The eighteenth century was a crucial time in Baptist history. The denomination had its roots in seventeenth-century English Puritanism and Separatism and the persecution of the Stuart kings, with only a limited measure of freedom after 1689. Worse, however, was to follow for with toleration came doctrinal conflict, a move away from central Christian understandings and a loss of evangelistic urgency. Both spiritual and numerical decline ensued, to the extent that the denomination was virtually reborn as rather belatedly it came to benefit from the Evangelical Revival which brought new life to both Arminian and Calvinistic Baptists. It has, however, been strongly argued that those who were associated with Bristol College had a continuous tradition of Evangelical Calvinism and that the General Baptists of the South Midlands and the Home Counties, owing as much to the legacy of the Lollards as to Dutch Anabaptism, did not succumb to heterodoxy. The papers in this volume therefore study a denomination in transition, and relate to theology, their views of the church and its mission, Baptist spirituality, and engagement with radical politics.

The aim of this volume is twofold. First, it is to provide European Baptists with a useful reference work concerning their own heritage, their common fund of essential belief and understanding, but also the diversity of practice amongst them. Secondly, it aims to identify these issues for the benefit of those who want to know what Baptists believe and why they hold their distinctive beliefs, what, in fact, makes Baptists tick. Themes running through this collection of articles include ecclesiology, worship and litrugy, diaconal sevices, all aspects of theology, mission, ethics, history and heritage, Baptist organisations and ecumenical relations. There are also articles on Baptist witness, past and present, in every nation represented within the European Baptist Federation.

From a historical point of view Sunday schools have immense significance. In the nineteenth century Sunday schools were part of general educational provision and represented the Christian philanthropic impulse to provide a basic education to the population at large and at low cost. In this book a range of experts assess different aspects of the history of the Sunday school movement. Contributors include Clyde Binfield Faith Bowers John Briggs Grayson Ditchfield Hugh McLeod Stephen Orchard Jack Priestley Geoffrey Robson and Doreen Rosman.