It’s important to remember the rocks from which you’ve been hewn.
Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist (TAB), said that’s why the story of TAB needed to be written down in book form — so that future generations of Baptists could know the story of their roots.
“It’s an inspiring story,” Terry said of the paper’s 175-year history. “We’ve overcome war — a Civil War and world wars. We’ve overcome economic depressions and recessions.”
Alabama Baptists also have struggled through theological issues and debated their mission, but all the while, they’ve stayed together, he said.
“And through all of these kinds of things, the paper has persevered and proven its value,” Terry said.
So the writing of the book — “The Alabama Baptist: Celebrating 175 Years of Informing, Inspiring and Connecting Baptists” — was an opportunity to gather the best information available about the paper’s history and preserve it for future generations. The book chronicles the paper’s beginnings, its purchase by the state convention in 1919 and the four editors who have led it in the century since.
A good record
It’s important to have a good record, Terry said. Even now, less than 200 years after the founding of TAB, he said some details are already a bit murky — such as whether the state Baptist newspaper started as a brand-new paper in 1843 or had a precursor that printed earlier.
The most reliable information points to 1843, Terry said, so the book was a way to note that and other important details for the sake of history.
Most of the research for the book was pulled together by Elizabeth Wells, a veteran historian and author who is a retired Special Collection librarian and university archivist for Samford University in Birmingham.
Wells, who served 40 years in those roles and did extensive research into the history of TAB over the course of her career, may be the only person to have ever read every extant issue of TAB, Terry said.
The research was compiled into story form by Grace Thornton, a longtime journalist and writer for the publication.
“As the authors of the book pulled all the information together, the inescapable impression was that this paper has been a valuable and important part of Alabama Baptist life,” Terry said. “The paper has had inestimable value throughout its history and it can continue to have value going forward.”
Unique book
Bruce R. Barbour, founder of Literary Management Group in Nashville, which edited and published the book, called the project “one of the most unique book projects” he had ever had the opportunity to work on in 40-plus years of publishing.
“I’m a history buff myself, so I was like a kid in a candy store reading those headlines, articles and editorials from 175 years ago,” Barbour said. “Bob’s vision was to publish the story of the times and places The Alabama Baptist covered so today’s readers can have a sense of their own history and appreciate the impact on society and culture that Alabama Baptists had over the years.”
‘Loved reading every page’
The book does just that, he said. “I loved reading every page.”
Every church and association connected to the Alabama Baptist State Convention received a complimentary copy of the book thanks to generous donations by Samford University, Birmingham’s Brookwood Baptist Health and Baptist Health Montgomery.
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