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THE GARBC AS HEIR OF THE BAPTIST BIBLE UNION:
A CASE STUDY IN 20
TH
CENTURY
AMERICAN FUNDAMENTALISM
By Kent Berghuis, Dallas Theological Seminary
In May of 1932 a slim crowd with 34 delegates from 22 churches of the Baptist
Bible Union (BBU) met at the Belden Avenue Baptist Church in Chicago. Their Union was
in disarray, as the prominent leaders of the movement had discredited and abandoned the
organization through personal battles. This left those committed to its core principles at a loss
for direction. Reorganization attempts had failed in 1931, and it was decided to put the Union
to rest. But out of its demise would emerge a new separatist, fundamentalist movement that
would gradually grow into a national organization, the General Association of Regular
Baptist Churches (GARBC).
The demise of the BBU and the emergence of the GARBC provides an
interesting case study in the history of American fundamentalism. This transition amply
illustrates George Marsdens points in his discussion of "the crucial years" of 1917-1925 as
an offensive that stalled and broke apart, resulting in "dislocation, relocation, and resurgence"
in the following years.
1
But when comparing the movement to Joel Carpenters Revive Us
Again, it is clear that the GARBC remained true to the initial separatist impulse of the
fundamentalist movement, generally resisting the trend toward evangelical cooperation
characteristic of the later evangelical resurgence in America.
2
Still, a certain constructive
approach toward the ministry marked the GARBC. This slow but steady maturing also
illustrates something of Carpenters basic thesis, that fundamentalists had to turn from pure
militancy to the building of their own networks and institutions in order to regain a certain
amount of cultural presence.
Why was it necessary to reorganize the BBU into the GARBC? While there are
certain similarities in attitude and purpose, the GARBC differs from the BBU in several key
respects. In order to discover the nature of this "parent-child" relationship it will be necessary
to briefly sketch the historical background of the BBU and the formation and subsequent
early development of the GARBC. This will lead to an analysis of the elements of continuity
and discontinuity between the movements, focusing on their fundamentalist and separatist
militancy, organizational structures, and doctrinal commitments.
1
George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of
Twentieth Century Evangelicalism: 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980),
141-95.
2
Joel A. Carpenter, Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American
Fundamentalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).