Customer Reviews

Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study (Baptist Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Baptist Theology by James Garrett is one of the most comprehensive studies of Baptist historical theology ever written. Dr. Garrett puts half a century of academic theological experience to use by meticulously documenting the development of Baptist theology through the four centuries following their emergence in England and Continental Europe to the present day. He also addresses many misconceptions about Baptist origins. For instance the common misconception that Baptists came directly from the Anabaptist movement. He also documents and challenges Landmarkism's erroneous view of Baptist history. This is an essential work for anyone desiring to understand Baptist theology and its development through the centuries. Most Baptists assume that we materialized out of nothing in the 1950s. This lack of hindsight has in recent decades led Baptists to embrace bad theology and practices and to shun things historically maintained by Baptists. Dr. Garrett's book is a welcomed resource for those seeking to correct these trends.

This is a heavy volume with 726 pages. However, for all those pages, there are only 13 chapters. They are as follows:

Ch. 1 - The Roots of Baptist Beliefs
Ch. 2 - English General Baptists
Ch. 3 - English Particular Baptists
Ch. 4 - Early American Baptists
Ch. 5 - Awakening and Missionary Baptists
Ch. 6 - Baptist Landmarkism
Ch. 7 - Baptists in Controversy
Ch. 8 - Biblical Theologians
Ch. 9 - Twentieth Century Southern Baptists
Ch. 10 - Recovering Evangelicalism and Reassessing the Baptist Heritage
Ch. 11 - Incursions into Baptist Theology
Ch. 12 - Missions, Ecumenism, and Globalization
Ch. 13 - New Voices in Baptist Theology

Leo Garrett at his best. He is such an incredible researcher, that not only the content but also the footnotes are truly helpful for research in Baptist and Free-Church studies. A must read for every student and professor in Baptist and Free-Church studies!

I enjoyed reading this book but could not see much about the Independent Baptist movement.It did have alot of interesting insights and you could trace the overall development of theological thought. I would recommend this book to anyone really interested in knowing the truth and not myth of the christians called "Baptists"