A Mere Kentucky of a Place: The Elkhorn Association and the Commonwealth's First Baptists

America’s Baptists

by Keith Harper

As the story goes, an itinerant preacher once visited the Bluegrass region and proclaimed heaven to be “a mere Kentucky of a place.” The Commonwealth’s first Baptists certainly thought so as they began settling the region a decade before statehood. By 1785 a group of pioneering preachers formed the Elkhorn Association, widely regarded as the oldest Baptist association west of the Alleghenies. Often portrayed in the historiography as the vanguard of a new frontier democracy, the Elkhorn Association, on closer inspection, reveals itself to be far more complex. In A Mere Kentucky of a Place, Keith Harper argues that the association’s Baptist ministers were neither full-fledged frontier egalitarians nor radical religionists but simply a people in transition. These ministers formed their identities in the crucible of the early national period, challenged by competing impulses, including their religious convictions, Jeffersonian Republicanism, and a rigid honor code—with mixed results.With a keen eye for human interest, Harper brings familiar historical figures such as John Gano and Elijah Craig to life as he analyzes leadership in the Elkhorn Association during the early republic. Mining the wealth of documents left by the association, Harper details the self-aware struggle of these leaders to achieve economic wealth, status, and full social and cultural acceptance, demonstrating that the Elkhorn Association holds a unique place in the story of Baptists in the “New Eden” of Kentucky.Ideal for course adoption in religious studies and students of Kentucky history, this readable work is sure to become a standard source on the history of religion on the Kentucky frontier.

219 pages, Hardcover

Published June 9, 2021

About the author

Keith Harper is the author of The Quality of Mercy: Southern Baptists and Social Christianity, 1890−1920 and editor of American Denominational History: Perspectives on the Past, Prospects for the Future.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine introduction to early Kentucky Baptists through the lens of one of the first associations, Elkhorn. I especially found the section on emancipationists helpful for my studies. The only problem I have with the book is that Harper ignored the other early Kentucky association, Salem. His study gives the impression that Elkhorn and South Kentucky were the only two in the state. Overall, a well written study that gives an understanding and the flavor of Baptist life on the frontier.