Dissertation Information for J. Brett SuttonNAME:
DEGREE:
DISCIPLINE:
SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected Title: SPIRIT AND POLITY IN A BLACK PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CHURCH
Abstract: "The black Primitive Baptists of this study are rural Southerners who differ from other American evangelical fundamentalists primarily in their commitment to the doctrine of predestination and limited atonement. Their attention is thus directed inwards, towards their own local communities of the elect, which members view as spiritual shelters from the natural or secular world. The first part of this study describes the doctrines and practices of the sacred community in terms of both the individual and the church. At both levels the essential element is not so much reflective understanding, moral self-control, or social activism, but ongoing direct communion with the spirit. For the individual, the gift of personal religious experience, particularly in the form of visions, is a sign of membership among the elect. The church, in turn, is the setting in which individuals experience and celebrate collectively that same spiritual gift. Primitive Baptists, who feel themselves personally powerless and unable to influence the flow of grace, cannot hope to attain a state of permanent communion with spirit; only the intermittent and unpredictable bestowing of grace unites the believer with God. |
MPACT Scores for J. Brett SuttonA = 1 Advisors and Advisees Graph |