Baptist Theology: A Four-century Study

James Leo Garrett

Mercer University Press, 2009 - Religion - 743 pages

This title offers a comprehensive analysis of Baptist theology. Embracing in one common trajectory the major Baptist confessions of faith, the major Baptist theologians, and the principal Baptist theological movements and controversies, this book spans four centuries of Baptist doctrinal history. Acknowledging first the pre-1609 roots (patristic, medieval, and Reformational) of Baptist theology, it examines the Arminian versus Calvinist issues that were first expressed by the General Baptists and the Particular Baptists; that dominated English and American Baptist theology during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from Helwys and Smyth and from Bunyan and Kiffin to Gill, Fuller, Backus, and Boyce; and, that were quickened by the 'awakenings' and the missionary movement. Concurrently there were the Baptist defense of the Baptist distinctives vis-a-vis the pedobaptist world and the unfolding of a strong Baptist confessional tradition. Then during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the liberal versus evangelical issues became dominant with Hovey, Strong, Rauschenbusch, and Henry in the North and Mullins, Conner, Hobbs, and Criswell in the South even as a distinctive Baptist Landmarkism developed, the discipline of biblical theology was practiced and a structured ecumenism was pursued. Missiology both impacted Baptist theology and took it to all the continents, where it became increasingly indigenous. Conscious that Baptists belong to the free churches and to the believers' churches, a new generation of Baptist theologians at the advent of the twenty-first century appears somewhat more Calvinist than Arminian and decidedly more evangelical than liberal.

