James Madison Pendleton (1811–1891) was a leading 19th-century American
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christianity, Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe ...
preacher, educator and theologian.
Early life
James Madison Pendleton was born November 20, 1811, in
Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Spotsylvania County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse.
History
At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that be ...
, the son of John Pendleton and Frances Jackson Thompson. He was named for President
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
. When he was small his parents moved to
Christian County, Kentucky
Christian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,748. Its county seat is Hopkinsville. The county was formed in 1797. Christian County is part of the Clarksville, TN–KY Metrop ...
. At age seventeen, he united with the Bethel church in Christian County and was baptized.
Ministry
J. M. Pendleton was ordained at
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577.
History
Early years
The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...
in 1833. In his lifetime he pastored churches at Bethel, Hopkinsville, and
Bowling Green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
in Kentucky;
Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metrop ...
in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
; Hamilton in
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
; and
Upland
Upland or Uplands may refer to:
Geography
*Hill, an area of higher land, generally
*Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points
*Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level
*I ...
in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
. While pastoring in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Pendleton married Catherine Stockton Garnett in 1838. They had five children. In 1857 he became professor of Theology at Union University in Murfreesboro. Though a born Southerner, Pendleton disagreed with secession and moved north around 1862.
Denison University
Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary a ...
conferred on him the title of Doctor of Divinity in 1865. Pendelton was involved with Baptist industrialist
John P. Crozer and others in founding the
Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania.
Pendleton,
Amos Cooper Dayton
Amos Cooper Dayton (April 1, 1811 – June 11, 1865)[James Robinson Graves
James Robinson Graves (April 10, 1820 – June 26, 1893) was an American Baptist preacher, publisher, evangelist, debater, author, and editor. He is most noted as the original founder of what is now the Southwestern family of companies. Graves was ...]
, due to the work and influence, were known as "The Great Triumvirate" of the
Landmark movement. His "An Old Landmark Reset" is considered a foundational document of this movement within the
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wo ...
. According to David Dockery and Timothy George in ''Baptist Theologians'', "Pendleton's desire to restrict Landmark ideology to the central issue of the authority and function of the local church, his atypical Southern opinions regarding slavery, and his desire to preserve the union of the United States" led toward a breach and dissolution of the "Triumvirate" following the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
.
In 1849, Pendleton wrote a series of letters, “Letters to Rev. W. C. Buck in Review of His Articles on Slavery”, in response to editorials by his friend and colleague
William Calmes Buck, editor of the “Baptist Banner”. Pendleton disagreed with Buck and wanted his own letters published in the Baptist Banner; however, Buck would not publish them. Pendleton then had his letters published in an emancipationist newsletter, the Louisville Examiner.
Pendleton, Dayton, and Graves articulated and promoted landmark beliefs through their books and newspaper articles in the ''Tennessee Baptist''. Pendleton also wrote for ''Southern Baptist Review''.
Pendleton and Graves published a hymn book called ''The Southern Psalmist'' in 1858.
Pendleton died March 4, 1891 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Writings
*''An Old Landmark Reset''
*''Brief Notes on the New Testament''
*''Christian Doctrines, a Compendium of Theology''
*''Christianity Susceptible of Legal Proof''
*''Church Discipline''
*''Church Manual''
*''Sermons on Important Subjects''
*''The Atonement of Christ''
*''The Lord's Supper''
*''Three Reasons Why I Am a Baptist''
*''Reminiscences of a Long Life''
*''Letters to Rev. W.C. Buck, in Review of His Articles on Slavery''
References
*Tull, James E., ''A Study of Southern Baptist Landmarkism in the Light of Historical Baptist Ecclesiology'' (New York: Arno Press, 1980)
*Harlow, Luke Edward, “From Border South to Solid South: Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky, 1830-1880”, Dissertation, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 2009, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, James Madison
1811 births
1891 deaths
People from Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Baptist ministers from the United States
Landmarkism
Denison University alumni
19th-century American clergy
Pendleton family