The Great Commission and the Confederacy: Southern Baptist Missions during the Civil War

The Civil War (1861-1865) plunged the United States into brutal war, bringing financial, emotional, and psychological challenges, a time of uncertainty and change. Despite the uncertain times, white Southern Baptists in the secessionist states viewed the creation of the Confederacy as divinely sanctioned, not only because it affirmed a white-first view of the world, but because they believed it would be a new nation to guide all other nations to Jesus Christ. Using the work of adult Baptists in South Carolina, the letters of young Baptist children, and correspondence from the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and missionaries in China, this thesis examines Southern Baptist missions during the war. Despite their open support of the Confederacy, white Southern Baptists grounded themselves in their long tradition of missions. It argues that Baptists’ Confederate identity dovetailed with their religious one, but by exploring the theology and centrality of their mission work, this thesis demonstrates that their religious identity remained dominant, affirming their place in the world as the best white, Protestant Christians to carry the Gospel to the world.