Helen Barrett Montgomery: A "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator Kendal P. Mobley Kendal Ρ Mobley is pastor ofEnon Baptist Church in Salisbury, North Carolina, and adjunct instructor in church history at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina
Helen Barrett Montgomery is noteworthy among the Baptists for many reasons. One of the most important is her Centenary Translation of the New Testament (1924), the first and only English translation of the New Testament by a Baptist woman ever published.1 Although the Centenary Translation was not reviewed outside the denominational press and was apparently little used outside the women's organizations in which Montgomery was so prominent, in both style and content it was perhaps the most creative and progressive translation of its time. Even today the Centenary Translation maintains a small but loyal readership. Some readers enjoy its intentional simplicity and lucidity. 2 Others value it because Montgomery anticipated many of the contempo rary debates sparked by feminist readings of the New Testament. Several passages are important in this respect. 3 Indeed, Roger A. Bullard called Montgomery's translation "the harbinger of directions in feminist biblical interpretation today." 4 In its clarity as well as its feminist sensibilities, the Centenary Translation reflects the theological value Montgomery placed on liberty. She believed that the gospel ought to be liberated from the dead 55
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
56
hand of ecclesiastical tradition—that the message of the New Testament must be made fresh, clear, and accessible to everyone. At the same time, she believed that the gospel, when rightly She believed that the gospel ought to be
undeistood
- w a s a Powerful, liberating force for the whole world and especially for women. rhe purpose of this article is to shed new
hand of ecclesiastical
§ h t o n Montgomery's personal theological views during her 1921-22 term as president of ûye N o r t hern Baptist Convention (NBC). Her
tradition—that the „ -. ,
presidency occurred during the end of the period when she was working on the Cente-
liberated from the dead
message of the New ° J Testament must be made fresh clear and
H
m
7
. „ΜΙ=ηΑΛ
Λ
.A.
_
rx1
nary Translation (1915-24), and it is one of the few periods of her life for which there is a r e c o r d o f un P u blished correspondence (as opposed to her published books and articles) accessible to everyone. reflecting her personal theological views. People sometimes assume that Mont gomery was a theological liberal because of her social activism, her posi tions on suffrage and women in church leadership, and her association with Walter Rauschenbusch in Rochester, New York. On the contrary, Montgomery was theologically conservative in many respects.5 Her correspondence during her term as NBC president provides ample evidence of this fact. Montgomery found herself caught in a power struggle between fundamentalists and modernists, and in the beginning, she tended to favor the fundamentalists' call for a confessional statement. However, as the intolerance of fundamentalism became clear to her, she decided that fundamentalism had to be defeated and a creed avoided. Although she remained a self-described "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" theo logically, her commitment to liberty (which, in her view, was deeply rooted in the pages of the New Testament) took precedence. In 1921, after Montgomery presented the NBC with a gift from the "Jubilee" fund-raising campaign of the Women's American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, which totaled more than $450,000, the convention elected her president. Although Montgomery was active during her year as president, nothing she did was more significant than her opposing the fundamentalist attempt to establish a confessional statement at the NBC
Helen Β. Montgomery: A aMiddle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator
57
meeting in June 1922. Montgomery opposed that statement, but that was not her intention as late as February 1922. She was at first an advocate of a confessional statement because she believed that it might help to unify the deeply divided convention and because she was not convinced that the convention's conservative critics were completely wrong. At first, she tried to appease the fundamentalists, and it was their refusal to abandon militant tactics that finally convinced Montgomery to oppose them.
