''The Trail of Blood'' is a 1931 book by American

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...

minister

James Milton Carroll James Milton Carroll (January 8, 1852 – January 10, 1931) was an American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, author, and educator. Early life and education James Milton Carroll was one of twelve children born to Benajah and Mary Eliza (Mall ...

, comprising a collection of five lectures he gave on the history of

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

churches, which he presented as a

succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

from the first Christians. The work has been criticized for linking together numerous unrelated sects and historical heresies that have no relation to Baptist theology or polity.

Content

The full title is ''The Trail of Blood: Following the Christians Down through the Centuries: or, The History of Baptist Churches from the Time of Christ, Their Founder, to the Present Day''.William Hull, "William Heth Whitsitt: Martyrdom of a Moderate," ''Distinctively Baptist: Essays on Baptist History'', ed. Marc A. Jolley, John D. Pierce, pp. 237-78, p. 255, note 70. Carroll presents modern Baptists as the direct successors of a strain of Christianity dating to apostolic times, reflecting a Landmarkist view first promoted in the mid-nineteenth century by

James Robinson Graves James Robinson Graves (April 10, 1820 – June 26, 1893) was an American Baptist preacher, publisher, evangelist, debater, author, and editor. He is most noted as the original founder of what is now the Southwestern family of companies. Graves was ...

(1820-1893). Graves had started an influential movement in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and the

western states The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

. The Landmark controversy divided many Baptists, and ultimately led to the formation of the

American Baptist Association The American Baptist Association (ABA) is an Independent Baptist Christian denomination in United States. The headquarters is in Texarkana, Texas. The principal founder was Ben M. Bogard, a pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Little ...

in 1924, as well as of Gospel Missions and unaffiliated churches. This is a belief called Baptist successionism. Carroll claims that modern Baptists descend from such earlier groups as: * the

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

(founded in the 1170s, based in the Cottian Alps) * the

Novatianists Novatianism or Novationism was an early Christian sect devoted to the theologian Novatian ( 200–258) that held a strict view that refused readmission to communion of '' lapsi'' (those baptized Christians who had denied their faith or performed t ...

(or

Cathari Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...

) (founded in the 3rd century) * the Paulicians (founded 650 in Armenia) * the

Donatists Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and th ...

(originating in North Africa in the 4th century) Carroll acknowledges a number of other writers, including G.H. Orchard (1796–1861) and John T. Christian (1854-1925). The title is taken from

' ''

The Trilemma ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

''. The book was published in the year Carroll died. James Edward McGoldrick wrote a response to Carroll's work called ''Baptist Successionism'' which gave researched opposition to the theory of " Baptist successionism." Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

held the copyright to Carroll's book.

References

External links

''Trail of Blood''
Challenge Press is one of the sole distributors of the print copy this book * ''The Trail of Blood'' at archive.org Pamphlets Pseudohistory 1931 non-fiction books Landmarkism {{Christianity-book-stub

Content

See also

References

External links