Oct
06
2009
Jim Patterson: Reflections on 400 Years of Baptist Movement
SESSION 2
SPEAKER: Jim Patterson, Professor of Christian Studies at Union University
TITLE: Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement: Who We Are. What We Believe. (Audio here)
THE GIST: Baptist history is messy, which means that you can’t reduce it to a single integrating theme (like “freedom” or even “distinctives”). Our history is interwoven with narratives of other groups and movements. We must avoid excessive pride and triumphalism when we commemorate our history. Our forebears were fallen, just like us.
BRIEF OUTLINE:
Tracing Baptist History
- A Patristic Background. (Baptists have been Trinitarian. We are indebted to the early church councils.)
- Dissent. (John Hus and other Medieval Reformers. Dissenters were forerunners to the Baptist movement.)
- Magisterial Reformation. (Justification by faith alone / Priesthood of all believers / Authority of the Word)
- Anabaptists. (Believers’ baptism / No state church / Regenerate church membership)
- 17th Century Baptist Beginnings (Separatist ecclesiology / Religious liberty)
Developments of the Early Baptist Movement
- General / Particular Baptist controversies (Arminianism versus Calvinism)
- Confessional statements to set doctrinal statements
- Associations developed to strengthen denominational life and identity
- Focus on vital Christian experience (John Bunyan, for example)
- Debates over music.
18th-Century Growth
- General Baptists drifted toward Unitarianism and Particular Baptists drifted toward Hyper-Calvinism.
- Educational institutions established
- Transatlantic revivals led to new movements
- Birth of international missions movement (William Carey)
- Religious liberty continued to be a main focus.
19th-Century Controversies
- Missions and anti-missions
- Restorationist movement
- Slavery and the formation of the SBC
- Landmarkism (J.R. Graves)
- Downgrade Controversy
Trends since the late 19th Century
- Increasing Theological Diversity
- Continuing revival tradition
- Institutional matters
- Increasing pragmatism
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
The Word of God outweighs all tradition.
Baptists in the 17th century fought over Calvinism, music, and the purpose of associations. I’m glad we have escaped all that!
Andrew Fuller called for a theology of the cross, what God has done and how we are to respond – not a theology of glory, which leads to endless theological speculation.
From Charles Spurgeon’s first sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle: I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist… I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist… But if I am asked to say what is my creed, I think I must reply: “It is Jesus Christ.”… Christ Jesus… is the sum and substance of the gospel; who is in himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth, and the life.
Historical amnesia leads to a loss of interest in theology and indifference toward denominational distinctives.
Our distinctives are important, but not so much as ends in themselves, and not nearly as urgent as the gospel message that we proclaim in common with those in the wider body of Christ.