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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Baptist Churches
With 110 million members worldwide, Baptists are surpassed only by
Roman Catholic and Orthodox groups as the largest segment of
Christians. The term "Baptist" has its origins with the
Anabaptists, the denomination historically linked to the English
Separatist movement of the 16th century. Although Baptist churches
are located throughout the world, the largest group of Baptists
lives in the Southern United States, and the Baptist faith has
historically exerted a powerful influence in that region of the
country. The A to Z of the Baptists relates the history of the
Baptist Church through a chronology, an introductory essay, a
bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries
on important events, doctrines, and the church founders, leaders,
and other prominent figures who have made notable contributions.
This volume commemorates the 400th anniversary of the founding of
the Baptist movement in 1609.
Baptists are a study in contrasts. From Little Dove Old Regular
Baptist Church, up a hollow in the Appalachian Mountains, with its
25-member congregation, to the 18,000-strong Saddleback Valley
Church in Orange County, California, where hymns appear on
wide-screen projectors; from Jerry Falwell, Jesse Helms, and Tim
LaHaye to Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, and
Maya Angelou, Baptist churches and their members have encompassed a
range of theological interpretations and held a variety of social
and political viewpoints. At first glance, Baptist theology seems
classically Protestant in its emphasis on the Trinity, the
incarnation of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, salvation
by faith alone, and baptism by immersion. Yet the interpretation
and implementation of these beliefs have made Baptists one of the
most fragmented denominations in the United States. Not
surprisingly, they are often characterized as a people who
"multiply by dividing."
"Baptists in America" introduces readers to this fascinating and
diverse denomination, offering a historical and sociological
portrait of a group numbering some thirty million members. Bill J.
Leonard traces the history of Baptists, beginning with their
origins in seventeenth-century Holland and England. He examines the
development of Baptist beliefs and practices, offering an overview
of the various denominations and fellowships within Baptism.
Leonard also considers the disputes surrounding the question of
biblical authority, the ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Supper),
congregational forms of church governance, and religious
liberty.
The social and political divisions among Baptists are often as
dramatic, if not more so, than the theological divides. Leonard
examines the role of Baptists in the Fundamentalist and Social
Gospel movements of the early twentieth century. The Civil Rights
movement began in African American Baptist churches. More recently,
Baptists have been key figures in the growth of the Religious
Right, criticizing the depravity of American popular culture,
supporting school prayer, and championing other conservative social
causes. Leonard also explores the social and religious issues
currently dividing Baptists, including race, the ordination of
women, the separation of church and state, and sexuality. In the
final chapter Leonard discusses the future of Baptist identity in
America.
The antebellum southern Baptist churches were led, in general, by populists who addressed their appeals to the common person and allowed women and slaves to vote on membership matters. Paradoxically, at the same time, no denomination could wield the religious authority as ruthlessly as the Baptists - between 1785 and 1860 they ritually excommunicated forty to fifty thousand church members in Georgia alone. Wills traces this split to two rival strains in the Baptist church - moderates who emphasized personal religious freedom and tolerance, and fundamentalists who preached discipline and the inerrancy of scripture. He demonstrates how a denomination of freedom-loving individuals came to embrace exclusionist spirituality, and how the results of that conflict continue to affect the church.
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Baptist Identities
(Hardcover)
Ian M. Randall, Toivo Pilli, Anthony Cross
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R1,557
R1,279
Discovery Miles 12 790
Save R278 (18%)
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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Inward Baptism analyses the theological developments that led to
the great evangelical revivals of the mid-eighteenth century. Baird
Tipson here demonstrates how the rationale for the "new birth," the
characteristic and indispensable evangelical experience, developed
slowly but inevitably from Luther's critique of late medieval
Christianity. Addressing the great indulgence campaigns of the late
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Luther's perspective on
sacramental baptism, as well as the confrontation between Lutheran
and Reformed theologians who fastened on to different aspects of
Luther's teaching, Tipson sheds light on how these disparate
historical moments collectively created space for evangelicalism.
This leads to an exploration of the theology of the leaders of the
Evangelical awakening in the British Isles, George Whitefield and
John Wesley, who insisted that by preaching the immediate
revelation of the Holy Spirit during the "new birth," they were
recovering an essential element of primitive Christianity that had
been forgotten over the centuries. Ultimately, Inward Baptism
examines how these shifts in religious thought made possible a
commitment to an inward baptism and consequently, the evangelical
experience.
Understanding the covenant of grace is at the heart of faith in
Christ. In this inspiring book, Charles Spurgeon explores the
details of God's unbreakable contract with you and points out many
of its marvelous provisions, including forgiveness of your sins,
inner peace, a new nature, freedom from bondage, and entrance into
heaven. Often, God's blessings sit accumulating in His storehouse,
just waiting to be claimed, because Christians do not realize they
can have their inheritance now. Discover the riches of God's
gracious covenant with you, so you can claim your abundant legacy
today
In the seventeenth century, English Baptists existed on the fringe
of the nation's collective religious life. Today, Baptists have
developed into one of the world's largest Protestant denominations.
