An unlikely champion of modern faith in the heart of the New South
In A New Christianity for the New South, Paul Anthony Sanchez examines the life and legacy of William Louis Poteat, influential president of Wake Forest College and a key figure in the rise of theological liberalism in the early twentieth-century Baptist South. At a time when Southern religious culture largely resisted modern intellectual trends, Poteat argued that science and faith could coexist and Protestantism must adapt to a world shaped by contemporary science.
Sanchez places Poteat's career within the broader cultural and political context of the New South, examining how debates over evolution, biblical interpretation, education, and social order unsettled both the Baptist Church and Southern society. Although the New South's rising professional class praised Poteat for modernizing the region's image, critics resented his self-appointed leadership and progressive theology.
Sanchez shows how, despite resistance, Poteat remained within the Baptist denomination where he promoted a progressive Christianity that was shaped by modern ideas and sensibilities. Poteat's story illuminates the broader trends in the modernization of the American South.
Paul Anthony Sanchez is assistant professor of religion at Oklahoma Baptist University and author of California Dreaming: Evangelical Christianity and American Culture in the Golden State.
