Next week, on Friday, April 11, the University of Richmond inaugurates its ninth president, Edward Ayers, who is an historian by profession. Ever since its humble yet hopeful beginnings, the University of Richmond (as academy, seminary, college and, since 1920, university) was a bright jewel for Virginia Baptists. They birthed and nurtured the institution. They contributed in fat times and lean times. They gave of their sons and daughters. And although the relationship has changed, there remains an overall positive impression of the institution in the minds of many Virginia Baptists. They are proud that it has acquired a lofty status in American higher education, yet they believe that it always was an academically rigorous institution for whichever period of time is examined.
Fred Anderson
Nearly all colleges and universities worth their salt claim “excellence.” It should be expected that all institutions of higher learning from community colleges to ivy-league schools should offer the very best educational advantages. The University of Richmond, like many other church-related and value-based institutions of yesteryear, also offered something beyond book learning, athletics and social camaraderie. It was one of those places which believed that mankind has a spiritual dimension. It still acknowledges the spiritual side by offering chaplains, worship services and religious life opportunities.
In 1936 James H. Franklin, a native Virginian and president of Crozer Theological Seminary “up North,” returned to alma mater to address an alumni gathering. Seventy years ago the school was Baptistic in its chief constituency, alumni and donor base. The Religious Herald published Franklin's address verbatim.
The times may have changed yet Franklin's message is timeless. He began by reminding his audience that Virginia Baptists early valued the educated mind. “These plain people called Baptists,” said Franklin, “desired more trained leaders to propagate principles of freedom in religion.”
In 1783 some Virginia Baptists were sending money to aid the Baptist school in Rhode Island which became known as Brown University. In 1788 a large committee of Virginia Baptists was appointed to consider establishing two seminaries in Virginia, one on either side of the James River. Nothing materialized until Edward Baptist opened his little Dunlora Academy in 1830. It is from the academy that the University historically has chosen to trace its lineage. The academy and its successor, the Virginia Baptist Seminary, were supported by the Virginia Baptist Education Society. In 1840 the seminary became Richmond College, a liberal arts school. Generations of Baptist clergy and laity received their undergraduate education at Richmond College. In 1914, largely through the support of the Baptists of the General Association, the school relocated to the expansive campus in the western suburbs of Richmond and added an entirely new college for women, Westhampton.
James Franklin said: “I understand the freedom of spirit which I, a country lad, found in old Richmond College and which, God grant, shall obtain here so long as one stone rests upon another in these stately buildings. I found no coercion. Even the courses were elective. Not even the study of the Bible was compulsory, and attendance upon all religious exercises was voluntary. I now understand it. It was a tradition from the distant past — a glorious heritage — Freedom of the Spirit!”
Speaking in 1936, Franklin said: “We may soon be facing serious limitations on freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. We hear many voices calling on us to support the Constitution of the United States, but often the orators are forgetting that the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. And let us not forget that the plain people called Baptists, who were the spiritual ancestors of the founders of Richmond College, were largely responsible for that first amendment.
“The soul of man must be free. History seems to teach that there is no permanent progress, except in the freedom of the spirit. Hence we repudiate all dictators, ecclesiastical, theological, political or industrial; and if we are true to our principles, we shall insist upon equality of opportunity, religious, civic, economic and otherwise for men everywhere, regardless of race, social status or other conditions. Nothing less than that is consistent with our traditions and heritage.
“A fundamental principle among those who founded Richmond College was the need for personal righteousness. Nothing is more necessary today as we seek solution for our baffling problems, such as racial hatreds, economic injustice and international conflicts. We can never have a new society without men and women who have been spiritually renewed. We need constantly to bear in mind a fundamental teaching of this school, generation after generation, that only as men are made better shall we get a better world.”
Who was James H. Franklin? He was born into a family of plain and hard-working folks in Pamplin, Va., and he found Christ in that home, as well as in Elon Baptist Church, where he was baptized and ordained. He first learned about Richmond College when he saw a certificate in his grandmother's Bible. It was one of the certificates given when a contribution was made to restore the college's endowment in the 1870s. When he arrived at the college in homespun, he had 75 cents in his pocket.
After Richmond College, he attended Southern Seminary and for awhile lived in Colorado. He came into the tribe of Baptists known then as the Northern Convention and, later, as the American Baptist Convention. A Virginian, he had become a Northerner. For 22 years he was foreign secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and traveled the world. Following World War I, he toured France on behalf of religious and reconstruction work and was made a member of the Legion of Honor.
In 1934, Franklin delivered his own inaugural address as president of Crozer Seminary. His address stressed the historic Baptist tenet of freedom — “academic freedom in this case but freedom controlled by the Cross of Christ and expressed in sacrificial service; and in conclusion he unfurled to the breezes the banner of a Crozer interdenominational, international and interracial.” The Virginia boy had caught a large vision.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be contacted at fred.anderson@ vbmb.org or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.