Despite this impressive transformation, those first English
Baptists remain chronically misunderstood. In Orthodox Radicals,
Matthew C. Bingham clarifies and analyzes the origins and identity
of Baptists during the English Revolution, arguing that
mid-seventeenth century Baptists did not, in fact, understand
themselves to be a part of a larger, all-encompassing Baptist
movement. Contrary to both the explicit statements of many
historians and the tacit suggestion embedded in the very use of
"Baptist" as an overarching historical category, the early modern
men and women who rejected infant baptism would not have initially
understood that single theological stance as being in itself
constitutive of a new collective identity. Rather, the rejection of
infant baptism was but one of a number of doctrinal revisions then
taking place among English puritans eager to further their on-going
project of godly reformation. Orthodox Radicals complicates our
understanding of Baptist identity, setting the early English
Baptists in the cultural, political, and theological context of the
wider puritan milieu out of which they arose. The book also speaks
to broader themes, including early modern debates on religious
toleration, the mechanisms by which early modern actors established
and defended their tenuous religious identities, and the perennial
problem of anachronism in historical writing. Bingham also
challenges the often too-hasty manner in which scholars have drawn
lines of theological demarcation between early modern religious
bodies, and reconsiders one of this period's most dynamic and
influential religious minorities from a fresh and perhaps
controversial perspective. By combining a provocative
reinterpretation of Baptist identity with close readings of key
theological and political texts, Orthodox Radicals offers the most
original and stimulating analysis of mid-seventeenth-century
Baptists in decades.
Like most Christians, Mary Blye Howe was uninformed about Jewish
ritual and tradition. To satisfy her curiosity she joined a Jewish
study group held in the home of a Hasidic rabbi. "A Baptist Among
the Jews" is Howe's first-person account of her eye-opening
experience of studying with that welcoming group and how this
experience led her to a deeper, richer relationship with her God.
While learning about the traditions of Judaism and studying the
Torah, Howe discovered a new world of worship and ritual that
expanded her experience to include several different Jewish groups,
among them Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. She reveled in the
joys of arguing with God (even though God always wins),
synagogue-hopping on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and dancing
with a sefer torah through the streets of Dallas. Page after page,
we join Howe on her religious quest and discover how her
once-narrow concept of God has expanded with her ability to read
the scriptures and understand this new faith. Howe's profound and
transforming experiences helped her develop a new sense of
worship-- one that eschews spectatorship in favor of participation.
For centuries, Baptists have published confessions of faith as
formal statements of their beliefs. Chief among these is the Second
London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. This doctrinal
statement is a spiritual treasure trove worthy of our fresh
attention. In this new study, more than twenty contributors unpack
its timeless biblical truths, 'things which are most surely
believed among us' (Luke 1:1). Our prayer is that the Lord will use
this volume to richly edify and sanctify His people worldwide, and
to assist the churches in pursuing biblical holiness and doctrinal
purity. May these labors send God's people back again and again to
the Bible, which is-as the confession states-the 'only sufficient,
certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and
obedience' (1.1). Includes contributions from: Earl M. Blackburn
Brian Borgman Dave Chanski David Charles Jason Ching Victor Claudio
Jim Domm Gary Hendrix Steven Hofmaier Jeff Johnson Mitch Lush Lee
McKinnon John Price Mike Renihan John Reuther Mark Sarver James
Savastio Jeffery Smith Rob Ventura Calvin Walden Sam Waldron Austin
Walker Jeremy Walker
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Seeds of the Church
(Paperback)
Teun Van Der Leer, Henk Bakker, Steven R. Harmon
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R555
R509
Discovery Miles 5 090
Save R46 (8%)
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Things that divide Christians act as a poor witness to the world.
On such major schism is that of Baptism. However if we can't agree,
the next best witness to the world is the manner of how we
disagree. The two views explored here, paedo (or infant) baptism
and adult (or believer's) baptism are often so entrenched that
discussions can be based around prejudice rather than
understanding. This classic book aims to eradicate the former and
promote the latter. Do you know why Anglicans, Presbyterians and
Methodists baptise babies? Do you know why Baptists find it
impossible to understand why they do it? Do you know why most
Baptists find it difficult to allow Paedobaptists to take communion
or become church members? We owe it to the future health of the
church, and its witness, to work out our differences in love before
the world. This book looks at the biblical arguments for both views
on baptism, show how these have been practised in church history
and the place that baptism has in the church today. This book is
based on the 1998 extended version of the 1977 classic. Donald
Bridge and David Phypers approach this book from two different
directions - respectively that of Baptist and Anglican. The common
approach they bring is their respect of the others position as
regards fidelity to scripture and faith.
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