We Were a Peculiar People Once: Confessions of an Old-Time Baptist

Most Baptists today have adapted rather well to the modern world--that is, they worship as they live, in ways that don't much deviate from the general cultural milieu. It was not always so. In the past, the ways of Baptists were eccentric, their children were sometimes embarrassed by them, and their grandchildren were astonished by many features of their communal Christian life and practice, some of which now seem hilarious. Yet David Lyle Jeffrey shows that in their firm faith and strong character, these forebears still have much to teach. The legacy of "old-time" Baptists is rich: in ways we might not recognize, we are still living on spiritual capital they built up a century ago.

In this fast-paced and thought-provoking memoir, Jeffrey recalls growing up in the "old-time" Scottish Baptist tradition in rural Canada. With nostalgia, good humor, and sometimes lament, he considers his own theological and spiritual formation in a nearly vanished variety of Christian culture. Jeffrey reflects on events and customs that today may seem esoteric or quaint, perhaps even comical. Along the way, he considers the lessons a fading brand of Baptist life may hold for Baptists in the twenty-first century. Jeffrey offers witty and insightful commentary on theological matters such as sin, salvation, and grace, and practices like baptism, worship, and Sabbath-keeping.

The Baptists of Jeffrey's youth encouraged abstinence from pleasures most folks took for granted. Their churches were often small, but they were the vital, stable hub of family and communal life through good times and bad, and had an extraordinary missional and evangelistic impact that belied their marginal status. This confessional recollection of a world of weird and wonderful "peculiar people" is an expression of Jeffrey's gratitude to the ones he knew.

David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities at Baylor University. Jeffrey earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and is also the author or editor of many books, including The King James Bible and the World It Made.