The central focus of this book is the role that the British, Australian, Canadian, South African, and New Zealand (BACSANZ) Baptist press played in the formation of national, imperial and denominational identity during the South African War (often called the Boer War). BACSANZ Baptist imperialism was a phenomenon that transcended regional identities which provided a global community and identity for nascent, often isolated, Baptist communities in the colonies. Baptist evangelical purpose was also inextricably fused to popular imperialism. Nevertheless, BACSANZ Baptist imperialism was contextualized and shaped by domestic factors, so much so that imperialism was a particular form of nationalism in both the metropole and peripheries.

In Christians, the State, and War: An Ancient Tradition for the Modern World, Gordon Heath argues that the pre-Constantinian Christian testimony regarding the state's just use of violence was remarkably uniform and that it was arguably a catholic, or universal, tradition. More specifically, that tradition had five interrelated and intertwined constitutive areas of consensus that can best be understood as parts of one collective tradition. Heath further argues that those five related areas of an early church tradition shaped all subsequent theological developments on views of the state, its use of violence, and the conditions of Christian participation in said violence. Whereas the sorry and sordid instances in the church's history related to violence were times when the church drifted from those convictions of consensus, the cases when Christians had a more stellar record of responding to the horrors of the world were times when they lived up to them. Consequently, the way forward today is for Christians to forgo beginning with the just war-pacifist debate, and, instead, to begin by letting their views on war and peace be shaped by that ancient tradition.

Most accounts of Canada and the First World War either ignore or merely mention in passing the churches' experience. Canadian Churches and the First World War addresses this surprising neglect, exploring the marked relationship between Canada's 'Great War' and Canadian churches in intricate detail. The authors of this volume provide a detailed summary of various Christian traditions and the war, both synthesising and furthering previous research. In addition to examining the experience of Roman Catholics (English and French speaking), Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Mennonites, and Quakers, there are chapters on precedents formed during the South African War, the work of military chaplains, and the roles of church women on the home front. Reprinted in the centenary year of the conflict's outbreak, Canadian Churches and the First World War acts as a sobering reminder of the devastating impact the Great War had on Canada - and the rest of the world - in the early twentieth century. It will inspire those with a keen interest in theological, military and women's history, along with academics and students whose areas of research cover the monumental events of 1914-18. "This article gives an exquisite insight into the stance of the Canadian churches during the First World War." - Martin Grechat, Theologische Literatur Zeitung 141. Jahrgang, Heft 4, April 2016

While Baptists through the years have been certain that "war is hell", they have not always been able to agree on how to respond to it. This book traces much of this troubled relationship from the days of Baptist origins with close ties to pacifist Anabaptists to the responses of Baptists in America to the Vietnam War. Essays also include discussions of the English Baptist Andrew Fuller's response to the threat of Napoleon, how Baptists in America dealt with the War of 1812, the support of Canadian Baptists for Britain's war in Sudan and Abyssinia in the 1880s, the decisive effect of the First World War on Canada's T.T. Shields, the response of Australian Baptists to the Second World War, and how Russian Baptists dealt with the Cold War. These chapters provide important analyses of Baptist reactions to various manifestations of one of society's most intractable problems.

The book is an introductory textbook for seminary students who take church history courses. Most seminary students do not have a history background (and many do not look forward to taking history courses at seminary), and so there is a need to provide a brief, basic, non-technical introduction to the discipline. There are other texts written for those seeking to do more rigorous research in church history (e.g., theses and dissertations), but those works are quite technical, long and dense. This book is for those in seminary who are training for ministry, need help in their church history courses, and who have no time or interest in wading through a 200+ page text. The text is intended to be short, helpful, and intelligible to a student with no history background.
The book is divided into two parts. The first deals with theoretical issues such as the need for church history, how you write about God as a cause of events, and objectivity in historical research. The second is more practical in nature, and deals with the types and use of sources, documentation, and types of historical research. The Appendices provide helpful information on terms, how to use church history in a local church, and how to write a local church history.
Dr. Gordon L. Heath is assistant professor of Christian history at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the author of two other books and numerous articles. He lives in Ancaster with his wife Virginia, two children Joshua and Natasha, and one rabbit ("Bunny").