June 2008

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288 pages / Hardback

Autobiography
Ministry/Leadership
Baptist Books
ISBN: 978-1-57312-502-4



 

Bill Leonard says being Baptist is messy. Bill Hull says being Baptist is an experience. So it should follow that what you have in hand is one Baptist’s narrative of a messy experience. Not so! What you have in hand is an ordered chronicle, a unique story, of a solitary human being—a man who arguably has been the most important Baptist of his generation, the most formative Baptist Christian of the past sixty years…Read More

— From the Foreword by W. Randall Lolley
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1974–1988

By My Own Reckoning chronicles the life of a man who has championed intellectual inquiry, freedom of the local congregation, and the responsibility of individual and independent spirituality. A longtime pastor for remarkable congregations, Dr. Sherman has written the biblical commentary for the Formations Sunday School curriculum for over 17 years. After distinctive pastorates, Dr. Sherman served as the first coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Since retirement in 1997 he has taught at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. Cecil Sherman’s legacy of fortitude, independence, and spirituality continues through his students who study for future ministries worldwide.

Cecil Sherman currently serves as visiting professor of pastoral ministries at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. Dr. Sherman was pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1985-1992. He was pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, from 1964-1984. Prior to these pastorates, he served in Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas. Dr. Sherman has been very active in church life and community service and has written extensively. He authors the ongoing Formations Commentary for Smyth & Helwys’ Sunday School curriculum line. He also has a five-volume Formations Commentary compilation covering Genesis to Revelation.

Endorsements

"By My Own Reckoning reflects the honesty, integrity and courage of a towering figure in Baptist life. It is a poignant memoir that both inspires and disturbs. Cecil Sherman has given all of us a great gift in recounting his life and ministry."

— Daniel Vestal
Executive Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

"Cecil Sherman is the most important white, moderate Baptist in the South in the last two decades of the twentieth century. A "conservative person," congenitally so and in almost every way, he nevertheless led the "moderate" movement in the struggle against Southern Baptist Convention "fundamentalists." He was right more times in more ways on more issues than any other single person in the controversy. Personally, I am grateful for his courage, his tenacity, his wisdom, and his leadership."

— Walter B. Shurden
Minister at Large, Mercer University


- Allen Scott of McGill Baptist Church (Concord, NC) talks with Dr. Sherman as he signs a copy of his book By My Own Reckoning. Dr. Sherman inscribed, “Thanks for Being Baptist.”