This title offers a comprehensive analysis of Baptist theology. Embracing in one common trajectory the major Baptist confessions of faith, the major Baptist theologians, and the principal Baptist theological movements and controversies, this book spans four centuries of Baptist doctrinal history. Acknowledging first the pre-1609 roots (patristic, medieval, and Reformational) of Baptist theology, it examines the Arminian versus Calvinist issues that were first expressed by the General Baptists and the Particular Baptists; that dominated English and American Baptist theology during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from Helwys and Smyth and from Bunyan and Kiffin to Gill, Fuller, Backus, and Boyce; and, that were quickened by the 'awakenings' and the missionary movement. Concurrently there were the Baptist defense of the Baptist distinctives vis-a-vis the pedobaptist world and the unfolding of a strong Baptist confessional tradition. Then during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the liberal versus evangelical issues became dominant with Hovey, Strong, Rauschenbusch, and Henry in the North and Mullins, Conner, Hobbs, and Criswell in the South even as a distinctive Baptist Landmarkism developed, the discipline of biblical theology was practiced and a structured ecumenism was pursued. Missiology both impacted Baptist theology and took it to all the continents, where it became increasingly indigenous. Conscious that Baptists belong to the free churches and to the believers' churches, a new generation of Baptist theologians at the advent of the twenty-first century appears somewhat more Calvinist than Arminian and decidedly more evangelical than liberal.

The purpose of this book is to meet a widely felt need for an up-to-date and concise source book on the principal teachings of the Bible from a Biblical perspective. It is not intended for scholars; rather it is to serve as a handy guidebook for laymen as well as beginning theology students, assisting them in grasping some of the foundational beliefs that distinguish Believers in Jesus Christ. Not only can theology be a captivating study, it is essential for Christians to know what they believe. Key Biblical doctrines are addressed that include: Builds a complete and solid biblical foundation for every Christ-follower. Thorough examination of biblical teaching about the existence of God, His revelation to us, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, sin, and redemption. The perfect first book for believers beginning to grapple with the great teachings of Scripture.

These are the collected writings of an avowed skeptic, an embittered Civil War veteran who eventually became a towering giant of late 19th century Christianity.