Johnson, William Bullein

The historical significance of the South Carolina Baptist State Convention in the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention and other state conventions should not be ignored. Major architects of Baptist life in America—Oliver Hart, Richard Furman, Basil Manly, and William Bullein Johnson, among others—did their creative work in South Carolina.

Baptists are by far the largest religious group in South Carolina, and in many ways they are the most diverse. They are black and white, Asian and Hispanic, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, and liberal and conservative in their politics, their social views, and their theology. As different as Baptist groups or even churches within a group may be from each other, almost all Baptists share a commitment to believers’ baptism by immersion, the Bible as the primary source of faith, and a congregational church polity.

Originally located in Edgefield, Furman provided both a “literary” and a theological curriculum. Few students enrolled, however, and the school teetered on insolvency during its first twenty-five years.