
J. Steven Wilkins (born 27 June 1950) is a conservative
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
and
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
and author known for views on
slavery in the United States
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...
.
Biography
Steve Wilkins holds degrees from the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
and the
Reformed Theological Seminary
Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in ...
of
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
. He was ordained as a minister in the
Presbyterian Church in America in 1976, and has served as the pastor of Church of the Redeemer in
West Monroe, Louisiana
West Monroe is a city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The two cities are often referred to as the Twin Cities of northeast Louisiana. Its population ...
since 1989.
In 2007, the Louisiana Presbytery was indicted by the PCA's Standing Judicial Commission for "failing to find a strong presumption of guilt" against Wilkins with regards to his theological views. Following this action, the congregation of Church of the Redeemer voted without dissent to withdraw from the PCA on January 27, 2008 and subsequently joined the
Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches
The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), formerly the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, was founded in 1998 as a body of churches that hold to Reformed (Calvinistic) theology. Member churches include those from Presbyte ...
.
Wilkins is an advocate of
Federal Vision
The Federal Vision (also called Auburn Avenue Theology) is a Reformed evangelical theological conversation that focuses on covenant theology, Trinitarian thinking, the sacraments of baptism and communion, biblical theology and typology, justif ...
theology, and is a former board member of the
League of the South
The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic".
The group def ...
.
In the pamphlet ''Southern Slavery, As It Was'', Wilkins and co-author
Douglas Wilson argued for a view that the status of slaves had not been as bad as is currently taught in American schools. He stated for example that: "slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since." Historians such as
Peter H. Wood
Peter Hutchins Wood (born 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American historian and author of ''Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion'' (1974). It has been described as one of the most influenti ...
,
Clayborne Carson
Clayborne Carson (born June 15, 1944) is an American academic who is a professor of history at Stanford University and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Since 1985, he has directed the Martin Luther King P ...
, and
Bancroft Prize winner
Ira Berlin
Ira Berlin (May 27, 1941 – June 5, 2018) was an American historian, professor of history at the University of Maryland, and former president of Organization of American Historians.
Berlin is the author of such books as ''Many Thousands Gone: T ...
have condemned the pamphlet's arguments, with
Wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
calling them as spurious as
holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements:
...
.
["The Late Unpleasantness in Idaho: Southern Slavery and the Culture Wars"]
By William L. Ramsey. '' History News Network''. Published December 20, 2004.
Canon Press ceased publication of the pamphlet when it became aware of serious citation errors in 24 passages authored by Wilkins where quotations, some lengthy, from the 1974 book Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery by Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman were not cited. Robert McKenzie, the history professor who first noticed the citation problems, described the authors as being "sloppy" rather than "malevolent" while also pointing out that he had reached out to Wilson several years earlier.
Wilson reworked and redacted the arguments and published (without Wilkins) a new set of essays under the name ''Black & Tan'' after consulting with historian
Eugene Genovese.
Writings
Wilkins is the author of
* ''Face to Face: Meditations on Friendship and Hospitality'' ()
* ''Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility of Robert E. Lee'' ()
* ''All Things for Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson'' ()
* ''The Federal Vision'' () (editor)
* ''Southern Slavery, As It Was'' ()
References
External li
Church of the Redeemer
/h1>
J. Steven Wilkins' Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, J. Steven
1950 births
Living people
American Calvinist and Reformed ministers
Presbyterian Church in America ministers
University of Alabama alumni