The Des Moines Statement The NBC elected Montgomery president in Des Moines, Iowa, in June 1921. In a pre-convention meeting, Baptist fundamentalists affirmed a creedal statement that they felt ought to be the confession of faith for the entire convention. The Des Moines statement was essentially a restate ment of the Philadelphia and New Hampshire confessions of faith, and its tone was relatively mild. 6 It affirmed Baptist distinctives, and it did not restrict orthodoxy to the so-called "fundamentals," such as the verbal inspi ration of the scriptures, the substitution theory of the atonement, eternal conscious torment in hell, or premillennialism. Instead of rejecting the social implications of the gospel, the statement affirmed "human better ment and social improvement" as "inevitable." Nearly three months after the convention, on September 8, 1921, Montgomery wrote to H. Lee McLenden of Cleveland, Ohio. In the letter, she described her theological views and her attitude toward the Des Moines statement: I am one of the large number of Middle-of-the-Road Baptists. I believe fully in the great verities of our faith—the inspiration of the Scriptures, the deity of Christ, His atoning death, the reality of the resurrection, the Kingdom of God, and the binding nature of the command of Jesus to make disciples of all nations. The creedal statement which was adopted at Des Moines seems to me to represent the beliefs of the great majority of the Baptist denomination.7 Nevertheless, Montgomery opposed pre-convention meetings on the ground that they were divisive. "Can we not, my brother, abandon this fighting spirit and the use of these party shibboleths? It seems to me that we
58
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
aie very much in the position ofthat church in Corinth to whom Paul wrote— it was weak because it was divided into parties, and Paul reminded them that it was Christ who was their Master."8 Montgomery wanted unity, not because she did not care about doctrine, but because she believed that the command of Jesus to make disciples was the most important doctrine of the church: We have a great task awaiting us. An agonized world calls on us to do our share in building the Kingdom. I do not believe we can afford to go aside for definitions, however necessary they may be. I have faith in God, to believe that He will clarify the situation as we obey Him. You remember once when the disciples asked Jesus to forbid some one because he followed not them, that He reproved them, and I believe that would be His attitude today. Can we not all, Conservatives and Progressives, love and trust one another, and speak the truth in love?9
Montgomery's Attempt at Reconciliation In September 1921, Montgomery believed it was possible to work with the fundamentalists and maintain denominational unity. On September 27, she wrote to W. C. Bitting, NBC secretary, noting that for the 1922 annual meeting she wanted "the strongest program we have ever had, and my thought is that if we can loosen it up somewhat, give an opportunity for the Evangelistic and Fundamentalist people to present their cause before the Convention, we might obviate the necessity of the pre-Convention meetings." 10 Bittings replied with a stern warning against any attempt to mollify the fundamentalists. He thought that it would be unwise to open the convention meetings to discussions of a theological nature because the NBC was organized for fellowship and for missionary, philanthropic, and educational purposes. He warned Montgomery that the fundamentalists would take advantage of the ignorance of the vast majority of the Baptist constituency and gain control of the NBC and its agencies. He believed that allowing a special interest group a place in the convention program would threaten the convention's "very existence." He preferred preconvention meetings to theological debate in the convention sessions. "I believe the best thing to do is not to coddle a lion, nor to fondle a rattlesnake. Let them stay in their own cages."11
Helen Β. Montgomery: A "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator
59
Bittings' letter did not convince Montgomery. She wrote to Professor R. M. Vaughn at the Newton Theological School, on October 5, 1921, that "some opportunity for an uncontroversial presentation of the important doctrines that are felt by many to be imperiled, would be very helpful." Montgomery still believed peace was possible and that an open discussion would unify everyone behind the missionary task. On the same day, she wrote to William S. V. Robinson of Renssleaer, New York, "I believe that if we can once establish confidence in our institutions and our missionary agencies, it will do a great deal." 1 2 Montgomery's interest in a creedal statement grew out of her concern to restore confidence in the work of the denomination and to protect its unity, not from a desire for conformity. She did not believe that a creed had the power to inspire devotion or ensure fidelity; but if a state ment was to be adopted, she wanted one that was faithful to the Baptist tradition. On November 18, 1921, she wrote with some ambivalence to U. R. Batchelder of the First Baptist Church of East Milton, Massachusetts: In all the years I have been a member of a Baptist church, I have never known any candidate for membership to be asked whether he believed in the confession of faith. All have come in on their personal experience of the Lord Jesus, and I believe that the living spirit of God may be trusted to lead His church into all truth and keep us from error, if we keep close to Him. I am not one who believes that we can be kept true by a formal or creedal statement. I think all the history of the past has proved how impotent these statements are to either defend or protect the faith of the church. I have always been rather proud to belong to a church which had no authorized creedal statement, where every man was perfectly free to go out and make his own statement, if he wished. Do you not think that the time has come for us to make some pronouncement, some Confession of Faith that will tell the ordinary person where we stand as Baptists? I think the statement made at Des Moines was good, though perhaps not as inclusive as I would have wished. But something like that I certainly think we need. The New Hampshire and Philadelphia Confes sions are both outgrown. They do not fully express the life that is in the Church today.
