J. Steven Wilkins (born 27 June 1950) is an

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, p ...

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 ...

and

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

and author.

Biography

Steve Wilkins holds degrees from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

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 Churc ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

. He was ordained as a minister in the

Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Calvinist, Reformed in theolog ...

in 1976, and has served as the pastor of Church of the Redeemer in

West Monroe, Louisiana West Monroe is the second largest city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 13,103. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The two c ...

since 1989. Wilkins is an advocate of

Federal Vision The Federal Vision (also called Auburn Avenue Theology) is a line of Christian thought based in the USA. It is a Reformed evangelical theological approach that focuses on covenant theology, Trinitarian thinking, the sacraments of baptism and comm ...

theology. He has been called an advocate of Christian Reconstruction. 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 theology. Member churches include those from Presbyterian, Reforme ...

. Within the CREC, Wilkins is the Presiding Minister of Wycliffe Presbytery. He is a former board member of the

League of the South The League of the South (LS) is an American White nationalism, white nationalist, Neo-Confederates, neo-Confederate, White supremacy, white supremacist organization that says its goal is "a free and independent Southern republic". Headquarte ...

and founder of the Southern Heritage Society. His biography on

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

, titled ''Call of Duty'', was called “hagiographical” and omitted any criticism. 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 is one of the most influential books on the his ...

, Clayborne Carson, and

Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948, with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, in his memory and that of his brother, d ...

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 wrote the books ''Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Ce ...

have condemned the pamphlet's arguments, with

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

calling them as spurious as

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

."The Late Unpleasantness in Idaho: Southern Slavery and the Culture Wars"
By William L. Ramsey. ''

History News Network History News Network (HNN) is an online platform for historians to comment on current events, and to place today's news into a historical perspective. HNN is hosted by the University of Richmond. History History News Network (HNN) is a non-profi ...

''. Published December 20, 2004.

Canon Press Canon Press is a Christian publishing house in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded by Douglas Wilson (theologian), Doug Wilson in 1988 as a literature ministry of his Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho), Christ Church. It has published more than 100 books by ...

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 Robert William Fogel (; July 1, 1926 – June 11, 2013) was an American economic historian and winner (with Douglass North) of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. As of his death, he was the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Ser ...

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 Eugene Dominic Genovese (May 19, 1930 – September 26, 2012) was an American historian of the American South and American slavery. He was noted for bringing a Marxist perspective to the study of power, class and relations between planters and ...

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 links

Church of the RedeemerJ. 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 Reformed Theological Seminary alumni Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches