Background

He was born in Wayne County, N. C. , in 1801, the son of Ralph and Jane (Crawford) Howell.

Education

He received some instruction from his mother and from local schools and at the age of twenty-three entered the preparatory department of Columbian College (now George Washington University). In the following year he was "not yet classed" in the college, and in 1826 he was dismissed at his own request. This action seems to have ended his formal education.

Career

After some preliminary experience as a preacher in Washington, D. C. , he accepted a call in 1827 to the Cumberland Street Baptist Church, Norfolk, Va. After seven years in Norfolk he took charge of the First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tenn. He found this church weak and distracted but he soon gave it unity and strength. In 1850 he transferred to the Second Baptist Church, Richmond, Va. , but in 1857 returned to his former pastorate in Nashville. During the Civil War, even after Nashville had been occupied by Union troops, he was outspoken in support of the Confederacy, and was for some weeks placed under military surveillance by order of the military governor, Andrew Johnson. He retained his pastorate until failing health in 1867 made it impossible for him to continue his work.

During the prime of life, in vigorous health, rotund of face, florid, he was a forceful and eloquent speaker and was regarded as one of the South's most scholarly and influential Baptists. He was for many years president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was an able supporter of foreign and domestic missions, of Sunday schools, and of a paid ministry against those in his denomination who opposed them. He engaged in fierce theological debates, though in his personal relationships he was courteous and genial.

In Nashville he established in 1835 and edited for three years the Tennessee Baptist, a monthly, the first organ of his denomination in the state. In 1844 he revived it as a weekly and continued for four years as its editor. He was a voluminous writer and a number of his books were widely circulated. Within twenty years he published: The Terms of Sacramental Communion (1841), The Deaconship (1846), The Way of Salvation (1849), The Evils of Infant Baptism (1851), The Cross (1854), The Covenants (1855), and The Early Baptists of Virginia (1857), posthumously published in enlarged form. At his death he left in manuscript: "The Christology of the Pentateuch, " "A Memorial of the First Baptist Church of Nashville from 1820 to 1863, " "The Family, " and several volumes of sermons.

Achievements

• He is remembered as the Baptist minister and leader.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Terms of Communion at the Lord's Table (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Terms of Communion at the Lord's Table ...)

  • THE DEACONSHIP Its Nature, Qualifications, Relations, and Duties
  • The early Baptists of Virginia

    (The early Baptists of Virginia 262 Pages.)

  • The Evils of Infant Baptism

    (Book by Howell, R. B. C.)

  • The Cross and the Covenants

    (Written by R. B. C. Howell, two excellent works bound in ...)

Connections

On April 23, 1829, he married Mary Ann Morton Toy.

Father:

Ralph Howell

Mother:

Jane (Crawford) Howell

Spouse:

Mary Ann Morton Toy

References

• Sketches of Tennessees Pioneer Baptist Preachers