13
60
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
Montgomery soon settled on the idea of a new confession of faith that would restate the Baptist faith for her own time. She was aware that many Baptist churches refused to adopt a statement of faith. Those churches usually stated that the New Testament, interpreted in the light of the best available scholarship, was their confession of faith. Montgomery doubted whether that position would serve the needs of the NBC any longer. She thought it would be wise to have the convention to appoint a committee that would study the issue for two years, and at the end ofthat time to bring to the convention a statement of faith that "the great majority of churches" would find acceptable. She knew that the NBC had no power to compel a church to adopt a statement of faith, and she believed the convention should never use such a statement for "creedal purposes." She believed that "loyalty to Jesus Christ" was the only valid test of faith, rather than a "formal or fixed statement drawn up by any body of men." 14 Regarding the content of a new statement of faith, on December 5, 1921, Montgomery wrote to J. Y. Aitchison of New York City that she "would almost be willing to adopt the Des Moines Confession, but I find that many feel it would be better to take time and make a fuller and better statement." The two items that she personally wanted most to be included in a new statement were "Missions and the Kingdom of God."15 While Montgomery was no fundamentalist, she agreed with the fundamentalists that doctrinal fidelity was important in Baptist institutions. In her November 1,1921, reply to Charles H. Fountain of Plainfield, New Jersey, who wrote to complain about some of the teachers in Baptist colleges, she wrote: I believe the agitation will make our boards of trustees more careful regarding the Christian character of the men whom they appoint to teach. While as Baptists we ought to give the greatest latitude to individual interpretation and the greatest freedom of thought, I do not think for a moment that we should permit the teaching of destructive critical theories to our boys and girls.16 Montgomery was equally concerned about ignorance in the pulpit. "I believe that an even more serious question than the occasional laxity of belief of certain teachers, is the admission into the ranks of our ministers
Helen Β. Montgomery: A 'Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator
61
of great numbers of poorly educated men." They were "bringing down the standards of our denominational life," and she believed that training schools for ministers who were not college graduates was a "life and death matter to us." 1 7 Nevertheless, Montgomery could not avoid concluding that theolog ical liberalism or, as she called it, "radicalism" in the schools sponsored by the NBC was a source of much of the controversy in the denomination. She personally deplored the idea of allowing teachers supported by denominational funds to undercut Christian orthodoxy in the classroom. On December 12, 1921, she wrote to Floyd H. Adams, secretary of the Executive Committee on Baptist Fundamentals, "I agree with you absolutely that we ought to get rid of any man who is teaching things that are subversive of the faith of our students, or any m a n whose personal atti tude is known to be that of an unbeliever." She assured him she would use any personal influence at her command to "get rid of these teachers." 1 8 The next day, she wrote to Shailer Mathews, dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School, in whom she apparently had great personal confidence and trust: I wish you people in Chicago would get rid of some of the brethren that are continually getting your institution in hot water.... I have a sneaking idea that there is not really much difference between them and the Unitar ians. . . . I do not know which is more to be dreaded, the hidebound reac tionary or the gentle radical who is apparently bound to stand for every theory put forth by any crack-brained German theologian that shows that "the Bible ain't much, any way, and it does not mean what it says, and therefore we have got to get some theory that will let us out gently."
