Reviewed by Valeriy A. Alikin.
Editor’s note: See the previous issue (24 [Summer 2016]: 4-11) for additional critiques of this work.
Malkhaz Songoulashvili’s work is another engaging volume in a series devoted to the study of world Christianity. The book is designed for both academics and thoughtful general readers who desire to go deeper in understanding how life and faith interact in a local setting, namely in the country of Georgia. The author aims to present the unique mission of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Georgia, which can be summarized in a number of points. First, in considering their mission to their own people to be a divine imperative, Georgian Baptists have understood Orthodox culture to be a gift that can assist them in support of their goal. Second, unlike Slavic republics of the Soviet Union, in the years 1919-60, Baptists in Georgia did not experience pressure from the dominant Church tradition. That is why they do not have bitterness and antagonism towards the Georgian Orthodox Church. Various components of Georgian spirituality, including the liturgy, iconography, pilgrimage, and open-air festivals, can help make the Gospel relevant to Georgian people. In addition, Georgian literature and music are employed to contextualize the Gospel. Third, Georgian Baptists have refused to follow the trend of Georgian religious nationalism and political Orthodoxy. Fourth, the book provides a helpful, detailed history of the Evangelical Christian Baptists of Georgia from its foundation in the1870s to the first decade of the 21st century, with extensive appendices of key documents translated from Georgian into English. In fact, Songulashvili so frequently highlights the importance of these primary sources throughout the volume that the reader may wonder whether or not the author considers these newly available documents as the most important feature of the book.
The book’s introduction, with its historical sketches, are important for understanding the uniqueness of the development of Evangelical Christianity in Georgia and recent Georgian Baptist reforms. In the first sketch Songulashvili accentuates aspects of Georgian Orthodox history that play an important role in the current development of Evangelical Baptist Christianity, namely the role of women in the Christianization of Georgia, the veneration of icons, and the autocephalous character of the Georgian Orthodox Church. In the second sketch the author emphasizes the development of various clerical structures within European Baptist unions that also play a role in the development of Evangelical Christian Baptists in Georgia. Throughout the book Songulashvili repeatedly asks the question: Are Georgian Baptists still Baptists? Surprisingly, he never gives a clear answer. Readers are left to decide for themselves how Georgian Baptists should be viewed. Songulashvili does note that Georgian Evangelical Christian Baptists are members of the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance. Membership in these organizations, however, does not necessarily make a church Baptist.
Recent Georgian Baptist reforms have proven controversial, leading to division and the creation of an alternative Baptist union. Most at fault has been the introduction of various practices that are not specifically Baptist, namely, the ordination of women, especially the elevation of one woman to the position of bishop, and the introduction of elements of Orthodox liturgy, liturgical vestments, and the use of icons and candles in worship. One may wonder whether any Church should compromise key elements of its tradition in order to reach people for Christ. I suppose in the case of Songulashvili’s Georgian Baptists, one should speak of the emergence of a new church tradition.
I agree that the mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the form of this proclamation is not crucial, although I accept that the form of proclamation does play an important role In addition, proclamation of the Gospel should not be conducted in such a way as to cause a division and the loss of the outward marks of a given church tradition. From Songulashvili’s descriptions of Evangelical Baptist Church liturgical services, one may judge that they have a strong evangelistic emphasis and aim to present the Gospel to the Georgian people through the ministry of the Word and Eucharist using various elements of Orthodox Church tradition that are heavily embedded in Georgian culture.
Though the work of Malkhaz Songoulashvili may be criticized on various points, this reviewer, nevertheless, found himself richly informed and impressed by the vast array of ideas and practical insights derived from the history of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Georgia. The author should be congratulated for creating an excellent description of the unique history of the Baptist Church in Georgia from its foundation up to the present day.
Valeriy A. Alikin, President, St.Petersburg Christian University, St. Petersburg, Russia