Primitive Baptists – also known as Regular Baptists, Old School Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists, or, derisively, Hard Shell Baptists – are conservative

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

adhering to a degree of

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th century over the appropriateness of mission boards, tract societies, and temperance societies. Primitive Baptists are a subset of the Calvinistic Baptist tradition. The adjective "primitive" in the name is used in the sense of "original".

History

The controversy over whether churches or their members should participate in mission boards, Bible tract societies, and temperance societies led the Primitive Baptists to separate from other general Baptist groups that supported such organizations, and to make declarations of opposition to such organizations in articles like the ''Kehukee Association Declaration of 1827''. The Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church released a proclamation that they rejected formal service institutions outside of the church. The declaration proposed that

Upon examination, it was found that most of the churches had given their opinions; and after an interchange of sentiments among the members of this body, it was agreed that we discard all Missionary Societies, Bible Societies and Theological Seminaries, and the practices heretofore resorted to for their support, in begging money from the public; and if any persons should be among us, as agents of any of said societies, we hereafter discountenance them in those practices; and if under a character of a minister of the gospel, we will not invite them into our pulpits; believing these societies and institutions to be the inventions of men, and not warranted from the word of God. We further do unanimously agree that should any of the members of our churches join the fraternity of Masons, or, being members, continue to visit the lodges and parades, we will not invite them to preach in our pulpits, believing them to be guilty of such practices; and we declare non-fellowship with them and such practices altogether.

The official split between "Old School" and "New School" Baptists occurred during a meeting at the Black Rock Church on September 28, 1832 in Butler, MD. This became known as the Black Rock Address. Primitive Baptist churches arose in the mountainous regions of the American South, where they are found in their greatest numbers. African-American Primitive Baptist groups have been considered a unique category of Primitive Baptist. Approximately 50,000 African Americans are affiliated with African-American Primitive Baptist churches as of 2005. Approximately 64,000 people were affiliated (as of 1995) with Primitive Baptist churches in the various other emergences of Primitive Baptists. Since arising in the 19th century, the influence of Primitive Baptists has waned as " Missionary Baptists became the mainstream".

Theological views

Primitive Baptists reject some elements of classical

Reformed theology Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, such as infant baptism, and avoid the term "Calvinist". They are still Calvinist in the sense of holding strongly to the Five Points of Calvinism and they explicitly reject Arminianism. They are also characterized by "intense conservatism". One branch, the Primitive Baptist Universalist church of central

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

, developed their own unique Trinitarian Universalist theology as an extension of the irresistible grace doctrine of

theology. They were encouraged in this direction by 19th century itinerant Christian universalist preachers of similar theological bent to Hosea Ballou and John Murray.

Distinct practices

Primitive Baptist practices that are distinguishable from those of other Baptists include

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

singing, family integrated worship, and foot washing. FEMA - 12138 - Photograph by Mark Wolfe taken on 12-04-2004 in Florida

A cappella singing

Primitive Baptists generally do not play musical instruments as part of their worship services. They believe that all church music should be

because there is no

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

command to play instruments, but only to sing. They are noted for their

singing schools A singing school is a school in which students are taught to sightread vocal music. Singing schools are a long-standing cultural institution in the U.S. Southern states, Southern United States. While some singing schools are offered for credit, mo ...

and shape note singing. Further, they connect musical instruments in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

with "many forms and customs, many

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

and shadows, many priests with priestly robes, many sacrifices, festivals, tithings" that they see as having been abolished; "had they been needed in the church Christ would have brought them over". African-American Primitive Baptists may not share the general Primitive Baptist opposition to musical instruments, however.

Family integrated worship

Primitive Baptists reject the idea of

Sunday School ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

, viewing it as unscriptural and interfering with the right of parents to give religious instruction to their children. Instead, children sit with their parents and participate in the church service just like the rest of the congregation.

Informal training of preachers

Primitive Baptists consider theological seminary, seminaries to have "no warrant or sanction from the New Testament, nor in the example of Christ and the apostles".

Foot washing

Most Primitive Baptists perform foot washing as a symbol of humility and service among the membership. The sexes are separated during the ritual where one person washes the feet of another. The practice is credited with increasing equality, as opposed to hierarchy, within Primitive Baptist churches.

Notable churches

* Mount Zion Old School Baptist Church – Aldie, Virginia * Goshen Primitive Baptist Church – Winchester, Kentucky * Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield – Slate Hill, New York *

Spring Green Primitive Baptist Church Spring Green Primitive Baptist Church is a historic Primitive Baptist church located near Hamilton, Martin County, North Carolina. It was built in 1878, and is a front-gable, frame building with late Greek Revival style design elements. The ...

– Hamilton, North Carolina * Smithwick's Creek Primitive Baptist Church – Martin County, North Carolina * Garden City Primitive Baptist Church – Garden City, Georgia * Welsh Tract Baptist Church –

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 31,454. The University of Delaware is ...

* Upperville Primitive Baptist Church – Upperville Historic District, Upperville, Virginia * Love's Chapel Primitive Baptist – Glennville, Georgia

References

Notes Further reading * Crowley, John G. "'Written that Ye May Believe': Primitive Baptist Historiography" in Keith Harper and James P. Byrd, eds. ''Through a Glass Darkly: Contested Notions of Baptist Identity'' (2012) pp 205–27
excerpt
* * * Guthman, Joshua. ''Strangers Below: Primitive Baptists and American Culture'' (U of North Carolina Press, 2015). * Mathis, James R. ''The Making of the Primitive Baptists: A Cultural and Intellectual History of the Antimission Movement, 1800–1840'' (Psychology Press, 2004). * Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. "The Antimission Movement in the Jacksonian South: A Study in Regional Folk Culture". ''Journal of Southern History'' Vol. 36, No. 4 (Nov., 1970), pp. 501–529. .

External links

Primitive Baptist church directory

Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church

Grace Primitive Baptist Church

The Cause of God and Truth
by John Gill (1738)
The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism in English Nonconformity, 1689-1765
by Peter Toon. {{Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in the United States 1832 establishments in the United States 19th-century controversies 19th-century Protestantism 19th-century Reformed Christianity Baptist denominations established in the 19th century Bible-related controversies Calvinist denominations established in the 19th century Christian denominations founded in the United States Protestantism-related controversies Reformed Baptist denominations Schisms in Christianity