19
She told Mathews that she believed the theological controversy could seriously harm the denomination, and she wished that the colleges and seminaries would see the difficulty and "quietly get rid of all their destructive radicals." 2 0 Despite her personal desires, she wrote to C. H. Fountain on December 27, 1921, that "anything approaching a heresy trial" was too risky to be contemplated because such events had "wide-spread and unex pected results." She dreaded the possibilities. "The most evil of all evil
62
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
passions, theological hatred, is stirred up, and sometimes an active perse cution begins. I confess to you that I have not the wisdom to see how we can purge our body of heresy without doing more harm than good." Instead of a purge, Montgomery continued to work for a new confession of faith. At the same time, she still wanted to include some major fundamentalist figures in the program of the 1922 meeting of the NBC and allow them to proclaim their message to the delegates. Always an optimist, Montgomery had high hopes for a new confession of faith. At the invitation of James M. Wood, president of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, Montgomery and a number of other Northern Baptists participated in a conference with several Southern Baptists, including Ε. Y. Mullins, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Semi nary and of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The SBC was enduring its own fundamentalist controversy, and one of the recommendations of the Columbia Conference was to form a committee with both Northern and Southern Baptist representatives to draft a new joint confession of faith for both denominations. Montgomery believed it might be possible to include Canadian, English, and European Baptists as well.21 In fact, Southern Baptists rejected the recommendation of the Columbia Conference, but they did approve a new confession of faith in 1925.
Montgomery's Defense of Women in Ministry In the context of the growing controversy in the NBC, Montgomery received a letter (no longer extant) from Ure Mitchell from Edwards, New York, who apparently challenged the propriety of a woman serving as president of the NBC on the basis of his interpretation of the New Testa ment. Mitchell believed that women were banned from leadership roles in the church. On November 18, 1921, Montgomery answered Mitchell's letter with her defense of women's ministry, which she based on her own reading of the New Tfestament. Montgomery challenged Mitchell's interpretation of Paul on the basis of her interpretation of "the highest authority—Our Saviour, Jesus Christ." She reasserted much of what she had already said in Western Women in Eastern Lands. She told Mitchell that Jesus "swept away the barriers imposed by men, in regard to sex. He made one law of purity for men and women. He allowed women to follow Him and minister to Him,
Helen Β. Montgomery: A "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator though this must have subjected Him to misunderstandings."22 From Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman, Montgomery concluded that Jesus "flouted the ideas of his own time in regard to the proprieties for a Rabbi and a teacher," and that He revealed to her things that He had not, so far as we know, up to that time told to any of His disci ples." Furthermore, she pointed out, a woman was the first witness to the resurrection.23 Montgomery believed that early Christianity gave women unprece dented liberty, which was often abused. In Corinth, for example, "the curse of the city was enshrined in its worship of Aphrodite." According to Mont. -. Ί Ί . ! ι _ ι * Montgomery believed that iX u gomery, the only women who spoke to ° men or associated freely with men in early Christianity gave public were culüc prostitutes; and when ^ ^ unprecedmted liberty> Christian women exercised their liberty, they subjected the Corinthian church to which was often abused. "very grave suspicion of immoral conduct." The restrictions Paul placed on women in the Corinthian church were situational rather than universal, and the ruling principle was 1 Corinthians 14:40, "Let all things be done decently in order."24 Montgomery believed that if Paul had written to Baptist churches in Ohio in 1824, "he would have said, 'Let your women sit on their own side of the church', [sic] as at that time for women to sit with their own husbands, even at worship, would have shocked the congregation." She declared that the same rule still applied in churches in China, Korea, and