Baptist Beginnings
After decades of Baptists having been marginalized as fringe dissenters against the dominant Anglican Church, when their religious liberty had been constrained by law, the number and influence of Virginia’s Baptists expanded significantly from the mid-18th century onward.1 Rapid post-Revolutionary denominational growth, the 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, and the enthusiasm of the Second Great Awakening prompted suggestions that Baptist seminaries be developed in the state. The effort lacked organized support from Virginia’s Baptist churches, regional associations, and the General Committee.2 Baptists’ lack of hierarchical structure and belief that a call to ministry and oversight by established preachers,3 versus formal training, should fill the preaching ranks also worked against seminaries.
The publication of an 1807 critique regarding the lack of education among Baptist ministers4 prompted more leaders to favor formal learning, leading to the formation of several education societies and fragmented support for the Columbian College, which started in Washington, D.C. in 1821 (later becoming George Washington University). A rising generation of leaders committed to meeting the educational needs of aspiring pastors formed the Education Society at the June 1830 annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV).5
