Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest
James S. Currie, Executive Secretary
At one point in his autobiography Surprised By Joy C. S. Lewis refers to what he calls “chronological snobbery”. It is, Lewis writes, “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited” (HarperCollins paperback, p. 254). In a collection of some of Lewis’ essays, God in the Dock, there is one titled “On the Reading of Old Books” (pp.200-207) in which Lewis argues in favor of reading the original work of an author instead of simply reading about that author’s work.
While not all new books are good, neither are all old books bad. The quality of a book should not depend on its age. And some old books may hold value not so much because they are necessarily good, but because they reflect a perspective that may explain the time in which they were written. Then, of course, there are some very good books that have withstood the test of time (One need only note the recent film version of Homer’s Odyssey).
In a volume titled The Southern Presbyterian Pulpit, published in 1928 one finds sermons by Thomas W. Currie of Austin, Texas and R. E. Fry of Pine Bluff, Arkansas as well as by notable preachers from other Southern states (Walter Lingle of Richmond, Virginia; Dunbar Ogden of Mobile, Alabama; Ernest Thompson of Charleston, West Virginia; J. H. Henderlite of Gastonia, North Carolina; among others). [One is also reminded of a later collection of sermons by Southern preachers in Donald Shriver’s The Unsilent South: Prophetic Preaching in Racial Crisis (John Knox Press, 1965)].
In 1951 Mabelle Purcell wrote and had published Two Texas Female Seminaries, the story of Live Oak Female Seminary in Washington County and its successor, Stuart Female Seminary in Austin, the property of the latter being eventually given to the Austin School of Theology (later Austin Seminary). This volume also reminds us that in 1848 the Cumberland Presbyterians had a Female Institute in LaGrange, Texas.
Many are familiar with Williams Stuart Red’s A History of the Presbyterian Church in Texas, published in 1936, three years after Red’s death and completed by his wife and nephew. In 1924 Red wrote and published another perhaps less well-known book, The Texas Colonists and Religion, 1821-1836. In it Red details the emergence of Protestantism in a territory governed by Mexico that had Roman Catholicism as the “established church”. While Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1824, the Texas territory remained under its control. After noting Stephen F. Austin’s attempt to bring “civil and religious freedom” to Texas, Red points to the role Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians played in bringing Protestantism to Texas. Sumner Bacon, a Cumberland Presbyterian missionary who was born in Massachusetts in January of 1790, came first to Arkansas and then to Texas in 1829. In 1836 he organized a Presbyterian church in San Augustine (Red also notes that in 1833 a Milton Estill organized a Presbyterian church in Red River County).
Red devotes the final Appendix of this volume to the life and labors of Bacon, concluding it with these words: “Because of his consecrated labors for the Texas colonists, without regard to religious beliefs, and because of his evangelistic faith, although he was identified with one denomination, all true Christians will delight to honor the memory of Sumner Bacon” (p. 141).
All old books (however one defines “old”) reflect the time in which they were written. Some need to be updated (such as Red’s history of Presbyterians in Texas). Others tell stories of institutions that no longer exist (such as Purcell’s account of “female seminaries”). But all, to one degree or another, have shaped who we are. These are only a few that have contributed to our Presbyterian heritage in this part of God’s kingdom. As we make history today, may we not be guilty of “chronological snobbery”.
The Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest exists to“stimulate and encourage interest in the collection, preservation, and presentation of the Presbyterian and Reformed heritage” in the Southwest. If you are not a participating member of the Society and would like to become one, the annual dues are $20 per individual and $25 per couple. Annual institutional and church membership dues are $100. Checks may be made out to PHSSW and sent to:
PHSSW – 5525 Traviston Ct., Austin, TX 78738.
