Book Review

Basil Manly, responding to a request for biographical information, replied, "our lives may look large, to us, while they are passing, but, in history, we dwindle down to a paragraph of an inch, or less." Manly clearly deserves more than an inch, and A. James Fuller's thoroughly researched account of Manly's life goes a long way toward showing us why.

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Manly was representative of a small but growing number of southern Baptist ministers who were educated and articulate spokesmen for their church. He quickly gained a reputation as a gifted preacher who could tug at his listeners' emotions. In 1826, after four years marked by frequent revivals, Manly left his first church in Edgefield, South Carolina, for Charleston's First Baptist Church. Manly quickly adapted to urban life, and First Baptist prospered under his leadership. He joined literary societies and benevolent societies, worked hard to raise money for Baptist schools, and inadvertently became the center of public controversy during the nullification crisis when his vote for the States' Rights party was made public. In 1837, Manly accepted an offer to become president of the University of Alabama, a position he held for eighteen years before returning to Charleston to pastor Wentworth Street Baptist Church in 1855. Three years later he returned to Alabama as an emissary for the state Baptist convention, a position he held till health issues ended his ministry.

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