Japan, but "by the spirit of the living Jesus working in the hearts of His believers," families would someday sit together, as in America.25 Montgomery turned next to the command for wives to be submissive to their husbands, found in the fifth chapter of Ephesians. Just before that command, she said, Paul gave the same command to all church members. Likewise, Peter commanded young Christians to submit to their elders and all to one another. So, Montgomery reasoned, if we quote Paul's command in Ephesians for wives to submit to their husbands, we must also quote the other injunctions. In her view, "all men and women, young and old, are to be in an humble, submissive frame of mind. I think this would be very good doctrine for some leaders."26
63
64
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
More importantly, Montgomery believed that Paul demonstrated his principles by his actions, and "in his actions he gave the widest liberty to women. He made use of them in every way in the propagating of the Christian Gospel." In his greetings in Romans and Philippians, Paul named women among the leaders in the church, and they contributed much to the advance of the gospel. Montgomery cited the example of Priscilla, and she raised the possibility that the epistle to the Hebrews was written by her. Montgomery believed Paul's ruling principle of equality for women and men was found in Galatians 3:28, "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."27 Montgomery concluded with one of her strongest, most direct affirmations of the gospel as the source of women's emancipation, writing, "I think it is the impact of the Gospel of Christ that has led to the emancipation of women from restricting and man-made laws. I believe that that living spirit is behind woman's suffrage and the education of women and the elevation of women to places of dignity and authority."28 Interlocutors like Ure Mitchell, who apparently wanted to use the specter of theological liberalism to taint the women's movement, did little to endear the fundamentalist cause to Montgomery. Eventually, she abandoned hope for reconciliation and adopted a new strategy. Montgomery's New Strategy: "What We Want Is to Win" In the months leading up to the 1922 NBC meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, Montgomery became increasingly frustrated by the unwillingness of the fundamentalist leadership to forego a pre-convention meeting in return for the limited role in the program that she was offering to them. By March, it was clear to her that she could not stop the fundamentalists from organizing a pre-convention meeting. She wrote to Frederick E. Taylor, pastor of First Baptist Church, Indianapolis, on March 13, 1922, that the convention's executive committee had "tried in every way we could to insure the cooperation of the Fundamentalists. . . . but they declined to consider anything except the Executive Committee's turning over to them one entire session of the Convention, they to nominate the speakers and arrange the program. This of course was impossible."29 Montgomery knew that the fundamentalists planned to push for the denomination to adopt the Des
Helen Β. Montgomery: A "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator Moines statement, and she wanted to be ready with an organized response. On March 14, 1922, Montgomery wrote to Rev. Cornelius Woelfkin, the liberal pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church, where John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was an active layman, and which subsequently reorganized as Riverside Church in New York City. She told him that she hoped the recommendation of the Columbia Conference might be adopted. In that case, the NBC would have to appoint a committee, the members of which could be carefully selected by the executive committee, and the committee would have a year to work on its recommendation. But if the Columbia Conference recom mendation was not accepted, they had to be ready with a strategy to oppose the Des Moines statement. She wanted Woelfkin to plan the strategy. "I wish you would put your clear brain at work on this thing," she wrote. What they needed, she thought, was a substitute confession of faith. If that failed, then they should be ready to offer amendments to the Des Moines statement, and they should have the amendments printed so that the delegates could read them before voting. She also recommended that the person offering the amendments ought to be "a man who is known to have conservative opin ions" because she thought many delegates would vote "not intelligently