Baptists: Difference between revisions

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Historians trace the earliest Baptist church to 1609 in [[Amsterdam]], with [[English Dissenters|English Separatist]] [[John Smyth (English theologian)|John Smyth]] as its pastor.<ref name="Gourley" /> In accordance with his reading of the [[New Testament]], he rejected [[Infant baptism|baptism of infants]] and instituted baptism only of believing adults.<ref name="ODCC self">{{citation|contribution=Baptists|editor-last=Cross|editor-first=FL|title=The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church|place=New York|publisher= Oxford University Press|year=2005}}</ref> Baptist practice spread to England, where the [[General Baptists]] considered Christ's atonement to [[Unlimited atonement|extend to all people]], while the [[Reformed Baptists|Particular Baptists]] believed that it extended only to [[Election in Christianity|the elect]].<ref name="Benedict1848">{{cite book|last=Benedict|first=David|title=A General History of the Baptist Denomination in America and Other Parts of the World|url=https://archive.org/details/ageneralhistory00benegoog|year=1848|publisher=Lewis Colby|language=en|page= [https://archive.org/details/ageneralhistory00benegoog/page/n222 325] |quote=It is, however, well known by the community at home and abroad, that from a very early period they have been divided into two parties, which have been denominated ''General'' and ''Particular'', which differ from each other mainly in their doctrinal sentiments; the Generals being Arminians, and the other, Calvinists.}}</ref> [[Thomas Helwys]] formulated a distinctively Baptist request that the [[Baptists in the history of separation of church and state|church and the state be kept separate]] in matters of law, so that individuals might have [[freedom of religion]]. Helwys died in prison as a consequence of the religious conflict with English Dissenters under [[James I of England|James I]].

# the modern scholarly consensus that the movement traces its origin to the 17th century via the [[English Dissenters|English Separatists]],

# the view that it was an outgrowth of the [[Anabaptism|Anabaptist]] movement of [[believer's baptism]] begun in 1525 on the European continent,

 

===English separatist view===

During the Reformation, the Church of England ([[Anglicanism|Anglicans]]) separated from the Roman [[Catholic Church]]. There were some Christians who were not content with the achievements of the mainstream Protestant Reformation.<ref name= "Shurden turning" /><ref name="Briggs">{{Cite web | last = Briggs | first = John | title = Baptist Origins | publisher = Baptist History and Heritage Society | access-date = 10 January 2010 | url = http://www.baptisthistory.org/contissues/briggs.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100105221040/http://www.baptisthistory.org/contissues/briggs.htm | archive-date = 5 January 2010 |url-status = dead }}</ref> There also were Christians who were disappointed that the Church of England had not made corrections of what some considered to be errors and abuses. Of those most critical of the church's direction, some chose to stay and try to make constructive changes from within the Anglican Church. They became known as "[[Puritans]]" and are described by Gourley as cousins of the English Separatists. Others decided they must leave the church because of their dissatisfaction and became known as the Separatists.<ref name="Gourley" />

 

 

Baptist churches have their origins in a movement started by [[John Smyth (English theologian)|John Smyth]] and [[Thomas Helwys]] in [[Amsterdam]].<ref>J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, ''Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'', ABC-CLIO, US, 2010, p. 298</ref><ref>William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Scarecrow Press, US, 2009, p. 530</ref><ref>Olivier Favre, ''Les églises évangéliques de Suisse: origines et identités'', Labor et Fides, Genève, 2006, p. 328</ref> Because they shared beliefs with the Puritans and [[Congregationalist polity|Congregationalists]], they went into exile in 1607 with other believers who held the same biblical positions.<ref>W. Glenn Jonas Jr., ''The Baptist River'', Mercer University Press, US, 2008, p. 6</ref> They believe that the [[Bible]] is to be the only guide and that the believer's baptism is what the scriptures require.<ref name="Baker & Landers p258">Robert Andrew Baker, John M. Landers, ''A Summary of Christian History'', B&H Publishing Group, US, 2005, p. 258</ref> In 1609, the year considered to be the foundation of the movement, they baptized believers and founded the first Baptist church.<ref>Robert E. Johnson, ''A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches'', Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 33</ref><ref>Michael Edward Williams, Walter B. Shurden, ''Turning Points in Baptist History'', Mercer University Press, US, 2008, p. 36</ref>

 

 

Shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group.<ref name="Gourley" /> Ultimately, Smyth became committed to believers' baptism as the only biblical baptism. He was convinced on the basis of his interpretation of Scripture that infants would not be damned should they die in infancy.{{Sfn|Leonard|2003|p=25}} Smyth, convinced that his self-baptism was invalid, applied with the Mennonites for membership. He died while waiting for membership, and some of his followers became Mennonites. Helwys and others kept their baptism and their Baptist commitments.{{Sfn|Leonard|2003|p=25}} The modern Baptist denomination is an outgrowth of Smyth's movement.<ref name="Briggs" /> Baptists rejected the name Anabaptist when they were called that by opponents in derision. McBeth writes that as late as the 18th century, many Baptists referred to themselves as "the Christians commonly—though ''falsely''—called Anabaptists."<ref name="McBeth Bapt Beg">{{Cite web|url=http://www.baptisthistory.org/baptistbeginnings.htm|title= Baptist Beginnings | last = McBeth| first= H Leon |publisher= Baptist History and Heritage Society |access-date= 19 October 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071021083427/http://baptisthistory.org/baptistbeginnings.htm| archive-date = 21 October 2007 |url-status = live}}</ref>

A minority view is that early 17th century Baptists were influenced by (but not directly connected to) continental Anabaptists.<ref name="Priest">{{citation|last=Priest|first=Gerald L|title=Are Baptists Protestants?|publisher=Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary|date=14 October 2010|url=http://www.dbts.edu/pdf/macp/2007/Priest,%20Are%20Baptists%20Protestants.pdf|url-status = bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620124136/http://www.dbts.edu/pdf/macp/2007/Priest,%20Are%20Baptists%20Protestants.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2017}}.</ref> According to this view, the General Baptists shared similarities with Dutch Waterlander Mennonites (one of many Anabaptist groups) including believer's baptism only, [[Freedom of religion|religious liberty]], [[separation of church and state]], and [[Arminianism|Arminian]] views of salvation, predestination and original sin.

 

 

However, the relations between Baptists and Anabaptists were early strained. In 1624, the five existing Baptist churches of London issued a condemnation of the Anabaptists.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Early English Dissenters in the Light of Recent Research|last=Burrage|first=Champlin|publisher=Cambridge|year=1912|volume=2|location=University Press|pages=222}}</ref> Furthermore, the original group associated with Smyth (popularly believed to be the first Baptists) broke with the Waterlander Mennonite Anabaptists after a brief period of association in the Netherlands.<ref>{{citation|last=Melton|first=JG|contribution=Baptists|title=Encyclopedia of American Religions|year= 1994}}.</ref>

{{Main|List of Baptist denominations}}

[[File:Baptist Hospital Mutengene.jpg|thumb|Baptist Hospital Mutengene ([[Tiko]]), member of the [[Cameroon Baptist Convention]]]]

Some Baptist church congregations choose to be independent of larger church organizations ([[Independent Baptist]]). Other Baptist churches choose to be part of an international or national Baptist [[Christian denomination]] or association while still adhering to a [[congregationalist polity]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Family Trees |url=https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/history/family-trees?F=96 |publisher=[[Association of Religion Data Archives]] |access-date=28 November 2023 |quote=Modern Baptists are a group of Christian denominations and churches who subscribe to a theology of believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism), salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local church.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1= Williams |first1= Michael Edward|last2= Shurden |first2= Walter B.|title= Turning Points in Baptist History |date=2008|publisher= Mercer University Press |pages=63, 72|language=en |quote= 63: "Baptists' practice of congregational church government means that all authority and power in Baptist life is focused in the local congregation of believers, not in any extra-local ecclesiastical body. From their beginnings, especially in America, the Baptist people consistently and repeatedly affirmed the local church as the center of their life together. For that reason there is no "The Baptist Church" in the same sense that there is "The Methodist Church," "The Episcopal Church," or "The Presbyterian Church." There are only "Baptist churches." Baptists have formed "conventions" of churches, "unions" of churches, and "associations" of churches, but final authority in Baptist life resides in the local congregation of believers. That authority does not rest in a denomination or any extra-local church body of any kind, civil or ecclesiastical." 72: " If you examine Baptist associations among different national Baptist bodies in contemporary America or if you compare Baptist associations in various countries today, you will find a wide divergence in the nature and practice of associations. This leads to the conclusion that Baptists really have no consistent or obvious theology of church order beyond the local church. Baptists do not have an ecclesiology beyond the local church that tells them how they must organize or structure their local churches into a Baptist denomination. For the most part, each group of Baptists has been guided primarily by practical issues, though they usually conscript both the Bible and Baptist theology in making the case for church connectionalism." }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Blankman |first1=Drew |last2=Augustine |first2=Todd |title=Pocket Dictionary of North American Denominations: Over 100 Christian Groups Clearly & Concisely Defined |date=17 April 2010 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-6706-6 |page=88 |language=en}}</ref><ref> Stephen R. Holmes, ''Baptist Theology'', T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 2012, p. 104-105</ref> This cooperative relationship allows the development of common organizations, for [[Christian mission|mission]] and societal purposes, such as [[Christian humanitarian aid|humanitarian aid]], schools, [[Bible college |theological institutes]] and hospitals.<ref>William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Scarecrow Press, US, 2020, p. 173–174</ref>

