Dr. Carol Crawford Holcomb

Education/Teaching History

Education

• Ph.D., Baylor University
• M.Div. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
• B.A. Louisiana Tech University

Professional Experience

• Janey Briscoe Chair of Religion and Life, 2025
  Professor, College of Christian Studies, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX, 1999-present.
• Lecturer, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Waco, TX, 1998-99

Courses Taught

Baptist History; American Religious History; Women in American Christianity; Baptists in Black and White: Civil War to Civil Rights; Baptists in England (London); English Reformation (London); Introduction to the History of Christianity; Early and Medieval Church History; Renaissance and Reformation; Old Testament Survey; New Testament Survey; Ministerial Practicum

Area of Expertise

American Religious History, Baptist Studies, and Women in American Christianity

Publications/Presentations

Publications

• “Baptists and the Social Gospel” in Paul Fiddes, David Bebbington, Elizabeth Flowers, and Steven R. Harmon, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Baptist Studies forthcoming.
• “Elli Moore Townsend's Cottage Home System and Southern Progressivism” in Perspectives in Religious Studies, forthcoming.
• Scales, T. Laine, Melody Maxwell, and Carol Crawford Holcomb, “From Personal Service to Church Social Work: Woman’s Missionary Union and Social Ministry in the Twentieth Century,” Baptist History and Heritage, Vo. 57 No 1 (Spring 2022): 36-62.
• “Home Without Walls:” The Social Views of Southern Baptist Women in the Progressive Era. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2020.
• “Saving Souls and Society: The WMU and Social Reform in the Progressive Era.” In A Marginal Majority: Women, Gender, and a Reimagining of Southern Baptists, ed. Elizabeth H. Flowers and Karen K. Seat, University of Tennessee Press, 2020.
• “A Home Without Walls: WMU and the Reinterpretation of Gender Ideology,” Baptist History and Heritage, Vol. 51 No. 1 (Spring 2016): 37-69
• “Unreliable Allies: Southern Baptist Women and Race,” American Baptist Quarterly, Vol. XXXIII, No. 2 (Summer 2014): 131-157. This volume was released December, 2015.
• “Building a Publishing Empire: The Annie Armstrong Era of WMU, SBC,” in Baptist History and Heritage, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring 2012): 18-38. Winner of the 2013 Norman W. Cox Award for Best Article Published by the Society in 2012.
• “Congregational Polity: A Recipe for Anarchy?” in Distinctively Baptist Preaching, ed. Brian Brewer, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2011.
• “Baptist Polity and the Turn toward National Denominational Organizations: 1792-1814.” In Turning Points in Baptist History, ed. Mike Williams and Walter Shurden, 114-127. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2008.
• “The Kingdom at Hand: The Social Gospel and the Personal Service Department of WMU, SBC.” In No Longer Ignored: Articles on Baptist Women, eds. Charles W. DeWeese and Pamela R. Durso, 195-214. Atlanta: Baptist History and Heritage Society, 2007.

Book Reviews

• Remembering Antônia Teixeira: A Story of Missions, Violence, and Institutional Hypocrisy. By João Chaves and Mikeal C. Parsons. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023. Review in Church History forthcoming.
  
  Baptists and Gender: Papers for the Ninth International Conference on Baptist Studies. By Melody Maxwell and T. Laine Scales. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2023. Review in Church History forthcoming.
  
  Doing the Word: Southern Baptists' Carver School of Church Social Work and its Predecessors, 1907-1997. By Laine Scales and Melody Maxwell. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2019. Review in Church History, 90 no 1 Mar 2021, p 249-251.
  
  
• In Search of the New Testament Church: The Baptist Story. By C. Douglas Weaver,
• Macon: Mercer Press, 2008. Review in Perspectives in Religious Studies, Spring 2010.

Newspaper Articles

• “Roger Williams and the Dangers of an Unpredictable Past” Baptist Standard (October 1, 2024).
• “Religious Liberty: Remembering Obadiah Holmes” Baptist Standard (September 24, 2024).
• “The Story of Baptists and Religious Liberty” Baptist Standard (September 17, 2024)
• “Baptists and Religious Liberty: A Forgotten Story?” Baptist Standard (September 19, 2023).

