTURE, THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE,
AND CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
John C. Hardin
Doctor of Philosophy, May 9, 2009
(M.A., Auburn University, 2002)
(M.A.R., Lipscomb University, 1997)
(B.A., Auburn University, 1993)
362 Typed Pages
Directed by David Edwin Harrell, Jr.
From 1939 to 1977, Benton Cordell Goodpasture (1895-1977) edited the Gospel
Advocate. Founded in 1855 and published weekly in Nashville, the paper was a crucial
center of influence for Churches of Christ, a loose-knit group of autonomous congregations
concentrated in the South. After 1945, Goodpasture, the Advocate, and a network of like-
minded preachers, churches, and institutions were at the center of the group’s transition from
a marginal position in society. The influential editor nurtured growth and denominational
identity by promoting the group’s interests, activities, and institutions, and used his
significant informal power to isolate a small minority of churches resisting modernization.
The apparent majority consensus that he helped cement in the 1950s came under attack from
the left during the 1960s. His leadership role then took on a defensive, caretaker quality, but
he remained an important symbol of stability for mainstream Churches of Christ to his death.
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Several people deserve my thanks. Mrs. Freddie Goodpasture (now deceased)
enriched this study by graciously allowing me access to her husband’s papers before
generously donating them to the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Numerous librarians
and archivists were of assistance: Erma Jean Loveland, Carisse Berryhill, and Chad Longley
at Abilene Christian University; Terence Sheridan and Kay Newman at Southern Christian
University; Marie Byers and David Howard at Lipscomb University; Hope Shull and Sherry
Jennette at Freed-Hardeman University; Dena Luce at Faulkner University; Timothy Nutt at
the University of Arkansas; David McWhirter and Mac Ice at the Disciples of Christ
Historical Society; Henry Terrill at Harding University; Don Meredith at Harding
University Graduate School of Religion; and Jane Henderson at Auburn Church of Christ.
My thanks also go to Terry Gardner, John Allen Chalk, Fletcher Srygley, Don Haymes, and
Tom Olbricht. Several friends and colleagues deserve my recognition: David Duer, Tom
Steed, Bill Becker, Barclay Key, Heath Willingham, John Wigginton, Mark Wilson, Scott
Billingsley, Steve Murray, Ken Barr, Jeff Jakeman, Donna Bohanan, Kathryn Braund, Ken
and Nancy Noe, Bill Rogers, and my co-laborers at the Alabama Department of Archives
and History. Ed Harrell, the director of this piece of work, displayed infinite patience, while
committee members Wayne Flynt, Charles Israel, and Richard Penaskovic (as outside
reader) provided detailed feedback. I offer my deepest gratitude to all my family, especially
my wife, Amie, and my daughters, Abbie and Maggie, who put up with me most of all.
vi
Style manual used: The Chicago Manual of Style, Fifteenth Edition
Computer software used: Corel WordPerfect 12
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: “THE CAUSE WE LOVE” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER 2 THE FIRST YEAR: “TO THE TOP” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
CHAPTER 3 THE FORTIES: “SAFE IN YOUR HANDS” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER 4 THE FIFTIES: “ON THE MARCH” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
CHAPTER 5 THE SIXTIES: “FORCES OF LIBERALISM” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
CHAPTER 6 THE SEVENTIES: “THE ANCHOR THAT HOLDS” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION: “A TOWERING OAK”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
viii
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION:
“THE CAUSE WE LOVE”
Although they were born some twenty years apart, N. B. Hardeman and B. C.
Goodpasture had much in common. Both men preached among Churches of Christ for
decades, and both served that body in influential leadership positions–as educator and editor,
respectively. The eldest, Hardeman, lived from 1874 to 1965. He was co-founder and
longtime president of Freed-Hardeman College, a Henderson, Tennessee, school started in
1908 and supported by members of Churches of Christ.1 A legendary orator, Hardeman
solidified his reputation as a preacher during a series of five acclaimed “Tabernacle
meetings” sponsored by Nashville churches between 1922 and 1942. He became a
household name among Churches of Christ as a result of the first meeting, delivering thirty-
nine sermons to a total of 160,000 people in Ryman Auditorium.2 The sermons were
published, and “at least two generations of Church of Christ preachers cut their theological
teeth on those lectures.”3
The younger Goodpasture, born in 1895, did not come to prominence until 1939,
when he was named editor of the Gospel Advocate. Published in Nashville, the weekly
paper was the oldest institution among Churches of Christ, a fellowship of loose-knit,
autonomous congregations with its greatest strength in the South, especially Tennessee and
Texas.4 Goodpasture was a relatively little-known Atlanta preacher and Advocate staff
1
writer when he ascended to the editor’s chair. Although he was already known and admired
by Hardeman, in his new position he would win the elder statesman’s complete confidence
and earn his highest esteem.5 Hardeman would come to think of Goodpasture as “the
standard bearer for the Church,” and would often tell him as much.6 “I love and appreciate
what you have done and are yet doing for the Cause we love,” he informed Goodpasture in
1963. “Men of your ability and devotion to duty are mighty scarce.”7
Hardeman was not alone in his opinion of Goodpasture, who would remain in charge
of the Gospel Advocate until his death in 1977. Church leaders and lay members alike
looked to the editor for leadership. But the record of the Hardeman-Goodpasture
relationship yields more than evidence of Goodpasture’s personal influence. It also sheds
light on the root and base of his influence, namely the central place of the Advocate among
Churches of Christ. An illuminating example is contained in a letter from Hardeman to
Goodpasture in 1953. Now 79, Hardeman’s long tenure as president of Freed-Hardeman
had ended in 1950. Still a household name, he asked the editor to announce to Advocate
readers that he was continuing to preach and was “not retired by a long sight.” Stressing that
he was in good health, he suggested that Goodpasture “make mention of the fact that
brethren everywhere speak of my sermons as better than usual.” Although he was already
scheduled for several speaking engagements over the next two years, Hardeman clearly
wanted to make sure that churches did not forget about him.8
Like thousands of preachers since 1855, Hardeman knew to turn to the Gospel
Advocate when he needed to get a message out to the churches. Preachers knew also to turn
to Goodpasture when they needed his influence to help them secure permanent employment.
In March 1959, Memphis preacher J. M. Powell, brother-in-law to Goodpasture and
2