Forgotten but Not Gone

James Hoyle Maples Jr. is Pastor of Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church (PCA). He also serves as Professor of Historical and Practical Theology at Birmingham Theological Seminary where he is also the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, Pastoral Leadership.

All of us are shaped in many ways by unseen markers in our DNA. Unknown ancestral traits contribute to determination of such things as eye and hair color, height, and even a certain propensity or susceptibility to certain diseases. To some extent religious bodies are similarly the product of their beliefs and doctrines, at times and in certain ways, to beliefs and doctrines buried in the inherited make-up of that body or denomination. Landmarkism is such a genetic-like marker in the Southern Baptist Convention yet is largely unknown, and its influence is barely recognized today as a contributing factor in much of Baptist practice and belief. This book seeks to trace the origin and transmission of landmark beliefs from the time of its greatest influence to the present day when it is largely unknown but certainly present in beliefs and practices that have developed and become part of the Southern Baptist body in many instances.