Basil Manly, Jr.

Basil Manly, Jr. (1825-1892) was a southern United States Baptist minister and educator. He was one of a group of theologians instrumental in the formation of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in South Carolina.

Early life and education

Basil Manly, Jr. was born December 19, 1825, in South Carolina to Basil Manly, Sr. (1798-1868), a notable Baptist preacher and educator, and his wife. The family moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, when Manly, Jr. was 12 years old, as his father served as president of the University of Alabama (1837-1855) for nearly 20 years. He grew up in a planter's family, as his father owned 40 slaves and supported the institution of slavery. In Tuscaloosa, Manly, Jr. was baptized at age 14 after reading a biography of Jonathan Edwards. He graduated from the University of Alabama.

He was licensed by the Baptist church to preach the gospel at age nineteen. He enrolled at Newton Theological Institution in Massachusetts. In 1845 after the Southern Baptist Convention was formed, Manly, Jr. transferred to Princeton Theological Seminary.

His father had drafted the "Alabama Resolutions", which formed part of the case for separation of the convention from northern churches. The Newton seminary was affiliated with the rival Northern Baptist Convention at a time of deepening sectional strife prior to the American Civil War.

Manly graduated from Princeton in 1847. With John Albert Broadus, William Williams, and James Petigru Boyce, he was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. The seminary was central to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention and its ministers. (In 1877 the seminary moved to Louisville, Kentucky.)

Works

• Bible Doctrine of Inspiration, Armstrong and Son Publishers (New York: 1888).

Further reading

• Guide to the Manly Family papers, W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama