Stoned-Campbell Disciple

FAITHFUL DEFIANCE: MARSHALL KEEBLE’S LIFE and LEGACY (2025), edited by C. Leonard Allen

A new volume on Marshall Keeble, one of the most famous preachers among Churches of Christ has appeared. Faithful Defiance grows out of the 2024 Carroll B. Ellis Symposium at Lipscomb University that brought together five black (Edward Robinson, Tanya Smith Brice, Jefferson Caruthers Jr, Orpheus Heyward, David Holmes) and three white (Leonard Allen, John Mark Hicks, Rita Cato Cochrane) scholars on Marshall Keeble’s Life and Legacy.

Faithful Defiance is divided into three sections. Part 1 in three chapters places Keeble in his historical context both in the Stone-Campbell Movement and in the context of black preaching in America.

Part 2 examines Keeble’s life in four chapters. There is an examination of his early life, his preaching life, his later years and chapter on his evangelism and the challenge of race in his preaching.

Part 3 in three chapters examines the legacy of Keeble in how did white and black exhibit “unity” in Keeble’s ministry. We follow his legacy into the work of his students Fred Gray and W. F. Washington. And what may follow from Keeble.

The book has an Introduction and has two appendices.

Faithful Defiance is an excellent look at the remarkable life of Marshall Keeble, a man who faced constant racism both in and out of the Churches of Christ and even physical violence. Sometimes we wonder just how he did it. For example, we learn that many white people attended Keeble’s gospel meetings but if one responded it was unacceptable for Keeble baptize that person. The American church is still wrestling with just how culturally defined it has been in its theological praxis.

The real strength of this volume is that both white and black authors take historically informed and honest looks at both Keeble and the church that he ministered in. We learn how his students both follow and modify his work. And we learn that we are children of the world in which we live.

This is not a criticism but I think it would have really helped the volume if there was a chapter that compared and contrasted Marshall Keeble’s navigation of race with someone like Samuel Robert Cassius.

The volume is available on Amazon on both Kindle and paperback editions (10 and 18 bucks) and on audio book (1 dollar). I will place an Amazon link in the title above).

If you have any interest at all in Marshall Keeble, church history, preaching, American history then you need to read this excellent book. (I make no money from this review or recommendation).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2025 at 12:31 pm and is filed under Black History, Books, Ministry, Race Relations, Restoration History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.