 

| image2 = Crossway Church service.jpg

| caption2 = [[Worship service (evangelicalism)|Worship service]] at [[Crossway Baptist Church]] in [[Melbourne]], affiliated with [[Australian Baptist Ministries]], 2008

 

 

Among the censuses carried out by individual Baptist associations in 2023, those which claimed the most members on each continent were:

 

 

==Beliefs==

{{Main|Baptist beliefs|List of Baptist confessions of faith}}Since the early days of the Baptist movement, various associations have adopted common confessions of faith as the basis for cooperative work among churches.<ref name="William H. Brackney 2020, p. 160-161">William H. Brackney, ''Historical Dictionary of the Baptists'', Scarecrow Press, US, 2020, p. 160–161</ref> Each church has a particular confession of faith and a common confession of faith if it is a member of an association of churches.<ref name="William H. Brackney 2020, p. 160-161"/> Some historically significant Baptist doctrinal documents include the [[Confession of Faith (1689)|1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith]], 1742 Philadelphia Baptist Confession, the [[New Hampshire Confession of Faith|1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith]], and written [[church covenant]]s which some individual Baptist churches adopt as a statement of their faith and beliefs.

 

 

Shared doctrines would include beliefs about one God; the [[virgin birth of Jesus]]; miracles; [[substitutionary atonement]] for sins through the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|death]], [[Burial of Jesus|burial]], and bodily [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]]; the [[Trinity]]; the need for salvation (through belief in Jesus Christ as the [[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]], his death and resurrection); grace; the [[Kingdom of God (Christianity)|Kingdom of God]]; last things ([[Christian eschatology|eschatology]]) (Jesus [[Second Coming|Christ will return]] personally and visibly in glory to Earth; the [[Universal resurrection|dead will be raised]]; and [[Last Judgment|Christ will judge everyone]] in righteousness); and [[evangelism]] and [[Missionary|missions]].

Some additional distinctive Baptist principles held by many Baptists:<ref name="Newman" />{{rp|2}}

* The supremacy of the canonical Scriptures as a norm of faith and practice. For something to become a matter of faith and practice, it is not sufficient for it to be merely ''consistent with'' and not contrary to scriptural principles. It must be something ''explicitly'' ordained through command or example in the Bible. For instance, this is why Baptists do not practice infant baptism: they say the Bible neither commands nor exemplifies infant baptism as a Christian practice. More than any other Baptist principle, this one when applied to infant baptism is said to separate Baptists from other evangelical Christians.

* Insistence on immersion believer's baptism as the only mode of baptism. Baptists do not believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. Therefore, for Baptists, baptism is an [[Ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]], not a [[sacrament]], since in their view it imparts no saving grace.<ref name="Newman">{{Cite book|last=Newman|first =Albert Henry |title=A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States |edition=3rd |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=F38uAAAAYAAJ |year=1915 |publisher=Christian Literature |isbn=978-0-7905-4234-8}}</ref>

 

 

==Worship==

 

 

== Education ==

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== Sexuality ==

Many churches promote [[Abstinence pledge|virginity pledges]] to young Baptist Christians, who are invited to engage in a public ceremony of [[sexual abstinence]] until Christian marriage.<ref>Anne Bolin, Patricia Whelehan, ''Human Sexuality: Biological, Psychological, and Cultural Perspectives'', Routledge, UK, 2009, p. 248</ref> This pact is often symbolized by a [[purity ring]].<ref>Sara Moslener, ''Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence'', Oxford University Press, US, 2015, p. 144</ref> Programs like [[True Love Waits (organization)|True Love Waits]], founded in 1993 by the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] have been developed to support the commitments.<ref>Randall Herbert Balmer, ''Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition'', Baylor University Press, US, 2004, p. 587</ref>

 

==Controversies==

Baptists have faced many controversies in their 400-year history, controversies of the level of crises. Baptist historian Walter Shurden says the word ''crisis'' comes from the Greek word meaning 'to decide.' Shurden writes that contrary to the presumed negative view of crises, some controversies that reach a crisis level may actually be "positive and highly productive." He claims that even [[Schism in Christianity|schism]], though never ideal, has often produced positive results. In his opinion, crises among Baptists each have become decision moments that shaped their future.<ref name="Shurden crises">{{Cite book | last = Shurden | first = Walter B | title = Crises in Baptist Life | access-date = 16 January 2010 | url = http://www.baptistdistinctives.org/crises.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050112160105/http://www.baptistdistinctives.org/crises.pdf | archive-date = 12 January 2005 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

As early as the late 18th century, Black Baptists began to organize separate churches, associations and mission agencies. Blacks set up some independent Baptist congregations in the South before the Civil War. White Baptist associations maintained some oversight of these churches.

 

 

[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.) - NARA - 542015 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|[[Martin Luther King Jr.]], a Baptist minister and civil rights leader, at the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, D.C. The [[Civil Rights movement]] divided various Baptists in the U.S., as slavery had more than a century earlier.]]