Baptist Roots

John Smith

Book Review: Baptist Roots

Sept. 24, 2017

I certify that I have read this book in its entirety.

        Baptist Roots, a novel edited by Curtis Freeman, James McClendon Jr., and C. Rosalee Velloso Ewell, accomplishes to provide insight to the history of Baptist theology.  It grew out of an attempt to answer the question, “Do Baptists have a theological heritage?” (pg. ix).  The purpose was also to educate the readers of things that were missing from earlier works by providing awareness of the theological activity that took place beyond North America.  My favorite thing that the editors say is in the description of what Baptist theology is, which is identified to be the specific perspective in which one reflects on the convictions and practices that includes living life in Christ, just as we share (pg. ix).   In order to do this they provide a lot of detail of Baptist history according to research, as it consists of biographies and excerpts from writings of fifty different Anabaptists, organized beginning with the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and ending with the twentieth century.  Each of these writings were involved in the Reformation, making way for Baptist movement.  It also includes passages from different ethnicities/genders. Some of the main topics discussed include faith and being saved, baptism, spiritual growth, preaching God’s word and the reaching of other nations, helping the fallen and strangers, and how to be righteous.  

        From the beginning in the fifteenth century Baptists were convicted and punished for their church life and religious beliefs because it was against the law.  Since then Baptists have grown into what we know them today, which is being a division of Christianity and is accepted by society.  In the past Baptist would lose vision of their relationship to other Christians, believing they were the only denomination, but some Anabaptists from the book never did.  These include, Chelcicky, Hubmaier, Grantham, Carey, Campbell, and Walton (pg. 4).  The authors discuss in their teachings what separates Baptists from other Christians by discussing authority of God’s word, the Trinity, work of Christ and the kingdom of God.  We learn from Campbell that the Protestants also adopted and approved of the Bible, but they did not obey God’s word because they did not practice what it said (pg. 229).  It wasn’t until later that people began to sacrifice their lives for people to the truth.  Hubmaier was imprisoned and burned at the stake by the Catholics and Protestants for refusing to withdraw his beliefs.  He specifically studied infant baptism and argued with Oecolampad regarding the fact that it was not supported by God’s word (pg. 33-40).  Baptism is a significant part of Christianity, as stated in the Bible. Grantham teaches us that the Lord’s Supper has a purpose of representing Jesus’s sacrifice of his own life to provide us against future sin, which also teaches us humility and brotherly love, unity of the Church of God, and stability of faith (pg. 91-95).  The Lord’s Supper is also a significant part of the Baptist faith in which we practice in church through living our life in Christ.  We learn from Walton, a Baptist pastor, that the formation of Christian community occurred as all churches felt that the members were “one in the common life of the Body” (pg. 330).  In the past few years an awareness of a World Church has developed, meaning that as Christians we have an understanding that the Bible tells us that we must create World Christianity.