Historians Kimberly Kellison and Robert Elder to Discuss “Forging A Christian Order”

On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at Noon in the Schumacher Flex Commons of Moody Library, the Office of the President and Office of the Provost present the next Readers Meet the Author session featuring Dr. Kimberly Kellison and her recent publication, “Forging a Christian Order: South Carolina Baptists, Race and Slavery, 1696-1860.” Dr. Robert Elder will converse with Kellison about her book. The session, hosted by the Baylor Libraries, will also be available via Zoom Webinar and will be followed by a reception with light refreshments and a book signing.

“This book describes the central role of white Baptist leaders in South Carolina in crafting and publicly articulating a Christian model of slavery that affirmed the biblical centrality of owning enslaved men and women,” explains Kellison. “In a state where slavery defined all aspects of life more deeply than any other place in the union, these leaders aligned themselves with a religious system that accommodated slavery and promised a system of social control, setting the stage for a wider embrace of proslavery rhetoric in the antebellum South.”

Kellison is Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Baylor University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina and specializes in the American South, Civil War and Reconstruction, and Religion in the American South. Her colleague, Dr. Robert Elder, is Associate Professor of History at Baylor University. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Clemson University, and earned a Ph.D. at Emory University. He specializes in the American South, Intellectual History, Religious History, and Gender and American Conservatism.

“White South Carolina Baptists formulated and advanced proslavery ideology in the American South and, in the process, sacralized the institution of slavery,” said Kellison. “The book invites readers to think more deeply about how churches, as institutions, interface with societal issues both in the past and today.”

The Readers Meet the Author series features recently published single-authored works by Baylor faculty selected by Provost Nancy Brickhouse. The series provides opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and others to gather for shared reflection and collegial conversation about big ideas.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit provost.web.baylor.edu/rma.