Daniel Chapel

Charles E. Daniel Chapel is quite unlike the little chapel where Richard Furman, the namesake of Furman University, started preaching, at High Hills Baptist Church. The small building, still standing in Stateburg, SC), represents the upcountry evangelical preaching that made Baptists famous in this state.

The chapel now standing on Furman’s campus, its first chapel, was only constructed in 1992, the same year the university disaffiliated from the Southern Baptist Convention. Yet it is consistent in appearance with simple Baptist ideals: it is somewhat sparsely decorated, contains no iconography of saints or individuals (a portrait of Richard Furman himself was removed), and focuses the eyes on the relationship of a simple cross to the pews, where a "priesthood of believers" are to sit and exercise their own religious conscience, with only a practical pulpit for hearing (not elevated to represent the voice of heaven or God, as with other denominations).

But this plain and simple aesthetic, and its backcountry heritage is only half the story. Namesake Richard Furman also made explicit that a denomination that justified slavery would continue to grow in wealth to support missions and education, size, and influence. Furman wrote that slavery was a moral evil, like all other sins after the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, but that its practical acceptance would best promote the spread of Christianity, to enslaver and enslaved persons alike. Moreover Baptists could lead the way in "good treatment" of enslaved persons, including policies like slave literacy that would benefit eventual emancipation. His 1823 Exposition letter lays all of this out for the governor and for the general public to understand the Baptist position of the state. It was a landmark text for defending slavery with scriptural justification, a style of Christian humility, and powerful rhetorical force. The exponential growth of the denomination, of which Furman was a key player at the imposing First Baptist Church of Charleston, led to the formation and success of Baptist Conventions in the state and across the nation.

So, in this chapel's architecture, we also see the imposition and power of the church as well. Like the First Baptist Church of Charleston, this building (and most churches) also represent Western power: Greek revival arches and columns, Georgian trim, and Federalist-Palladian windows. The notched trim, semi-circle windows above the doors, and columns, cover campus. The First Baptist Church in Charleston designed by Robert Mills was grandest, first Baptist church in the South and became a model of architecture for churches, as well as Baptist schools like Wake Forest and Furman University.

Our namesake is in no small part due to the fact that Richard Furman provided a powerful theological support to the powerful economic engine of slavery. Without stealing the labor from enslaved workers, the Baptists would not have successfully expanded, started schools, and built a powerful Christian empire. To acknowledge his work in the growth of the denomination and the funds to create Baptist education, a year after his death, the SC Baptist Convention started the Furman Academy and Theological Institution (which became Furman University) in his honor.

The Task Force voted on renaming the university, and voted against. Like the architecture that surrounds us, simply applying a new veneer or new name, they believed, would not substantially change things. Rather, our name gives us an imperative to educate ourselves out of the evils of the past and challenge ourselves to do better. Buildings like this can serve a powerful part of that education.

Student author Tess Kamody created an original version of this text.

Reflection Questions:

Using Richard Furman's viewpoints on slavery, why is religion such an important component of people's worldview? How can it make acceptable practices and positions which from other moral viewpoints look unacceptable?