Book Traces Churches of Christ History in Oklahoma From 1857

Churches of Christ in Oklahoma: A History, by W. David Baird, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 2020. The 345-page book was reviewed in The Christian Chronicle. According to the review, the 1889 Land Run, which is recreated each year by schoolchildren across Oklahoma, had a negative effect on Churches of Christ. Many established congregations lost members who moved away to claim free land grants. Oklahoma became the 46th state in 1907, and the churches left behind were depleted.

Baird, a native Oklahoman, is a former professor at Oklahoma State University and dean emeritus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He has written 14 previous books, most of them on the history of Oklahoma and its Native American nations. The review describes the new book as a readable narrative of the social, political and religious factors that shaped Churches of Christ in the state.

The book begins in 1857, when the area was known as Indian Territory, and covers early mission work among Native Americans and settlers. It follows the planting of churches through the early, unsettled years to the present. The reviewer writes that parts of the book read almost like a suspense novel.

Baird profiles several figures from the movement’s early history in the state. S.R. Cassius, a former slave who followed Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell and their Restoration plea, preached in Oklahoma from 1891 to 1922 and was possibly the first African-American national evangelist for Churches of Christ. Meta Chestnutt, a single woman from North Carolina, supported her ministry by teaching school and worked closely with T.B. Larrimore, who was called on for evangelistic preaching. She established a school and Sunday school a few miles west of Oklahoma City, in Minco, and led El Meta Christian College there for several years beginning in 1895. R.W. Officer preached in eastern Oklahoma along the MK&T Railroad line and ministered to many former slaves. The book details his struggles to raise support and the unfair criticism he faced for his work. After considerable progress in building trusting relationships with Native American communities, criticism of Officer and insinuations against his soundness led to most of those evangelistic gains being lost (Proverbs 18:17).

The review says Baird also examines how Churches of Christ dealt with doctrinal questions in the early 20th century, including pacifism, pattern theology, millennialism, baptism, Sunday school and self-identity. He further explains how the 1960 presidential election of John F. Kennedy shifted Oklahoma from a progressive-leaning Democratic state to a conservative Republican one.

According to the review, each chapter opens by setting out the prevailing context of its period, and clear conclusions help readers follow the material. The reviewer notes that Baird occasionally assumes familiarity with concepts that are not fully explained, such as “Baconian,” though this is rare. The book is also dense with historical detail, which the review calls a valuable record. Baird uses the term “Stone-Campbell Movement” rather than “Restoration Movement.” The reviewer concludes that the book offers insight into the movement’s early history in Oklahoma.

Source: Read the original report