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Fundamental Baptist Biographies

Hello.

I am new to the Baptist Board, and I am very excited to be here.

For several months now, I have followed the activity on this forum. My observations are that there are numerous Fundamental Baptists who are active members. That is the main reason why I joined. I need help in researching my history of Baptistic Fundamentalism.

Years ago, I purchased a biography of Lee Roberson. The book was such a blessing that I began to pick up more Fundamental Baptist biographies whenever I had the chance. Recently, I have begun to acquire them in earnest, but I fear that I am reaching the end of my list. Does anybody on this forum know of any obscure (rare, out-of-print, expensive, etc.) biographies about individuals within the Fundamental Baptist movement?

Here are the ones that I currently have:

Russell Anderson
Rod Bell, Sr.
Dallas Billington
B. Myron Cedarholm
R. V. Clearwaters
Fred S. Donnelson
W. E. Dowell
Jacob Gartenhaus
Mordecai Ham
Arlin Horton
R. L. Hymers
Jack Hyles
Bob Jones, Sr.
E. Robert Jordan
Robert T. Ketcham
Tom Malone
J. Frank Norris
Monroe Parker
Ford Porter
Hugh F. Pyle
John Rawlings
John R. Rice
W. B. Riley
Lee Roberson
T. T. Shields
Don Sisk
G. B. Vick

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Hello.

I am new to the Baptist Board, and I am very excited to be here.

For several months now, I have followed the activity on this forum. My observations are that there are numerous Fundamental Baptists who are active members. That is the main reason why I joined. I need help in researching my history of Baptistic Fundamentalism.

Years ago, I purchased a biography of Lee Roberson. The book was such a blessing that I began to pick up more Fundamental Baptist biographies whenever I had the chance. Recently, I have begun to acquire them in earnest, but I fear that I am reaching the end of my list. Does anybody on this forum know of any obscure (rare, out-of-print, expensive, etc.) biographies about individuals within the Fundamental Baptist movement?

Here are the ones that I currently have:

Russell Anderson
Rod Bell, Sr.
Dallas Billington
B. Myron Cedarholm
R. V. Clearwaters
Fred S. Donnelson
W. E. Dowell
Jacob Gartenhaus
Mordecai Ham
Arlin Horton
R. L. Hymers
Jack Hyles
Bob Jones, Sr.
E. Robert Jordan
Robert T. Ketcham
Tom Malone
J. Frank Norris
Monroe Parker
Ford Porter
Hugh F. Pyle
John Rawlings
John R. Rice
W. B. Riley
Lee Roberson
T. T. Shields
Don Sisk
G. B. Vick

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Welcome to the Baptist Board!

A brand new biography of John R. Rice is coming out in August: John R. Rice: The Last Revivalist of the Twentieth Century | On to Victory Press
 
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John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Hello.

I am new to the Baptist Board, and I am very excited to be here.

For several months now, I have followed the activity on this forum. My observations are that there are numerous Fundamental Baptists who are active members. That is the main reason why I joined. I need help in researching my history of Baptistic Fundamentalism.

Years ago, I purchased a biography of Lee Roberson. The book was such a blessing that I began to pick up more Fundamental Baptist biographies whenever I had the chance. Recently, I have begun to acquire them in earnest, but I fear that I am reaching the end of my list. Does anybody on this forum know of any obscure (rare, out-of-print, expensive, etc.) biographies about individuals within the Fundamental Baptist movement?

Here are the ones that I currently have:

Russell Anderson
Rod Bell, Sr.
Dallas Billington
B. Myron Cedarholm
R. V. Clearwaters
Fred S. Donnelson
W. E. Dowell
Jacob Gartenhaus
Mordecai Ham
Arlin Horton
R. L. Hymers
Jack Hyles
Bob Jones, Sr.
E. Robert Jordan
Robert T. Ketcham
Tom Malone
J. Frank Norris
Monroe Parker
Ford Porter
Hugh F. Pyle
John Rawlings
John R. Rice
W. B. Riley
Lee Roberson
T. T. Shields
Don Sisk
G. B. Vick

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Here are several others you have not listed:

The short autobiography of the great Jewish evangelist:
Appelman, Hyman. The Life Story of Dr. Hyman J. Appelman. Solidchristianbooks.com reprint, n.d.

Various short bios:
Barlow, Fred M. Profiles in Evangelism. Murfreesboro: Sword of the Lord, 1976.

On Bob Jones, Sr.:
Johnson, R. K. Builder of Bridges. Murfreesboro: Sword of the Lord, 1969.

The autobiography of Bob Jones, Jr.
Jones, Jr., Bob. Cornbread and Caviar. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1985.

A fruitful evangelist:
Lyons, Jim. God’s Amazing Grace. Fort Pierce, FL: FBC Publications, 2011.

Just out, the autobiography of a great evangelist, church planter, and missionary:
Nelson, Ed. A Sinner Saved by Grace. Castle Rock, CO: Mile Hi Publications, 2020.

The story of Bill Rice and his dog!
Rice, Bill. Brother Super. Murfreesboro: Bill Rice Ranch, 2012.
 
Excellent! Thank you very much for the help!

Also, congratulations on the biography! Have you seen a great deal of interest in it in the weeks leading up to its release?
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Excellent! Thank you very much for the help!

Also, congratulations on the biography! Have you seen a great deal of interest in it in the weeks leading up to its release?
Yes, everyone who hears about it is excited and wants to read it. I believe it will be a great blessing. It's almost 500 pages long, with hundreds of footnotes not only from Dr. Rice's books but from other sources, including several of the biographies you have listed.

The first chapter is the longest, giving the history of his revivals down through the years. The last chapter is his theology of revival. Other chapters describe him as a Christian, family man, friend, mentor, patriot, and so forth. I'm especially pleased about the chapter on him as an American patriot who was drafted in 1917 for WW1, but was not able to go when his division shipped out due to the mumps. God kept him from the tragedy of that war.

There are detailed chapters on his controversies with Billy Graham (late 1950's) and Bob Jones, Jr. (early 1970's). I give some new information about those and many other times due to the research I was able to do in the Billy Graham Archives (Wheaton College) and John R. Rice Papers (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary).

I have included personal testimonies from many that shed light on how he mentored, what kind of a friend he was, and his relationship with missions and missionaries.

You will be blessed!
 

Tom Bryant

Well-Known Member
Yes, everyone who hears about it is excited and wants to read it. I believe it will be a great blessing. It's almost 500 pages long, with hundreds of footnotes not only from Dr. Rice's books but from other sources, including several of the biographies you have listed.

The first chapter is the longest, giving the history of his revivals down through the years. The last chapter is his theology of revival. Other chapters describe him as a Christian, family man, friend, mentor, patriot, and so forth. I'm especially pleased about the chapter on him as an American patriot who was drafted in 1917 for WW1, but was not able to go when his division shipped out due to the mumps. God kept him from the tragedy of that war.

There are detailed chapters on his controversies with Billy Graham (late 1950's) and Bob Jones, Jr. (early 1970's). I give some new information about those and many other times due to the research I was able to do in the Billy Graham Archives (Wheaton College) and John R. Rice Papers (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary).

I have included personal testimonies from many that shed light on how he mentored, what kind of a friend he was, and his relationship with missions and missionaries.

You will be blessed!

Looking forward to reading this.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Looking forward to reading this.
Thanks, friend! I'm not being proud when I say that buying and reading it will be well worth the effort, and I'm sure you know that. I say that because of the content being about John R. Rice, and having a lot of new research in it about him and his life, ministry, and influence.
 

Jerome

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
I fear that I am reaching the end of my list.
No, you've only just begun.



Autobiography of Amy Lee Stockton, whom Kevin Bauder calls "Baptist Fundamentalism's most famous female evangelist".

Lamps Are for Lighting, biography of Lucy Peabody, founder and first president of Fundamental Baptist mission AWBE.

They Called Me Mama, Margaret Nicholl Laird, missionary & Bible translator (Baptist Mid-Missions, Central African Republic)
 

rlvaughn

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
On Bob Jones, Sr.:
Johnson, R. K. Builder of Bridges. Murfreesboro: Sword of the Lord, 1969.
It is intriguing to me to run across odd connections. I was researching on Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com a family in southeast Alabama. A newspaper had a brief biography of Dr. Thomas J. Floyd of Abbeville, Alabama. It told how his father and William Alexander Jones bought adjacent farms at Brannon Stand, Alabama, and that Thomas Floyd and Bob Jones, Sr. grew up together as close friends on those two farms. Probably not all that interesting to anyone else.
 
