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This series explores Baptists in all facets of Baptist life and thought. Open-ended and inclusive, this series seeks to publish works that advance understanding of where Baptists have been, where they are, and where they are tending. It will promote the exploration and investigation of Baptist history; publish classics of Baptist theologies; and examine the role of Baptists in societies and cultures both in the US and abroad. Read this biography by James A. Rogers and you begin to understand not only a single dominant personality with a formative influence of Baptists of the South, but you also begin to discern the shape of white southern Baptist life to come for two centuries. The tensions prominent in Furman's time between the Separate and the Regular Baptists persist to the present, and those tensions are not unimportant in explaining contemporary differences among white Baptists of the South. In addition to contextualizing Furman's life into the broader Baptist story, Rogers happily provides us with a sample of Furman's thought and writing. With eight appendixes consisting of Furman's writings, Rogers opens a window into the mind of Furman on issues of slavery, the Revolutionary War, Baptist ministerial education, and Baptist denominational organization. These documents make one aware that another volume, consisting entirely of Richard Furman's writings, is long overdue.
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