I recently saw Chaim Topol in one of his farewell performances as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. I’ve never seen anything as powerful as that performance! I am still mesmerized by the experience. To think that Topol has played that role over 2,500 times in forty years is staggering to me.

On the drive home, my mind was full not only of the music and the humor, but the sobering reminder about the strength of the soul and the fragility of religious freedom. Because I’d been planning ahead that week for an upcoming meeting of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), my mind turned from the themes of the musical to Baptist life in general and the CBF gathering in particular, only to drift to a current writing assignment for my publisher, Smyth & Helwys.

My commitment to soulwork and religious freedom is one of the reasons I continue to teach from their Formations curriculum in my adult Sunday school class at River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston. It is also one of the reasons I am proud to say that Smyth & Helwys is the publisher of my books.

I’ll never forget the relief I felt when I heard about the forming of a new publishing group named Smyth & Helwys. I remember hearing the detailed story of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys in a dramatic presentation at a gathering of the CBF in the early 1990s. I was drawn to the idea of a free press named after men who were willing, literally, to lay down their lives for the sake of religious freedom. I wanted to be part of a movement that drew from the wells of people like John Smyth and Thomas Helwys.

I also recall fondly my initial invitation to write curriculum materials for Smyth & Helwys. Trained as a curriculum writer for Sunday school literature in 1974, I had already been writing Bible study materials, magazine articles, and teaching procedures for eighteen years. I had used their Formations materials in my Sunday school class from the time they were first available and knew there were distinguished thinkers, leaders, and writers involved. I was thrilled to join the writing team and deeply honored to become part of a publishing ministry with the mission and vision of Smyth & Helwys.

To this day, I still like it that the first words on the About Us page of their website read, “Smyth and Helwys is a free press,” with all that statement means and implies.

My roots in Baptist life are deep, and I was brought up by a father who preached fervently, passionately, and consistently about what I’ve come to know as soul freedom. Through action as much as words, he taught me the importance of keeping one’s own mind, heart, and soul free of any sort of external bondage. He also knew, like Tevye, that living our soul freedom in the push and pull of changing times, shifting loyalties, and evolving traditions is an ongoing struggle.

“It’s not the ought-ness of things,” my dad would say. “It’s the is-ness.” A more lofty version of that pithy wisdom would say, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Many Baptists talk more about missions and evangelism than spirituality, piety, or soulwork, which keeps us in a continuing state of imbalance. Truthfully, I think there is a rarely defined Baptist spirituality, one that is unique and specific. I could define it, but that seems presumptuous. For as soon as I place parameters around that which is holy, numinous, and real, I would be violating one of the first principles of any Baptist spirituality: the principle of soul freedom.

However, I know that the essence of Baptist spirituality is a personal, dynamic, vital love relationship with the living Christ, and I know that a core element in the Baptist way is the belief that this sacred relationship is to be nourished and guarded with great care. That which is intensely private and personal is to be lived out in public ways, but at its core, Baptist spirituality is about the guarding and maintenance of “the kingdom within.” Baptist spirituality involves abiding in Christ and he in us.

I like writing for Smyth & Helwys because the people I know who work there and the writers that publish under their banner share a common understanding of Baptist spirituality and what it means to be a free, faithful Baptist.

And so it was that pondering a Broadway musical about a Jewish milkman in the trauma and terror of religious persecution reminded me one more time about how much I value the freedom of my own soul. It seems to me that we who call ourselves moderate Baptists and we who affiliate voluntarily with other like-minded Baptists live under a moral imperative and a divine calling to continue to uphold the principles of spiritual and religious freedom.

We must be reminded that those freedoms are not taken from us all at once, and seemingly, we must be reminded again and again. Even Tevye was warned repeatedly that those who would take away his freedom and persecute him were coming!

Generally, our freedoms are eroded little by little. Most often, just like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, we give up our freedoms in small ways that we think won’t matter “this time.” We sell our souls in bite-size ways, walking ourselves out of freedom and into bondage through little compromises, attractive and seductive associations, and our own selfishness, self-centeredness, and blind ambitions.

None of us would think of waking up in the morning and declaring, “I think I’ll give up my religious freedom today.” But we moderates, by our moderation, sometimes are too lax and too lazy. We take the strength of “live and let live” too far. We take our eyes off the road and go to sleep at the wheel because the real truth is this: freedom is hard and slavery is easy.

It takes a ton of discipline to play the same role for forty years, as Chaim Topol has, and to play it with such power. Likewise, it takes great discipline for each of us to remain free. I’m grateful to Topol/Tevye for reminding me one more time that what freedom requires is steady, consistent, conscious choice making for freedom day after day.

I write for Smyth & Helwys—proudly—because they represent what I value most about being a free and committed Christian and a moderate Baptist.

The author of eight books, Jeanie Miley lives in Houston, Texas. She is a trained facilitator for Centering Prayer workshops, a graduate of the Spiritual Direction Institute in Houston, and has a full practice of directees. A popular Bible study teacher, she also leads retreats and seminars on spirituality and personal spiritual growth. She is married to Martus Miley, and they are the parents of three adult daughters.

Click here to learn more about Jeanie’s published works.