The diverse Baptist movement goes back to the separatist wing of English puritanism. The book first describes the history and missionary expansion of this movement. It then lays out its teachings on baptism, eucharist, and ministry, its commitment to religious liberty and human rights, its socio-political involvement as well as the role of women in the church. Finally, exemplary details of Baptist existence in the local congregations and Unions/Conventions from around the world provide insight into the colorful life, work, order, and faith of a global people, held loosely together by its World Alliance. All thirty essays are written by experts in their fields from all continents.

Coinciding with the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Baptist movement, this book explores and assesses the cultural sources of Baptist beliefs and practices. Although the movement has been embraced, enriched, and revised by numerous cultural heritages, the Baptist movement has focused on a small group of Anglo exiles in Amsterdam in constructing its history and identity. Robert E. Johnson seeks to recapture the varied cultural and theological sources of Baptist tradition and to give voice to the diverse global elements of the movement that have previously been excluded or marginalized. With an international communion of over 110 million persons in more than 225,000 congregations, Baptists constitute the world's largest aggregate of evangelical Protestants. This work offers insight into the diversity, breadth, and complexity of the cultural influences that continue to shape Baptist identity today.

Arranged in chronological order so that the Baptist saga can be understood as a continuous narrative, the book has the added advantage of permitting the reader to cherry-pick chapters that are of particular interest. The Baptist struggles for freedom of conscience, for a believer's church, for including both genders and all races, for fulfilling the Great Commission, and for the separation of church and state--these are only a few of the denominational-shaping turning points one discovers in this book.

This Encyclopedia is the definitive reference to the history and beliefs that continue to exert a profound influence on Western thought.

A revised edition for students at the divinity school level who study the origins of modern Baptists in 17th Century England, bibliology of the 18th and 19th century Baptists of England and America, and the sources for present-day uncertainties in the field of bibliology, especially as it relates to the Southern Baptist Convention as well as the Northern Baptist Convention. An excellent tool for researchers, scholars, as well as laymen.

Depicts the courage and fortitude of early Baptists. US 'televangelists' of the 1980s are a passing phenomenon, but their notoriety bears testimony that upon the conviction of their predecessors was built a major modern church.