No, you've only just begun.

Wow! Thank you so much for mentioning these three books! Are there any more Fundamental Baptist autobiographies or biographies that you can recommend to me?

Also, the link that you attached to the autobiography of Amy Lee Stockton says that it was an unfinished memoir; furthermore, I cannot find it for sale commercially anywhere on the Internet. Do you know if there is any medium through which I could purchase a copy?
 

Jerome

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
It's non-circulating, maybe you could get photocopy made and sent you via Interlibrary Loan?

A few more for you:

Crowned with Glory and Honor (Lacey Kirk Williams)
They Call Him The Walking Bible (Jack & Rexella Van Impe)
Just Let Me Preach (Paul Tassell)
Say to This Mountain (James T. Jeremiah)
A Modern Barnabas: The Ministry of R. S. Beal of Tucson
God's Man in Manhattan
(William Ward Ayer)
A Watchman on the Wall. (Will Houghton)
A.C. Dixon: A Romance of Preaching (by Helen Dixon)
Arthur T. Pierson (by Delavan Pierson)
Strength for the Journey (autobiography of Jerry Falwell)
Be Myself (autobiography of Warren Wiersbe)
Henry M. Morris Father of Modern Creationism

PhD. dissertations on:
Chester Tulga
John Roach Straton
 
Oh, my. A Chester Tulga biography would be amazing to add to my collection, but there are apparently only three copies of that dissertation in existence.

Does anybody (John of Japan, perhaps?) know of any other biographies in the works?

Tom Wallace of Beth Haven Baptist Church fame is attempting to publish his autobiography this year, and Ben Carper, the grandson of Dr. Harold Sightler, is finishing the final draft for a biography of his grandfather.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Oh, my. A Chester Tulga biography would be amazing to add to my collection, but there are apparently only three copies of that dissertation in existence.
A biography of him would be great. He had a greater influence in the history of northern fundamentalism than most people know.

Does anybody (John of Japan, perhaps?) know of any other biographies in the works?
I don't know of any new ones coming out, but the new Ed Nelson autobiography I mentioned above is really good. My wife read it through and I'm reading it now.

Tom Wallace of Beth Haven Baptist Church fame is attempting to publish his autobiography this year, and Ben Carper, the grandson of Dr. Harold Sightler, is finishing the final draft for a biography of his grandfather.
I knew both of these men-wonderful men of God! I met my wife in Bro. Sightler's church at a Baptist World Mission annual meeting. (He was on the board.) The church supported us while we were in Japan. Bro. Wallace pastored our home church for a while, Franklin Road Baptist in Murfreesboro, TN. He was so gracious. Once when we were on deputation and he was at Beth Haven, we stopped by there with car problems. He fixed us right up!

I look forward to these biographies.
 

John of Japan

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
To the best of my knowledge, there is only one biography of R. A. Torrey, the associate of D. L. Moody, and a great evangelist in his own right: R. A. Torrey, Apostle of Certainty, by Roger Martin. It's a really good read.

The Sword of the Lord still has in print for only $7.46: Sword of the Lord Ministries

Full disclosure (or maybe bragging): Dr. Martin is my uncle. The book is based on his doctoral dissertation from BJU. He was the son-in-law of John R. Rice, but a scholar in his own right. He taught for many years with my Aunt Joy at Tennessee Temple University and their seminary.
 

Jerome

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
My Heart for the Deaf (Cathy Rice)
Children of the Storm (Natasha Vins)
Mother Sweet (Josephine Sweet)
 
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Jerome

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Don't Ever Give Up (Robert Hunter)
The Good Hand of the Lord (William Banks)

just published May 2021:
Black Fundamentalists (by Daniel R. Bare)
 

Jerome

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
The Miracle Goes On (John W. Peterson)
I Being in the Way, the Lord Led Me (Frank Garlock)
Mr. Awana (Art Rorheim)
Three Generations of Suffering (Georgi Vins)
Walking with Giants (Elmer Towns)
Just a Country Preacher (B.R. Lakin)
From Disgrace to Grace (Oliver B. Greene)
Ordered by the Lord (John Weidenaar)
Duty, Not Preference (Art Wilson)
In All Things: The Life and Ministry of Charles H. Stevens

Biography of O. W. Van Osdel, by Kevin Bauder (Th.M. thesis, Denver Baptist Theological Seminary, 1983)
 
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