but according to party." She did not think many delegates would support an amendment if "a dangerous radical (?) like yourself offered it. Once again she encouraged Woelfkin to take charge of the strategy. "What we want is to win, and we do not care about personalities, so long as we can win."30 Still thinking strategically, Montgomery wrote to the convention's corresponding secretary, W. C. Bitting, on March 17,1922. She wanted him to organize a card index for the registrars at the meeting. "I do not want to have any packing of the Convention, and I know, on very good authority, that there were some tiny churches that sent ten or twelve delegates last year, and these delegates all voted."31 Montgomery was shrewd enough to understand the importance of public opinion, so she continued to encourage the leaders of seminaries, divinity schools, and colleges to try to reign in faculty members, whose public statements might inflame conservative passions. She wrote to Shailer Mathews on April 25, 1922, apparently in regard to some criticism she had heard of a book written by New Testament scholar Shirley Jack Case: "I shall certainly read the book. . . . The sentences which were quoted certainly sound bad enough. I hope Dr. Case did not have the insolence to call Jesus
65
66
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
an 'impressive individual.' But I will take your word for it that the book is a fine exegesis and shall hope not to find that sentence in it."32 Likewise, she tried to find ways to swing conservative opinion away from the fundamentalists. She wrote to Carlos M. Dinsmore on April 17, 1922, "I believe that one of the strategic things for us to do is to stress the fact that this Fundamentalist Movement is an INTERDENOMINATIONAL Movement, and as such is as objectionable to our conservative brethren as other interdenominational movements."33 The Indianapolis Meeting Montgomery saw no hope for peace as she prepared for the Indianapolis meeting. "The skies look pretty stormy, and none of us know what the outcome is to be," she wrote to Bitting on May 2, 1922. "I confess that I look forward with a good deal of dread to the meeting in Indianapolis." In her president's address to the meeting, she confronted the issue head on. Only six months before, she had advocated for a new statement of faith for the denomination. The fundamentalists had proved inflexible in their demands, and Montgomery saw no way to save the denomination except to do battle and defeat them. She was determined to do everything she properly could to derail an official confession. She told the delegates that if they did authorize a committee to write a new confession of faith, they should see to it that the committee never reported back to the convention. They should provide the committee with adequate funds to publicize its statement to the churches and let the churches individually decide what to do with it. "For we Baptists to have an official confession of faith," she said, "would come perilously near to abandoning one of our fundamental principles."34 On Friday afternoon, June 16, 1922, the showdown over the confession finally occurred. The SBC had rejected the recommendation of the Columbia Conference, so that part of Montgomery's strategy was a dead letter. When fundamentalist leader William Bell Riley moved for the adoption of a confession, Cornelius Woelfkin himself (contrary to what Montgomery had advised) offered a substitute motion: "that the Northern Baptist Convention affirm that the New Testament is our all-sufficient rule of faith and practice and that we have need of no other statement."35 A long debate followed, which was interrupted by the passing by of a circus
Helen Β Montgomery A "Middle-of-the-Road Baptist" Bible Translator outside the auditorium. According to the New York Times, "for almost half an hour it was calliope versus Baptist creed." When one speaker was drowned out by the noise of the circus procession, Montgomery told him, "The elephants are passing by now, brother." He replied that he had met all sorts of difficulties in preaching, but he "never had to talk against a steam whistler before." Montgomery led the throng in hymn-singing until 36 the procession passed by. When the vote was finally taken, Woelfkin's 37 substitute motion passed by a margin of 1264 to 637. Conclusion Montgomery's presidency of the NBC is remembered, and rightly so, for her efforts to fend off the fundamentalist insurgency in 1922. But the evidence is clear that she acted in defense of the cherished Baptist prin ciple of liberty, rather than in defense of liberal theology. In her view, the bedrock principle of liberty was clearly demonstrated by the gospel's power to emancipate women. Once she became convinced that funda mentalism posed a serious threat to her understanding of Baptist freedom in general, and to the freedom of women in particular, she used all of her influence to try to defeat fundamentalism in the NBC. ES3 1
