A People Called Baptist: An Introduction to Baptist History & Heritage

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About A People Called Baptist: An Introduction To Baptist

This book is an introduction to Baptist heritage written by a Baptist pastor. It is intended to be read by Baptist laypeople and used as a resource for pastors who wish to lead their congregations in an exploration of Baptist history, practices, and distinctive beliefs. Dr. Marshall Davis has forty years of experience as a Baptist pastor. He holds the MDiv and DMin degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. “A People Called Baptist” uses stories from the lives of the early Baptists and quotations from early Baptist documents to tell the story. It also grounds each Baptist belief and practice in Biblical principles and values. The book begins by exploring the Baptist roots in the Separatist movement of seventeenth century England. It follows the early Baptists to the American colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This portion of the book focuses on Baptists’ struggle for religious liberty and their role in guaranteeing religious freedom in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It explains the centrality of the Baptists’ emphasis on Biblical authority through the nineteenth century, culminating in the widely accepted article in the New Hampshire Confession of Faith of 1833 and its modification in the Southern Baptist doctrinal statement, “The Baptist Faith and Message.”The book explores the meaning and practice of Baptists’ distinctive style of baptism: Believers Baptism by Immersion and its relation to regenerate church membership. It concludes by telling the story of the early Baptist missionaries in the nineteenth century and the evangelistic emphasis of Baptists today.