A welcome addition to this conversation on southern religion and race.
~Alabama Review
Documents progressive voices that have not received attention in the past.
~American Historical Review
Argues that it was the denomination's emphasis on social justice, particularly the leadership's concern about race relations, that sparked its phenomenal growth.
~Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Willis presents an honest, balanced, and forthright account of how the Southern Baptist hierarchy tried to persuade their congregations and pastors of the rightness and biblical correctness of an integrated society.... Well-organized, readable, informative, and enlightening.
~Baptist History and Heritage
Willis's thesis is that between 1945 and about 1970, Southern Baptists underwent a major change in thinking regarding race when their religious views no longer justified segregation.... Recommended.
~Choice
Presents the most detailed study of Southern Baptist missions and race thus far.
~Georgia Historical Quarterly
Approaches an old topic with fresh sources, ones that have been largely overlooked by previous historians of the denomination.
~H-Net Reviews
An important and accessible book.
~John B. Boles
A valuable survey of the attitudes of the progressives in the SBC.
~Journal of American History
Willis's perceptive analysis of the SBC's popular missions literature illustrates the progressive hold over missions agencies and emphasizes the important role women and youths as writers of this material that was so widely disseminated in SBC congregations.
~Journal of Southern History
Delineates in detail something that many, possibly including many Baptists, scarcely knew existed, a progressive Southern Baptist position on the question of race during the time in which the civil rights movement was coming into full fruition.... The present study, well-written and extensively researched, is likely to be the definitive work on Baptist missions and race for many years to come.
~Louisiana History
Raises a number of important issues, and Willis offers convincing answers to difficult questions.... An important book about a topic that deserves more attention.
~North Carolina Historical Review
Willis has added a valuable... study of an important group of Southern Baptists who led the body during a critical era of its history.
~Ohio Valley History
The strength of Willis's book is in placing the Southern Baptist dilemma over race relations in an international context.
~Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
An important, somewhat surprising study of the Southern Baptist mission boards after World War II.
~South Carolina Historical Magazine
All According to God's Plan provides an intriguing new prospective on Southern religion and race during the postwar period.
~Southern Historian
Willis has done some good service in illuminating a facet of Kingdom work which has been essentially ignored or missed.
~Review & Expositor
