Analysis: 1880-1960
Presented in Figs. 1 and 2 below are the titles of all topics identified along with the percent the Sermons or Presidential Addresses assigned to that topic for a given year. The top 50 words of each topic can be found in the supplemental material here. Titles have been created by hand based on the words and documents found in each topic.
Fig. 1: The percent of each topic assigned to all sermons per year. The color assigned to each percent is shown in the color bar on the right, with the maximum value being set to 25%. The percents displayed next to the title of each topic represent its share of the total set of texts. The gray bars between sections represent the time periods of the different themes developed in this work. Values have been smoothed using a 10 year moving average.
Fig 2: The percent of each topic assigned to all Presidential Addresses per year. The color assigned to each percent is shown in the color bar on the right, with the maximum value being set to 25%. The percents displayed next to the title of each topic represent its share of the total set of texts. The gray bars between sections represent the time periods of the different themes developed in this work. Values have been smoothed using a 10 year moving average.
For the purposes of this study, topics were analyzed in two broad categories. The first of these, Theological Concepts, contains topics which share a few features. First, they rarely comprise a significant amount of the sermons or addresses in a given year. Second, they do not exhibit clear trends in time, often appearing strongly in a few sermons scattered throughout the decades. Finally, they all touch on significant Baptist beliefs recorded in the various version of the SBC's statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message.
Taken together, these topics are fairly representative of important beliefs and concepts of historic Christianity. The topics Jesus Christ, Power of the Cross, and Importance of the Gospel, totaling 9.5% of all statements, are related to the Christian belief of the historical, bodily death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Walking in Faith, Christian Love, Grace and Truth, and the People of God, totaling 11.1% of all statements, touch on ways that members of the SBC live out their faith. Finally Future Hope and the Kingdom of God, comprising 3.3% of all statements, allude to the hope of eternal life and the restoration of all things under God.
The other topics, classified under the category Current Concerns, appear to have more of a dependence on time. Looking at Fig. 1, it is clear that there has been a significant shift in the language used in SBC sermons. Starting in 1880, one can see that the topics Glory of God, The Gospel, and the Significance of Christianity, are very prominent.
The largest of these, Significance of Christianity appears to capture statements dealing with the interaction between Christianity and the secular world. An excellent example of this topic is given in the 1911 sermon preached by C. S. Gardner. In this sermon, he expounds on the interaction between the Kingdom of God and society. The passage reproduced below provides some sense of how he describes God's rule:
For ages men have declared that the organization of life in this world on the principles of the Kingdom of God was impracticable, and have asserted it with such assurance that even the children of the Kingdom have themselves been convinced of its truth. But lo! as society develops in the providence of God we see that, the old anti-Christian principle of social social organization is showing its adequacy under the fearful strains and stresses of modern life. And multitudes see that it is is folly to rest the ever increasing weight of the social structure upon a foundation of materialistic self-seeking, and are anxiously looking about for a better organic principle. They will discover it when their eyes are open to see the meaning of the Kingdom of God.
Starting around 1945, one finds that the topic Stories and Parables begins to gain prominence. This appears to largely capture anecdotes, tales, and allegories used for rhetorical effect. As seen in Figs. 1 and 2, after 1965 this mode of speaking and motivating becomes quite common in sermons. Following the late 1990s it becomes a hallmark of presidential addresses. The stories associated with this language, often appealing to emotion, stand in contrast to the arguments from the early 1900s employed to defend the Christian worldview.
The prevalence of topics related to the supremacy of Christ, Christianity, and God, begin to decrease starting in the 1950s and 1960s. This begins with the rise of the rather short-lived topic Human Nature, which consists of terms referencing the sinful nature of humanity. As an example of a passage which strongly fits this topic, an excerpt from the 1962 sermon preached by H. Fraknlin Paschall is reproduced below.
There is the dark area of human lostness. To be a sinner is to be separated from God, and to be separated from God is to be lost. But present evil conditions have compounded the problems of sin. If there are degrees of lostness, man is more lost today than ever before.
