To Contest with All the Powers of Darkness - (America's Baptists) by Jacob E Hicks (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book examines the ecclesiological and political networks that John Leland (1754-1833) and other Baptist leaders-among them, Jonathan Going, Luther Rice, Isaac Backus, and Samuel Stilman-created to attempt political disestablishment in Massachusetts during Leland's lifetime. The author contends that historiography that focuses narrowly on Leland tends to distort the very important role he played in the development of religious freedom in the revolutionary and Early Republic period"--

Book Synopsis

In this new history of the New England Baptists, Jacob E. Hicks teases out the social and political contexts that transformed "rustic" young men like John Leland not only into volunteers for Christ--as wide-roving preachers in the mold of George Whitefield--but also into influential opinion leaders, media entrepreneurs, networkers, and lobbyists in the contentious First Party era of the Early Republic.

Baptist leaders like Isaac Backus, Noah Alden, Samuel Stillman, John Leland, Jonathan Going, and Luther Rice exploited their church-based ministerial training in public speaking, conflict resolution, and intra-denominational networking to become political organizers. With significant gains in the formation of the Warren Association (1767), the Backus-led Grievance Committee (1769), and Leland's formative experience in the campaign to disestablish Virginia (1780s), the Baptists allied themselves with the rising Democratic-Republican Party, touching off a coalition of anti-Federalist politics and evangelical religion that, while not directly disestablishing Massachusetts, would bear significant fruit in the Religious Freedom Act of 1811.

To Contest with All the Powers of Darkness brings a unique movement into focus that had at its inception the communal values and ministry preparation practices of a loose network of New England Baptist churches. This movement drove a significant first wedge in the church-state fusion of the Early Republic and, simultaneously, left memorable lessons in successful collective action for a New England Baptist community on the verge of an institutional explosion on the western frontier.

Review Quotes

Jacob Hicks's To Contest the Powers of Darkness maps out how New England Baptists wedded their individualistic instincts to savvy organizational strategies in order to obtain their religious and political goals in the early American republic. Through regional church networks, book and newspaper publications, and partisan activism, leaders like Isaac Backus and John Leland helped establish the once scattered and harassed Baptists on a firm footing in the young nation.

- Eric C. Smith, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Author of John Leland: A Jeffersonian Baptist in Early America

Jacob Hicks rightfully points readers to important developments among New England Baptists across the long Revolutionary era. He situates famous Baptists like Isaac Backus, John Leland, and Adoniram Judson in larger frames of Baptist church life and institutional development and demonstrates that Baptists both shaped and were shaped by their political contexts. To Contest with All the Powers of Darkness helpfully contributes to the growing scholarly interest in, and understanding of, Baptist history in the new nation.
- Jonathan Den Hartog, Samford University


Scholars often use descriptors such as 'individualistic' and 'democratic' to describe Baptists in early national America. But as Jacob Hicks demonstrates, these terms don't offer much help in understanding how Baptist luminaries including Isaac Backus and John Leland organizationally transformed their movement from a persecuted sect into a respected denomination. Hicks breaks new ground by locating Baptists in the era's vibrant milieu of politicking, publishing, and partisanship.
--Thomas S. Kidd, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

About the Author

JACOB E. HICKS is assistant professor of religion at Grand Canyon University. He has written book reviews for a variety of publications, including Church History, Nova Religion, and Religious Studies Review.