Never before has a book sought to relate the various aberrations of Southern Baptist history to the defense of slavery. Copeland maintains that the inception of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is tainted by its origins in the defense of slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention and the Judgment of History also emphasizes the relation to American Baptists, the response to the ecumenical movement, the position of women, the enforcement of theological orthodoxy, and foreign missions.

The revised edition aims to bring readers up to date on what has happened in the SBC (the radical statement of 1995, the revision of the Baptist Faith and Message statement at the points of Baptist theology, the status of women, etc.) since the books original publication, and to explain how the SBC's controversial stance on racial issues has influenced the denominational life of members and how this stance developed.