Professional Presentations

• "Telling the Truth About History," William Pinson Lecture Series on Baptist Heritage and Distinctives, East Texas Baptist University, November 2021.
• "How Far Can you See?" Convocation Celebrating the 175th Anniversary of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, August 11, 2021.
• “Salvation for the Soul and Society: WMU and Woman’s Place in the Progressive Era,” Baptist History and Heritage Society, June 2018.
• “Elli Moore Townsend and the Problem of Southern Progressivism,” Keynote Address, Baptist History and Heritage Society, May 2017.
• “Remembering Who We Are: The Importance of History for Life and Faith,” UMHB Honors Day, April 10, 2017.
• “Why Church History Matters in an Undergraduate Curriculum.” National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, Southwest Region, March 2015.
• “Baptists and the Civil Rights Movement: Reflections on the Readings of Martin Luther King, Jr.” Baptist Classics Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia, September 2015.
• "Building a Publishing Empire: The Annie Armstrong Era of Woman's Missionary Union," American Academy of Religion, Southwest Region, March 13, 2010.
• "Building a Publishing Empire: The Annie Armstrong Era of Woman's Missionary Union," Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 1-3, 2009.
• "Tinkers and Poormen: Baptists and Grassroots Religion 1609-2009," Keynote Address, Baptist History and Heritage Society, Huntsville, Alabama, June 2009.
• "Southern Baptist Women and Southern Progressivism," B.H. Carroll Summer Colloquy, Arlington, Texas, June 2009.
• "Building an Empire: Annie Armstrong and the Publishing Work of WMU," UMHB Ministerial Forum, March 2009.
• "Southern Baptist Women and Southern Progressivism: The Social Reform Vision of Fannie Exile Scudder Heck." Paper read at the American Society of Church History, New York, New York, January 2009.
• "Baptists and the Shaping of American Culture" Presidential Address, Baptist History and Heritage Society, May 2006.
• "Southern Belles and the Social Gospel." Paper read at the Southern Historical Association, Memphis Tennessee, November 2004.
• "Teaching Baptist Classics," Baptist Classics Seminar, Mercer Center for Baptist Studies, Macon, Georgia, September 2003.
• "Vintage Vines: Fannie Heck and Social Service." Texas WMU Associational Summit Meeting, May 4, 2002.
• "Gender, Social Work, and the Second Wave of American Fundamentalism," Paper read at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, History of Christianity Section, March 2002.
• "Integrating Faith and Learning in the Classroom," Panel Discussion at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, March 2002.
• "The Kingdom at Hand: The Social Gospel and the Personal Service Department of WMU, SBC," Paper read at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, History of Christianity Section, March 2000.
• Panel Discussant of God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights by Charles Marsh, (Princeton University Press, 1997), American Society of Church History, Washington, D.C., January 7-10, 1999.
• "Oral History for Baptist Churches." Presentation to Louisiana Baptist Historical Society, May 4,1997.
• "A Perfect Religious Hope: A Comparison of the Social Gospel Movement Among Southern Methodist and Southern Baptist Women. " Paper read at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, History of Christianity Section, March 1996.

Professional Societies

American Academy of Religion; American Society of Church History; Baptist History and Heritage Society; Fellowship of Baptist Historians; National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion; Southern Baptist Historical Society; Texas Baptist Historical Society;

Awards/Grants

W. O. Carver Distinguished Service Award, Baptist History and Heritage Society (2017); Norman Cox Award for Best Article Published by the Southern Baptist Historical Society in 2012 (2013); Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship, University of Mary Hardin Baylor (2007); Norman Cox Award for best article published by the Southern Baptist Historical Society (2001); Outstanding Student of the Graduate School, Baylor University (1999); Fourth year doctoral fellowship, Baylor University (1995-96); Robert A. Baker Church History Award, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1991)