Jonathan Gaines Bow was one of the most important Kentucky Baptists leaders during the early twentieth century. He pastored numerous Baptist churches in Kentucky including: Great Crossing (1871-1872), Midway (1872-1875), Harrodsburg (1875-1877), Millersburg (1878-1881), First, Newport (1882-1887), First, Russellville (1888-1890), Twenty-second and Walnut Street, Louisville (1890-1892), Pembroke (1896-1900), Calvary, Louisville (1909-1915). He also pastored in Ebenezer, Indiana (1881-1882) and in Eufaula, Alabama (1893-1896).

      While he authored many pamphlets and books, his most famous work was What Baptists Believe and Why They Believe It. The book contains seventeen chapters on various Baptist doctrines. The chapters were first published in the Alabama Baptist newspaper in 1896. After numerous requests, bow finally consented to publish the articles in a small book. It went through numersous editions and remained in print through the 1980s. Well over 200,000 copies were printed. Many considered this the best book available to use in teaching Baptist doctrine to church members.

========== [This bio was published by the J. H. Spencer Historical Society in 2012. Provided by Ben Stratton. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

A Published Article:
Did You Know?
By J. G. Bow

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