Contents

• The Roots of Baptist Beliefs: 1
• PreReformation Sectarian and Reforming Movements: 5
• The Magisterial Protestant Reformation: 6
• Continental Anabaptism: 8
• English Separatist Puritans and Independents: 16
• English General Baptists: 23
• Thomas Helwys 1570ca 1616: 31
• Other Confessions of Faith: 35
• Thomas Grantham 16341692: 42
• Matthew Caffyn 16281715 Celestial Flesh and Socinianism: 44
• Dan Taylor 17381816 and the New Connection 1770: 46
• English Particular Baptists: 51
• First London Confession 1644 1646: 53
• Midland 1655 and Somerset 1656 Confessions: 59
• Hanserd Knollys 16091691: 62
• William Kiffin 16161701: 65
• John Bunyan 16281688: 67
• Second London or Assembly Confession 1677 1689: 71
• Thomas Collier and Arminianized Western Particular Baptists: 80
• Benjamin Keach 16401704: 83
• Baptist HyperCalvinism John Skepp ?1721 John Brine 17031765 and John Gill 16971771: 89
• Early American Baptists: 109
• Confessions of Faith and Church Disciplines: 114
• Six Principle Free Will or Freewill and General Baptists: 118
• Elhanan Winchester 17511797 and Universalism: 124
• Kehukee and New Hampshire Confessions of Faith: 126
• Francis Wayland 17961865: 132
• Patrick Hues Mell 18141888 and John Leadley Dagg 17961884: 134
• The Abstract of Principles of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 1858 and James Petigru Boyce 18271888: 145
• Awakening and Missionary Baptists: 153
• Isaac Backus 17241806 and John Leland 17541841: 154
• The Separate Baptists: 163
• Robert Hall Sr 17281791 John Collett Ryland 17231792 John Ryland 17531825 and John Sutcliff 17521814: 166
• English Particular Baptists from Revival to Missions: 173
• Strict and Particular Baptists: 198
• Alexander Carson 17761844: 200
• Antimissionary Controversy Primitive Baptists Daniel Parker 17811844: 204
• Baptist Landmarkism: 213
• James Robinson Graves James Madison Pendleton and Amos Cooper Dayton: 217
• Later Landmark Controversies: 230
• NonLandmark Ecclesiology: 242
• Landmark Effects on TwentiethCentury Southern Baptists: 246
• Baptists in Controversy: 249
• Bible Translation Crawford Howell Toy 18361919 and Basil Manly Jr: 258
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon 18341892 and John Clifford 18361923: 264
• The Changing Theological Scene: 278
• Alvah Hovey 18201903 George Dana Boardman Pepper 18331913 Calvin Goodspeed 18421912 and Adoniram Judson Gordon 18361895: 279
• Ezekiel Gilman Robinson 18151894 George Washington Northrup 18261900 Elias Henry Johnson 18411906 Nathan Eusebius Wood 18491937 Au...: 288
• William Newton Clarke 18411912 Harry Emerson Fosdick 18781969 George Cross 18621929 and Henry Clay Vedder 18531935: 304
• Walter Rauschenbusch: 314
• William Bell Riley 18611947 John Roach Straton 18751929 Thomas Todhunter Shields 18731955 and Jasper Cortenus Massee 18711965: 318
• Baptist Congress: 327
• Northern Baptist Convention Controversy 19201950: 330
• Biblical Theologians: 343
• Archibald Thomas Robertson 18631934: 347
• Henry Wheeler Robinson 18721945: 350
• Harold Henry Rowley 18901969: 355
• Eric Charles Rust 19101991: 360
• Ralph Edward Knudsen 18971987: 363
• Ray Summers 19101992 Edward Allison McDowell 18981975: 364
• Frank Stagg 19112001: 369
• George Eldon Ladd 19111982: 374
• Dale Moody 19151992 Wayne Eugene Ward 1921: 377
• George Raymond BeasleyMurray 19162000: 387
• Donald Guthrie 19161992: 395
• Ralph Lee Smith 19181999: 397
• Ralph Philip Martin 1925: 399
• Edward Earle Ellis 1926: 402
• Ronald Ernest Clements 1929: 406
• Richard Norman Longenecker 1930: 410
• TwentiethCentury Southern Baptists: 415
• Doctrinal Statements prior to 1925: 434
• The 1925 Baptist Faith and Message Statement: 441
• Walter Thomas Conner 18771952: 449
• Doctrinal Summaries for the Laity and the Convention: 455
• The Elliott Controversy: 457
• The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message Statement: 462
• Herschel Harold Hobbs: 468
• Baptist Ideals: 474
• Doctrinal Texts for Students and Dismissals of Professors: 475
• Wallie Amos Criswell 19092002: 481
• The Broadman Bible Commentary Controversy: 486
• Charismaticism: 489
• The Inerrancy Controversy: 491
• The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message Statement: 506
• Recovering Evangelicalism and Reassessing the Baptist Heritage: 515
• Bernard Lawrence Ramm 19161992: 520
• Millard John Erickson 1932: 525
• Baptist Distinctives: 531
• Baptists Free Churches and Believers Churches: 532
• Southern Baptists and American Evangelicals: 535
• James William McClendon Jr: 537
• British Baptismal Sacramentalism: 540
• Incursions into Baptist Theology: 549
• Dispensationalism: 560
• The English Christological Controversy: 570
• Open Theism: 574
• Missions Ecumenism and Globalization: 581
• European Confessions of Faith: 585
• Baptists and Ecumenism: 591
• The Evangelistic Theology of William Franklin Billy Graham Jr 1918: 602
• From the Secular City to Openness to Pentecostalism: 609
• AfroAmerican Theology of LiberationReconciliation: 612
• Contextualized African Theology: 616
• South African Theologians and Doctrinal Statements: 621
• Latin American Confessions and Controversies: 624
• Mexico: 625
• Argentina: 628
• Orlando Enrique Costas 19421987 C Rene Padilla 1932 and Samuel Escobar 1934: 633
• Australia: 644
• Asian Confessions and Monographs: 647
• India: 648
• Philippines: 649
• Salvation of the Unevangelized?: 651
• Textbook on Missiology: 656
• New Voices in Baptist Theology: 661
• Repristination of Biblical Inerrancy and Dortian Calvinism: 666
• Exemplar of Intelligent and Polemical Evangelicalism: 669
• The Suffering and Trinitarian God and Ecumenical Theology: 676
• Reformed Theology with Vineyard Refinements: 683
• Reinterpreted Baptist Convictions for PostChristendom: 686
• Reenvisioner of Evangelical Theology for a Postmodern Age: 690
• EvangelicalCalvinist and Baptist Historical Theologian: 696
• Evangelical Arminianism and the History of Christian Doctrine: 701
• EvangelicalCalminian Baptist and the Doctrine of the Bible: 704
• Conclusion: 713
• Index of Persons: 727

About the author

JAMES LEO GARRETT, JR., a Baptist theological educator for more than half a century, taught in three institutions: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Baylor University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Baptist Theology: A Four-century Study; Baptist Series
• Author: James Leo Garrett
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Mercer University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0881461296, 9780881461299
• Length: 743 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Christian Theology / History; Religion / Christianity / Baptist