Montgomery's translation was not the first published by a woman, as it is sometimes mistak
enly described That distinction goes to Julia Evelma Smith's translation of the whole Bible, which was published in 1876 See Madeline Β Stern, "The First Feminist Bible The 'Alderney' Edition, 1876," Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 34, no 1 (1977) 23-31, Kathleen Housley, '"The Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life' Julia Smith's Translation of the Bible," The New England Quarterly 61, no 4 (1988) 555-68 2 Helen Barrett Montgomery, "Introduction," Centenary Translation of the New Testament (Philadel phia American Baptist Publication Society, 1924), η ρ , idem, "Translating the New Testament," The Baptist, 6 (June 27, 1925), 651 3 E g , Romans 16 1-2, 1 Corinthians 11 1-16, 14 33-36, 1 Timothy 2 15, 3 11 4 Roger A Bullard, "Femmine and Feminist Touches in the Centenary New Testament," The Bible Translator 38, no 1 (1987) 122 See also Conrad H Moehlman, "Mrs Montgomery's Translation of the Gospels," Watchman Examiner, June 26, 1924, 809, A Τ Robertson, review of The Centenary Translation of the New Testament The Gospels, by Helen Barrett Montgomery, Review and Expositor 21, no 3 (1924) 342, idem, review of Centenary Translation of the New Testament Acts—Revelation, by Helen Barrett Mont gomery, Review and Expositor 22, no 2 (1925) 245-46, Henry C Vedder, "Mrs Montgomery's New Testa ment," Baptist, April 11, 1925, 312, John Hamilton Skilton, "The Translation of the New Testament into English 1881-1950 Studies in Language and Style" (Ph D diss , University of Pennsylvania, 1961), 388-89, Sharyn Dowd, "Helen Barrett Montgomery's Centenary Translation of the New Testament Characteristics and Influences," Perspectives m Religious Studies 19, no 2 (1992) 139-43, 147-50, idem, "The Ministry of Women in Montgomery's Centenary New Testament The Evidence of the Autographs," American Baptist Quarterly 20, no 3 (2001) 321-22, 327, Roger L Omanson, "Bible Translation Baptist Contributions to Understanding God's Word," Baptist History and Heritage 31, no 1 (1996) 14-15
67
Baptist History and Heritage I Spring 2007
68
5 The wife of denominational leader and editor Curtis Lee Laws wrote a warm tribute to Mont gomery after her death See Mrs Curtis Lee Laws, "Her Baptist World," Helen Barrett Montgomery
From
Campus to World Citizenship (New York Revell, 1940), 98-113 Curtis Lee Laws comed the term "funda mentalist" and was an early leader of the movement in the NBC 6 "Fundamentals Conference at Des Moines," The Baptist, 2, no 22 (July 2, 1921) 684 7 Helen Barrett Montgomery, Papers and Letters from the Family of Storrs Β Barrett, TMs [photo copy], Personal Collection, 53-54 Some explanation of this source is merited Towards the end of my dissertation research, I obtained photocopies of some material discovered by Sharon Dowd, which was in the possession of the Storrs Barrett family Apparently Storrs Barrett gathered material for a biography of Helen Barrett Montgomery that was never completed Many of the typewritten items were related to her work as president of the NBC I have arranged them chronologically I do not know what ultimately became of the originals, although it was my understanding then that the American Baptist Historical Society was attempting to obtain them 8 Ibid, 54 9 Ibid 10 Ibid, 57 11 Ibid, 58 12 Ibid, 59 13 Ibid, 61-62 14 Ibid, 65 15 Ibid, 66 16 Ibid, 60 17 Ibid 18 Ibid, 71 19 Ibid, 72 20 Ibid 21 Helen Barrett Montgomery, "The Columbia Conference," The Baptist, 3, no 3 (February 18,1922) 79 22 Montgomery, Papers and Letters, 62 23 Ibid, 62-63 24 Ibid Compare this explanation with Montgomery's later position, as revealed in her Centennial Translation of 1 Corinthians 14 33-40 See Dowd, "The Ministry of Women," 322-23 25 Ibid 26 Ibid 27 Ibid , 63-64 See Galatians 3 28 m the Centenary Translation 28 Ibid, 64 29 Ibid, 74 30 Ibid, 78-79 31 Ibid, 79 32 Ibid, 81 33 Ibid 34 Helen Barrett Montgomery, "The Tasks That Confront Us," The Baptist, 3, no 20 (June 17,1922) 625 35 Arthur W Cleaves, "The Northern Baptist Convention," The Baptist, 3, no 21 (June 24,1922), 676 36 Montgomery, Papers and Letters, 91 37 Cleaves, "The Northern Baptist Convention," 676