shared the benefits of their great talent and dedication to the practice of history. My director, Bill Malone, constantly challenged me to think and write more clearly. I tried to follow his example in these areas and benefited greatly from his extraordinary knowledge of southern culture. He and Bobbie Malone, his spouse and partner, touched my life and those of the members of my family in many wonderful ways during our time in New Orleans. Bill McClay offered very helpful criticisms of my preliminary thinking in the course of many stimulating discussions of the history of religion in the United States. Larry Powell read the dissertation with a level of care and thoughtfulness I dare say is quite rare in third readers. I am grateful as well for the suggestion each of the three of them made that I ask John Boles to read it. Thanks to another old friend and research fellow-traveler, Steve Tucker, for suggesting I head toward Tulane in the first place and for many entertaining and informative visits over the years. In a graduate student community remarkably devoted to mutual support and helpfulness, Nadiene Van Dyke stood out as a faithful friend and colleague with a boundless capacity for kindness. Ruth Barnes in the Graduate School office at Tulane and Joan Hughes of the Department of History were wise, helpful, and patient. I want to thank John Boles for his very helpful suggestions for the manuscript. Numerous people at Lyon College have given me encouragement for this project and for myriad opportunities in that marvelous small college. Special thanks to the expert and thoughtful Peggy Weaver. Various people have heard compact versions of the story herein at conferences where I have read papers and in informal gatherings of all sorts. I benefited from their comments, as I did from those of people who did me the honor of reading all or part of the manuscript. Of this last number, I want to mention especially my mother-in-law, Wilma Browder, whose deep devotion to Baptist life has been a constant source of inspiration. I know that some of this was hard on her to read and I value very highly the reactions she has shared with me. She and my father-in-law, Craig Browder, have shown many acts of kindness over the years to a vast number of people, myself xviii Preface included, giving visible expression to a faith whose best traditions they represent so admirably. Finally, special thanks go to my mother, Betty Stricklin; my sisters, Nancy Willis and Judy Stricklin; and my brother-in-law, Jerry Willis; and to my wife, Sally Browder, and our daughters, Annie Bowyer Stricklin and Sarah Browder Stricklin, for support, perspective, and tolerance. My late father instilled in me an interest in history, but my mother proved in vast numbers of discussions the necessity for evidence in an argument. Nancy, Jerry, Judy, Annie, and Sarah stimulated my interest in books and ideas. In a very real way, however, this book originated in conversations with Sally even before we married. Many of what she graciously refers to as insights s...
